PASTIMPERFECT:Sir Malcolm Campbell and the Bluebirds
APART FROM the Unser family in the United States, there can be few families with the speed pedigree of the Campbells. First, Sir Malcolm Campbell broke land and water speed records in the 1930s; then his son Donald did the same in the 1950s and 1960s before in turn his daughter, Gina, took to powerboat racing and record breaking.
The founder of this speed dynasty, Sir Malcolm Campbell, was born in England in 1885 into an affluent family. He developed a passion for speed and raced bicycles before turning to motorcycle trials, achieving three consecutive golds in the London to Edinburgh Trials between 1906 and 1908.
Briefly attracted to aviation, he built an aircraft which was a failure and then turned his attention to racing at Brooklands. His first race car was called The Flapper" but he began to use the name Bluebird after seeing Maeterlinck's play of that name in 1912. Campbell always considered the name a lucky choice.
Campbell served with the Royal Flying Corps during the first World War and after hostilities ceased, he returned to Brooklands with a 7.6-litre 1912 Grand Prix Peugeot and a 2.6-litre Talbot. Much success followed and in 1923 he persuaded Coatalen to sell him the old V12 350 hp Sunbeam which had belonged to Kenelm Lee Guinness.
Despite many difficulties with the car, Campbell was eventually successful in setting a record of 146.16mph at Pendine Sands in Wales. Thereafter, although his racing activities continued, Campbell's primary focus was on record-breaking.
By 1928 the first Napier-Campbell Bluebird had raised the record to 174.88mph at Pendine and in the following year, the Napier-Campbell - now with a 900bhp Napier Sprint Lion engine - reached a speed of 206.96mph at Daytona Beach. This record, however, was short-lived, being beaten first by Keetch and then by Segrave.
In 1931 Campbell was back at Daytona with a new Bluebird, designed by Reid Railton and powered by a 1,450bhp Napier Schneider Trophy engine.
A two-way average 246.09mph earned a knighthood for Campbell and in 1932 the record was pushed to 253.97mph before a new Rolls-Royce "R" engine was fitted. This allowed Campbell to raise the record to an incredible 272.46mph at which point the bumps on Daytona Beach were becoming frighteningly obvious.
Having found a suitable new venue on the salt lakes of Utah, in 1935 Campbell achieved his life's ambition of becoming the first man to average over 300mph - a staggering achievement for the time.
Thereafter, Sir Malcolm Campbell turned his attention more and more towards the water speed record in which endeavour he was to be equally successful.
Campbell was an individual with a tireless taste for adventure. He travelled widely, and indulged in such pastimes as looking for treasure on the Cocos Islands. Other than his great rival, Sir Henry Segrave, few if any other record breakers have achieved the widespread popular fame of Sir Malcolm Campbell. He died from illness in early 1949.