BLUEBIRD’S BEST—352 m.p.h.

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30453, 29 May 1964, Page 13

BLUEBIRD’S BEST—352 m.p.h.

(Special Crspdt. N.Z.P.A.) LAKE EYRE, May 28. Bluebird made only one run on the Lake Eyre salt course today —but it was a great one for Donald Campbell. He flashed through the measured kilometre at. 352 miles an hour. It was easily the fastest time

the car had set and the fastest Campbell had travelled since September, 1960, when he recorded 360 miles and hour in the first turbine-pro-pelled Bluebird at Utah. At the end of today’s run Campbell repeated the phrase which has become a stock answer to the enthusiasm of his team: “We still have a long way to go.” The record, set up by John Cobb on September 16, 1947, is 394.196 miles an hour. Because of the high speed reached, the technical team s took a long time to check the

car, particularly for temperature rises in the gearboxes. All was well. Then all the wheels were changed and small deposits of caked salt, apparently left from a previous run, were cleaned from the rims. No vibrations were reported on the run today. Campbell planned to make a return run but because of the delay while the car was checked, the track team said that the salt was becoming too soft at the intersection of the old and new tracks as the sun become hotter. On the advice of his team,

Campbell called off a second run. The track team will have a full day tomorrow to work on smoothing and possibly lengthening the track before Campbell runs again on Saturday. The official scrutineers, who were due to arrive at Lake Eyre next Friday, now will be flown to the lake on Saturday and will be available to tape up their duties on Sunday. Campbell said of Bluebird: “She was not going badly. There is certainly an improvement in the track, but the intersection is the problem.”