SPEED ON LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21117, 26 February 1932, Page 9

SPEED ON LAND.

NEW MOTOR RECORD SUCCESS OF CAMPBELL. OVER 253 MILES AN HOUR. STILL NOT SATISFIED. IIEAI) WIND CHECKS PACE. By Telegraph—Press Association—-Copyright. NEW YORK, Feb. 24. A new land speed record if 253.968 miles an hour was established to-day on Daytona Beach, Florida, by Sir Malcolm Campbell in his Bluebird car. The British driver thus exceeded bis previous record of 245.736 miles an hour made at Daytona on February 5, 1931, by 8.232 miles an hour. His speed on the first run over the official mile was 267.459 miles an hour and on tho second run 24J.773 miles an hour. ' There was considerable confusion after tho first run. Sir Malcolm did notappear to have been travelling at a record speed and the officials delayed announcing his time until after he had completed the second run. Then they checked and rcchecked, finally announcing that the time for the first run (13.46 seconds for the mile) was correct, and that he had established a new record. The second run was covered in 14.89 seconds. The confusion over the first run resulted from the fact that Sir Malcolm had said lie probably would make a low speed on that run. The officials therefore did not immediately calculate his speed. Instead of a practice run, however, the driver opened up for the record. "I am not at all pleased with the record," said Sir Malcolm subsequently. "I should have driven much faster, but the brisk head wind on tho second run slowed me up considerably. It. felt as though it was blowing at least 40 miles an hour. lam going to check over the car and if I find it is in good condition and the beach is still good to-morrow, I am going to.try for a faster record. "During both runs I had to steer with all my might because of the wind. Toward tho south end of the course I had to run through water left by the leceding tide. It looked like a lake as I approached it and dashed through it." HISTORY OF ATTEMPTS. RIVALRIES OF 34 YEARS. BRITAIN GAINS ASCENDANCY.

The first authentic land speed record was established 54 years ago, when Chasseloup-Laubat. driving a Jentaud car, averaged 39.24 miles an hour for a kilometre, a speed that astounded the motoring world of those times. In the following year, .Tenatzv, a German, whose daring won for him the name of the "Rod Devil," raised the speed by 26 miles an hour, bringing the figures up to 65.79. In 1902, three Frenchmen broke the recold, and in 1903 Duray did 84.21 miles an hour.

At this stage the United States took a hand, and Henry Fori], with a car of his own design, reached 91.37 miles per hour. There were five successful attempts iri 1904, Rigolly, with a Ciobron-Brillie, being the first* to exceed 100 miles an hour. This record was beaten later in the same year by Baras, with a Darracq, who did 104.53 miles an hour over the flying kilometre. In 1905 A. Macdonald improved the speed slightly with bis Napier, but his record stood only for a few months, H. L. Bowden touching 109.75 with a huge Mercedes. In the following year the entire motor ing world was astonished by the performance of Fred Marriott, a pioneer steam expert, who took a Stanley steam car to Florida and added nearly 20 miles an hour to the existing record, by clocking at 127.659 miles an hour. These three lastmen tionod speeds were recognised only as American records. Before the War and After.

I Between 1909 and 1914 the land speed I record was broken four times by different drivers, each using a Benz car. In 1909 | V. Ilemery did 115.923, a record made ! outside America, while in succession the j famous Barney Oldfield, ace of American j speedsters, B. Burman and L. G. llorn- | st.cd improved upon Hemery's record, j llornsted's speed of 124.60 being recogj nised as a world's record and Burman's 141.723 as tho American record until after the Great War, when record-breaking was resumed by leading drivers. Two noted American drivers, Ralph de Palma and Tommy Milton, raised the American speed to 149 and 156 respectively in 1919 and 1920. The world s record at that time still stood to the credit of Hornsted, and it was not until 1922 that K. Lee Guinness drove a powerful Sunbeam at 129 miles an hour. From 1922 until tho present time foreign opposition has been completely outclassed by British drivers, thero being only two drivers of other nationalities, Rene Thomas and the late Hay Kcech, included in the list, although many other attempts have been mado by foreign j drivers. Campbell's Rise to Fame. Two year after Lee Guinness' success with his giant 350 horse power Sunbeam at Brooklands, tho late J. G. Parry Thomas was successful with his Leylaml Thomas machine, and broke Guinness' record by the narrow margin of .6 miles an hour. In the same year Reno Thomas, one of the greatest drivers Franco has ever produced, increased tho speed by 14 miles an hour with his Delnge, while a little lator E. A. D. Eldridge's Fiat added another two miles an hour to the speed. Eldridge's car was equipped with an aero engine and he mado his runs at Arpajon, ■ where attempts ar© still made on the world's motor-cycle speed record. It was- at this stage that the present holder of tho record, Sir Malcolm Campbell, first won international fame. Using the same car as that driven by Guinness in 1922, he reached 150 miles an hour at Pcndine Sands, England, in 1925. Parry Thomas, who had prepared an enormous car known as "Babs," powered by a 16cylinder Liberty aero engine and chaindriven, twice improved upon Campbell's record in 1926, and shortly after was killed in the same car while attempting

to regain the record, which meanwhile had been taken again by ,Campbell with a 450 horsepower Napier-Campbell car, "Bluebird."

The late Sir Henry Segrave was the. first driver to reach 200 miles an hour. Shortly after Campbell's attempt, which took place at Pendine, Sograve went to Davtona with a twin-engined chain-driven Sunbeam of 1000 horse-power, and was timed at 203 miles an hour. Having redesigned his "Bluebird," Campbell also went to Daytona and beat Segravc's record with a speed of 206, but shortly uftor, in 1928, Ray Keech took the record to America with his White-Triplex, equipped with three Liberty, engines. Segrave made another attempt in 1929, using his "Golden Arrow," which is similar in appearance to Norman ("Wizard") Smith's car, the "F. H. Stewart-Enter-prise." The " (jolden Arrow," driven by a 950 horse-power Napier Lion aero engine, did 231 miles an hour, and. two days la'.er the Triplex, with Lee Bible at the wheel, crashed in an attempt to beat Scgrave's speed, tho driver being killed.

With another "Bluebird" Campbell made the trip to Daytona early last year and on February 5 succeeded in establishing the. present record of 245.736 miles an hour. His car was equipped with a 1450 horse-power Schneider Trophy motor, almost identical with that in the "Stewart Enterprise." List of Record Holders. The following table traces the history of tho world's land speed record since 1898;- ' World's Record. 1898— Chasscloup'-Laubal (.fentaud) 39.24* 1899—Jen at zy (Jenatzy) . . . . 1>0.79* 1902—Serpollel (Serpollet) . . 75.00* 1902 —Fournier (More) .. .. 70.00* 1902—Augiers (Mors) .. .. 77.13* 1903—Duray (Gabron-Brillie) . . 81.21* 190;; Henry Ford (Ford) . .. 91.37) 1904 —W. K. Vunderbill (Mercedes) 92.3071 1904—Kigolly (Gobron-Brillie) . . 93.20* 1904—de Caters (Mercedes) .. 97.2(1* 1904—Rigolly (fiobron-Brillie) .. 103.51)* 1904—Barns (Danaccr) . . .. 104.53* 1905 —A. Macdounld (Napier) .. 104.05t 1005— H. L. Bowden (Mercedes) . 109.751 1900— F. Marriott (Stanley) . . 127.0591 1909—V Tlemery (Benzt .. .. 115.923 1910— B. Oldfield' (Benz) .. .. 131.7241 1911— B. Barman (Benz) .. .. 1-11.7234 1914—Tj. (J. Hornstcyl (Hem.) .. 124.00 191!)—T?. do Pnlmii (Packard) .. )49.875) 1920 T. Milton (Dusenberg) .. 150.0401 1922 K. Lee Guinness (Sunbeam) 129.17 1924—f. G. Parry Thomas (Leylr.nd Thomas) . . . . . . 129.73 1924—Rene Thomas (Delage) .. 143.312 1924 --K. A. T). Eldridge (Fiat) 1 (.">.90 1925—M. Campboll (SunbeonO . . 150.700 1920 —.T. Or. Parry Thomas (Thomas Special) . . . . • • 1C5.070 192G—-I. G. Parry Thomas (Thomas Sneeinl) .... . . 170.024 1927 M. Campbell (Napier Campbell) 174.224 1927 H. O. D. Segrave (Sunbeam) 203.791 1928—M. Campbell (Napier CampMi) . . 200.950 1928—Pay Keech (Whito Triplex) 207.552 1929—T1. O. D. Segrave (Irving Napier) 231.302 1931—M. Campbell (Napier Campbell) 245.730 'These records were run over (he flying kilometre, which was the recognised distance 11)1 1n 1904. H'liese arc American records only. m. SMITH'S PLANS. FURTHER POSTPONEMENT. BEACH STILL UNSUITABLE. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] KAITAIA, Thursday.

A further disappointment awaited Mr. Norman Smith when he inspected -NinetyMile Beach shortly before low tide this afternoon. The surface was badly corrugated in places while there were several very wet stretches which made an attack on the world's 10 kilometres and five miles records out of the question. The wet condition of the beach was due to the sand bars retaining the water near the racing track, and residents express the opinion that the bars will not disappear until some really rough weather occurs.

Under the circumstances Mr. Smith has come to the conclusion that be would be unable to race to-morrow, so the. officials will pack their gear in the morning and leave for Auckland in the afternoon. As before the chronograph will be lodged in the bank at Kaitaia for safe keeping, while a considerable quantity of other equipment will be stored in the garage at Htikaterc.

The tides will again be suitable next Wednesday and Thursday, and there is a possibility that the beach will permit Mr. Smith to race then. If he finds that about Tuesday the beach is in very good condition he will notify the officials, who will return immediately. If the beach does not improve next week, however, it is iikelv that Mr. Smith will bo unable to race before about March 20.

When lie received news of Sir Malcolm Campbell's success at Daytona, Mr. Smith said lie was not surprised that the famous English driver had improved on his own land speed record. He had in fact, expected that Sir Malcolm would have broken the record by an even larger margin, but nevertheless lie hoped to break the new record when the beach allowed him to race.