168 MILES AN HOUR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16606, 9 December 1924, Page 4

168 MILES AN HOUR.

GREATEST SPEED ON LAND

MR. CAMPBELL'S MOTOR PEAT

JN A BJUTISH CAR

CARMARTHEN, O.et. S).~ln a burs! of delirious vpeod' M>. Malcolm Campbell, driving a !!uO-h.p. lL'-cylinder British Sunbeam ear, today beat- Ihe world's record for the flying kilometre (five-eighths of :i mile), on the sands at I'endiue, Carmarthenshire. His average speed was .110.lb' miles an hour.

The previous record Has held by uu Italian ear.

In a further attempt on the mile record Mr. Campbell scored a faster time for (he distance one way, He missed beating the existing record by a two-hundredth of a second. To establish, an oflitial record the mile ha.s to be covered in opposite directions, and the average speed of the two journeys is taken as an official reading. On one of the journeys, with the wind behind him, Mr. Campbell averaged 151 miles an hour, the fastest speed ever recorded officially for a mile in one direction. His highest speedometer reading was 1(59 miles an hour, and he failed to make a better average speed owing to wheel-slip in the rain-sodden sand.

During his successful attempt on the world's record Mr. Campbell moved at a speed greater than has ever before been attained by a human being on land. Even in this vast waste of deserted sand, where speed is apt to lose its significance, the spectacle was an exhilarating one. A SPECK AND A ROAR, It takes a car with such a monster engine some time to warm into its stride. Mr. Campbell made his start two miles along the sands from the actual timed starting point. There his car appeared like a small black speck in the distance. Suddenly there was » muffled roar like the opening of an artillery barrage. His 350-h.p. engine had /awakened. The speck began to move towards us, and in a few seconds the speck changed its appearance. Water thrown high in Ibe air by the roar wheels completely obscured all vision of the ear and driver until they came level with the eyes. 'Then before one could wink the whirlwind was again a far-distance object. After The monster passed the finishing point it took its skilful driver a full mile before he could check its career and bring it safely to a standstill. Then mechanics had to rush 'after it and push a wooden platform under its wheels to prevent it from burying itself in the sodden sand. Mr. Campbell, covered with sand and slush, then had a hurried look at cssontial parts of the mechanism and •started on tho second journey against the wind.

Describing his experience:! to me afterwards, 'he said: — Conditions were against me, as in places the sand was soft, acting like four-wheel brakes. This caused the loss of valuable fractions of seconds. The rain, though slight, hit me in the face like bullets and hurt considerably. There is little sensation of speed, as the. car travels smoothly; it is lather like gliding in an aeroplane.' The landscape—what there is of it hero—just faded away.

I hope in the future to travel at a speed of three miles a minute. My one difficulty is tyre trouble. Today they stood up splendidly, but. in previous attempts I have shed a number of tyres at high speed. £350 ENGINE TAN. Mr. Campbell's ear, which now takes pride of place as the fastest in the world, Las a 350-h.p. 12-cylinder engine, which was originally built for airship work. After tho war it was put on the scrap heap. A racing enthusiast saw it and bought, it. Later it came into the hands of Mr. Campbell, who fitted it to its present chassis. ..'

The car has one .seat, just sufficient room for the driver to .squeeze in. The rest of the car is all machinery. It is taxed at £350, nearly £1 a day. The lowest speedometer reading- is 60 miles an hour —it does not begin to ■work until this speed is reached — and the maximum reading is 180 miles an hour. The car does 60 miles an hour on bottom gear and 140 miles an hour on third gear. Mr. Campbell never changes to top gear until this speed is reached. Actual details of the record are as follow: —

Distance, one kilometre.—Time, out, 15.01 sec; back, 15.605 cc; mean time, 15.3055ec; average, 145.16 m.p.h. Timing was carried out by a special electrical appliance, the car making contact with the timing instrument as it crossed over a-wire laid at the start and finish of the course. This is the only method of timing accepted internationally for world records. The timing was carried out by K.A.C. officials. ...