WORLD'S SPEED RECORD

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17454, 31 December 1930, Page 12

WORLD'S SPEED RECORD

NORMAN SMITH’S HOPES 300 MILES AN HOUR A motor car, specially designed and constructed by a 'Sydney engineer with the co-operation of the Commonwealth and Imperial Governments and of a number of firms, foV the purpose of breaking the world’s land speed record of 231.3 miles an houi‘, is nearing completion at Fivedock, Sydney. it is of enormous power and strength, and the designer, Mr. D. J. Harkness, expects it to attain a speed of 300 miles an hour, that is, a mile in 12 seconds. The car will he driven by Mr. Norman Smith, who is already well known as a successful competition driver and recordbreaker in Australia and New Zealand, it is composed entirely of material, and parts constructed within the British Empire, the majority of them being made in the workshops of Harkness and Hillier, Ltd. The frame is extraordinarily massive, being specially constructed of channel steel 13in deep for most of its length, and the engine is a 12 cylinder, 1700-h.p. Napier, of a secret aero type, specially lent for use in the record attempt by the Imperial Government. The general shape is a complete departure from the conventional idea of a motor car, and in many features resembles the Golden Arrow, the ear in which the late Sir Henry Segrave established the record that Mr. Norman Smith will attack. To enablo the power of the engine to be devoted to propulsion with as little loss as possible through wind resistance, the body has been streamlined, the fan-shaped arrangement of the engine cylinders, in three groups of four, necessitating a peculiar but attractive design in front. The rear end of the hodv extends in the form of a long tapered tail behind the rear wheels. A special feature of the design is a gieat pair of fins or stabilisers, extending behind the rear wheels. The record attempt will be made oil the Ninety Mile Beach at Kaitaia, New Zealand, in March next. Special electrical timekeeping apparatus has been secured from Europe by the New Zealand Automobile Association, which will control and time the record one oJ whoso officials, Mr. 11. J. Butcher; visited England specially to procure the apparatus and gain instruction in its use. 'The building of the ear was made possible largely through the financial assistance extended by Mr. F. H. Stewart, of Blirwood, afler whom it has been called the “Fred. H. Stewart Special.” In the record attempt, a long flying start will be given, and the car will be timed over a measured mile, making two runs, one in each direction; the record will be the mean of the two times.