WORLD LAND SPEED RECORD

Taranaki Daily News, 31 March 1934, Page 15 (Supplement)

WORLD LAND SPEED RECORD

FAMOUS DESIGNER'S OPINIONS. Mr. R. A. Railton, the designer of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s famous Blue-Bird racing car which holds the world’s land speed recard of 272.46 m.p.h., recently addressed the Institute of Automotive Engineers in London, on the difficulties associated with an endeavour to reach the coverted 300 m.p.h. mark. He expressed the opinion that the limits of adhesion for two-wheel drive were practically reached hy Campbell at Daytona Beach, U.S.A., last year, when the Blue-Bird increased its previous best speed by no less than 18 m.p.h., registering over 272 m.p.h. Mr. Railton explained that on this record run, owing to lack of adhesion on the hard damp sand, wheel spin raised the revolutions of the 2234 h.p. Rolls-Royce engine to 4000 r.p.m., corresponding to a rear wheel speed of 3300 r.p.m. Compared with the normal rear-wheel speed of 2400 r.p.m. this represented a rate of slip of approximately 100 m.p.h. between the treads of the plain-treaded racing tyres and the sand, under a lord of 1J tons on the driving wheels. That th’e tyres remained intact was in Mr. Railton’s words “little short of miraculous.” Mr. Railton stated that he favoured four-wheel drive as a means of obtaining the necessary adhesion, improved acceleration, and also for facilitating the provision of more powerful brakes. He was, however, doubtful whether the driver would feel confident at the wheel of such a car, and suggested that as an alternative, a six-wheeled vehicle with two pairs of driving wheels at rear of machine might better meet all the essentials for attaining a speed of five miles a minute. The efforts that went into the making of the existing record were prodigious, and the problems overcome called for the highest skill of all associated with the building of the wonder machine, which has further enhanced Great Britain’s prestige in the world of motor design.