BEACH NOT SMOOTH

Taranaki Daily News, 5 March 1935, Page 7

BEACH NOT SMOOTH

RECORD SPEED ATTEMPT

POSTPONEMENT DECIDED

CAMPBELL’S ROUGH RIDE

BUMPED OUT OF HIS SEAT

By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright Rec. 5.5 p.m. Daytona Beach, March 3. The rough surface of the beach forced Sir Malcolm Campbell to postpone his attempt on the world’s land speed record on Sunday after a trial run in which he reached 270.473 miles an hour over a measured mile.

Half the time he was riding almost out of the car because the course was so rough. He hit a bump just before he came into the measured mile and his goggles slid down over his nose and mouth, almost shutting off his breath.

The car bounced so that his head most of the time was above the windshield. He said the terrific pressure felt as though it might take the top off his skull. He did not attempt to come north on the second run.

The rules demand a new record cutting .17 seconds from the 13.31 seconds he took for the measured mile on Sunday. He would have set a new mark a shade above the present record of 272.108 miles an hour had he made the return run.

He was so close to eternity on Sunday that he decided for the peace and comfort of all concerned not to try again until the beach was considerably smoother.

“It is simply impossible to try for a new record with the beach as rough as it is,” he said. “You could drive on this beach at present in an ordinary car with one hand on the wheel at 100 miles per hour but the Bluebird, at 275 or 300 is something entirely different. “In 30 years’ racing I have never experienced anything like the past two days but I will stay here 25 years if I have to to get the beach I want. "Without slippage I should have picked up at least 25 miles an hour and I would have had the record in my grasp. I was driving blind in the middle of the mile, the wind almost tearing my head off and my goggles choking me. “The sand was so rough I could feel the tread being tom off the tyres.”