A ROARING MONSTER

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 643, 22 December 1932, Page 1

A ROARING MONSTER

Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Record Car. LONDON, December 8. “ Next February I shall be sitting behind an engine developing 2500 h.p , installed in my Bluebird car. compared with the original 500 h.p. engine and ; the 1500 h.p. engine used when I estabj lished the world record of 253 miles an ! hour.” writes Sir Malcolm Campbell, the British speed motorist, in an article lin the “ Daily Mail.” He describes his preparations to defend the record. “ The Bluebird car is now being fitted with a Rolls-Royce aero engine, similar |to that used by Flight-Lieutenant j Stainforth when he made the air record of 400 miles an hour. “It weighs one ton. and is the most tremendous power unit ever harnessed to a motor-car chassis. “ The chassis is being partially rebuilt to stand the strain, and is being fitted with an aluminium streamlined body. “Twenty-seven feet in length, the car i weighs several tons. It consumes 2.9 J gallons of petrol a minute. The engine ! is so big that, from the driving seat, j I cannot see over it. I must look along j the cylinders’ V banks. I “ The car has no exhaust pipes. When j the motor starts, it belches yellow and blue flames and the noise is so terrific that I must use ear-protectors, similar to those used in the Navy during heavy gun practice. 1 “ Enthusiasts who expect me to reach i 300 miles an hour must remember that I the beach conditions and the wind may ! affect my calculations, j “ I understand that the American ; challenger will be a 24-cylinder Miller j car, developing 5000 h.p.” I Sir Malcolm Campbell’s attempt to I raise the speed record will be made on Dayton Beach, Florida, United States.