The Campbell-Railton Blue Bird was

Sir Malcolm Campbell Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...

's final

land speed record The land speed record (LSR) or absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. By a 1964 agreement between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de M ...

car. His previous

Campbell-Napier-Railton Blue Bird The Campbell-Napier-Railton Blue Bird was a land speed record car driven by Malcolm Campbell. After Henry Segrave's Golden Arrow (land speed racer), Golden Arrow, clearly a more powerful engine was required for ''Blue Bird'', with a chassis and ...

of 1931 was rebuilt significantly. The overall layout and the simple twin deep chassis rails remained, but little else. The bodywork remained similar, with the narrow body, the tombstone radiator grille and the semi-spatted wheels, but the mechanics were new. Most significantly, a larger, heavier and considerably more powerful

Rolls-Royce R The Rolls-Royce R is a British Aircraft engine, aero engine that was designed and built specifically for air racing purposes by Rolls-Royce Limited. Nineteen R engines were assembled in a limited production run between 1929 and 1931. Developed ...

V12 engine replaced the old

Napier Lion The Napier Lion is a 12-cylinder, petrol-fueled 'broad arrow' W12 engine, W12 configuration aircraft engine built by D. Napier & Son from 1917 until the 1930s. A number of advanced features made it the most powerful engine of its day and kept ...

, again with a supercharger. This required two prominent "knuckles" atop the bodywork, to cover the V12 engine's camboxes. many period photos

1933

''Blue Bird's'' first run was back at

Daytona Daytona may refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach, Florida * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Daytona, the region around Daytona Beach Motor racing * Dayto ...

, setting a record of on 22 February 1933. Campbell now had a car with all the power that he could want, but no way to use all of it. Wheelspin was a problem, losing perhaps from the top speed.

1935

Visually the car was quite different. The bodywork was now rectangular in cross section and spanned the full width over the wheels. Although actually higher, this increased width gave the impression of a much lower and sleeker car, accentuated by the long stabilising tailfin and the purposeful raised ridges over the engine camboxes. This ''Blue Bird'' was clearly a design of the

Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

'30s, not the brute heroism of the '20s. Mechanically the changes to the car had focussed on improving the traction, rather than increasing the already generous power. Double wheels and tyres were fitted to the rear axle, to improve grip. The final drive was also split into separate drives to each side. This reduced the load on each drive, allowed the driver position to be lowered, but required the wheelbase to be shortened asymmetrically on one side by . Airbrakes were fitted, actuated by a large air cylinder. For extra streamlining the radiator air intake could be closed by a movable flap, for a brief period during the record itself. ''Blue Bird'' made its first record runs back on

Daytona Beach Daytona Beach is a coastal resort city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. Located on the East Coast of the United States, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach metropo ...

in early 1935. On 7 March 1935 Campbell improved his record to , but the unevenness of the sand caused a loss of grip and he knew the car was capable of more. many period photos The faster car needed a bigger and smoother arena, and this led to the

Bonneville Salt Flats The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah, United States. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land ma ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. This time the young

Donald Campbell Donald Malcolm Campbell, (23 March 1921 – 4 January 1967) was a British speed record breaker who broke eight absolute world speed records on water and on land in the 1950s and 1960s. He remains the only person to set both world land a ...

accompanied his father. On 3 September 1935, it reached breaking the 300 mph barrier for the first time by a bare mile-per-hour, crowning

's record-breaking career. many period photos

Survival today

Alabama Motor Speedway Hall of Fame, Talladega,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, USA There is a replica in the Campbell gallery at the Lakeland Motor Museum, England. The original is located at the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is a hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles ...

, located at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, about north of Orlando, Florida, Orlando. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race ...

Tour Center.

References

* {{Cite web , title=record-breaking Pendine Sands , url=http://www.sandspeedwales.co.uk/5907.html , publisher=Sand Speed Wales , format=photos , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100909181752/http://www.sandspeedwales.co.uk/5907.html , archivedate=9 September 2010 Many rare period photos. Bluebird record-breaking vehicles Bluebird,Campbell-Railton Bluebird Bluebird,Campbell-Railton Bluebird 1933 in motorsport 1935 in motorsport Cars powered by aircraft engines