After several previous unsuccessful efforts Captain Malcolm Campbell to-day created a new world╒s speed record with his 450-h.p. motor-car Bluebird on Pendine Sands, Carmarthen. He covered the flying mile at 174.224 miles an hour. The previous record was 171.019 m.p.h. set up by Mr. Parry Thomas on the same sands last April. It is expected that Mr. Thomas will return to the attack at an early date.
The conditions were excellent, but on the return journey Captain Campbell had the alarming experience of having his goggles blown off by the great force of the wind, and he finished almost blinded by sand. ╥I never want such an experience again,╙ he said.
The first to greet Captain Campbell after his successful attempt was Mrs. Campbell. Turning afterwards to his mechanics, he said: ╥Many thanks. It is all due to you fellows.╙
On a second run Captain Campbell was a fraction of a second slower than on his first.
THREE MILES A MINUTE!
According to the official R.A.C. figures Captain Campbell╒s mean time for the mile was 20.663 seconds, representing a speed of 174,883 miles an hour. Mr. J. G. Parry Thomas made the world╒s record on the same sands with a mean speed of 170.6 miles an hour over the mile and 171.019 miles an hour for the kilometre. Captain Campbell had cherished a hope that he would attain a speed of 180 miles an hour, and although he failed in this he gained some satisfaction when Colonel Lindsay Lloyd, who was official timekeeper for the R.A.C., explained that between the kilometre and the mile his speed was 183.20 miles an hour.
Captain Campbell succeeded in the face of many difficulties. At the start the engine became obstinate, and when it fired consternation was caused by the sight of Bluebird coming to a standstill one hundred yards after she had left the temporary platform from which she leapt forward on her adventure. On the return journey Captain Campbell had his goggles blown off, and was almost blinded with water and sand. These misfortunes in getting away naturally disconcerted both Captain Campbell and his mechanics. Bluebird did not even return to the starting platform after she came to a standstill, and the effect of beginning on the wet sand was calculated to prevent Captain Campbell from attaining his maximum speed before entering upon the measured mile. Bluebird, however, gathered speed in an astounding fashion and just when the mechanics had begun to take a lugubrious view of this incident Captain Campbell came racing back, his face flushed with excitement. ╥I believe I have done it,╙ he called out, as Bluebird came to a standstill.
Mrs. Campbell╒s Dash.
The news spread rapidly among the crowd of motorists and the villagers who had gathered on the beach. There was another thrill when Mrs. Campbell was seen racing down the course in a private car. She had been staying near the timing apparatus, and was the first to obtain the official figures. They were written on a sheet of paper which she waved in her hand. She was almost too excited to speak and, jumping out of the car, ran across the sands with the paper to her husband and flung her arms around his neck. The mechanics were equally excited, and when Captain Campbell went to them saying, ╥It is all due to you fellows,╙ they hugged him, lifted him on to their shoulders and carried him triumphantly around Bluebird singing, laughing, and cheering like schoolboys.
Captain Campbell, with his eyes all bloodshot from exposure to the winds after he had lost his goggles, described to a representative of the Press Association his feelings on the journey. ╥It was appalling. I was only half-way down the mile on my return journey when my goggles were torn off my head. Water and sand were flying over the car, and for a second or two I was completely blind. I had to dash dirt from my eyes and was thankful to find I was in a position and sufficiently well to steer Bluebird safely home. It was a most terrifying moment and an experience I never wish to have again as long as I live.
╥My heart was quaking when the slight trouble arose at the commencement, for I felt I should have to make another start. The engine, however, behaved perfectly, and before I entered the mile it was making about 2,500 revolutions. I cannot possibly describe what I felt when I realised that at any rate I had secured the record. This waiting and waiting has been like a nightmare. I am convinced that if I can get a longer start Bluebird can even surpass the 180 miles an hour which I set out for.╙
╥What is it like to be travelling at such a speed?╙ I asked him.
╥Oh, perfectly exhilarating, and with none of the feelings of danger which some people seem to imagine it possesses,╙ replied Captain Campbell. ╥There is very little difference between racing at 150 miles and 185 miles an hour. I had perfect control of the car and knew exactly what I should do in the case of an emergency. The wind, of course, is like a hurricane. It is one continuous howl completely drowning every other sound, even that of the great engine of the car. Oh yes, motor racing is as thrilling as any sport I know of and one does not trouble very much about the risk.╙
Captain Campbell added that everything would depend upon what Mr. Parry Thomas accomplishes next week as to whether he (Captain Campbell) would make another visit to Pendine. To-night the whole of the villagers joined in celebrating the event, being the guests of Captain and Mrs. Campbell.
