Records tumble to everyday cars

0 0 September 11, 2025 Edit this post

by Paul Murrell

It’s a little sobering to realise that land speed records of 100 years ago can be easily bettered by even everyday road cars today.

Sir Malcolm Campbell set a new record in September, 1924 at 146.16 mph (235km/h).

In 1925 he upped it to 150.86 mph (243km/h).

After that, things started to advance rather rapidly.

Campbell set another record at 174.88 mph (281km/h) in 1927 and he finally topped the magical 200 mph mark at Daytona Beach with a run of 206.95 mph (333km/h).

After that, the goal was 300 mph.

In 1935, he was timed in Blue Bird, on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah at 299.9 mph (483km/h), but that time was later amended to 301.13 mph.

After Sir Malcolm’s death on December 31, 1948, after a series of strokes, his son Donald bought the car back from a dealer to whom it had been sold.

After Malcolm had finished with it, the car spent time on display in a used car lot in north London, then was put on display at the Museum of Speed at Daytona Beach where it was allowed to deteriorate, with dented and corroded panels and tattered leather.

In 1984, plans to buy it back and restore it were abandoned when the asking price was more than £300,000.

The 36-litre 2300 bhp (1715kW) car, restored to “a passable degree” returned to be put on display at the Goodwood in 2004.

The car is now on display at the Motorsports Hall of Fame in the Daytona International Speedway Tour Centre.

Donald Campbell was the last person to break the record in a wheel driven car with a speed of 648.73 km/h in the 3000kW Bluebird CN7 on lake Eyre, South Australia, in 1964.

In case you're wondering, the current land speed record stands at 1227.986 km/h (763.035 mph).

It was set by Englishman and Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green, in October, 1997 in the jet-powered ThrustSSC at Black Rock Desert,Nevada.

He was also the first person to break the break the sound barrier.

In a who's who of supercars the fastest of the fast goes to the $1.6 million Devel Sixteen, a 12.3-litre V16-powered sports car capable of reaching more than 550km/h.

Phew!