CAMPBELL AND EYSTON SAIL

CAMPBELL AND EYSTON SAIL

Two great adventures have started. On the 21st of last month the Cunard-White Star liner ” Majestic ” sailed from Southampton for New York, carrying Sir Malcolm Campbell and George Eyston on the first stage of their long journey to Utah, U.S.A.

There they will unpack their two gigantic cars, ” Bluebird ” and ” Speed of the Wind,” and after a little preliminary tuning will set out about the business of record-breaking.

Sir Malcolm’s Goal

It is an open secret that there is nothing on earth that Sir Malcolm wants so much as to be the first man to travel at 300 m.p.h. on land. At the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, he will have greater assistance from the track than he has ever had before. At Pendine, Verneuke, Daytona; always has he had to contend with

almost insuperable difficulties of tides, surfaces and wheelspin.

At the dried up salt lake where Jenkins and Cobb have already accomplished miracles of speed, he will have a 13 mile (18 miles if need be) stretch of hard, rocklike salt, dead level and free from ripples. Flags will line his path as a guide 16 direction in the boundless wilderness of salt, and mile-boards will keep him informed of his progress. Down the centre will be a broad black line, in sharp relief against the dazzling white of the salt, serving as a compass for Sir Malcolm in his mighty task of steering the 5-ton projectile at 300 m.p.h.

At the same time, should some force of circumstance deflect ” Bluebird ” from her intended course, all the marking flags and ports a’re being constructed of paperweight material, easily brushed aside without affecting the steering of the car. Sir Malcolm has fitted two new instru

ments to ” Bluebird.” One is the Elliott Autographic Accelerometer, which records the relation between rolling and wind resistance, and the other is the Kodak Electric Instrument Recorder, which will make a cinematographic record of the instrument readings, thus relieving the driver of the burden of glancing at the instrument board while steering the car at unchartered speeds.

“Speed Of The Wind”

George Eyston’s car has a stern task before it. Jenkins and Cobb have done wonders with some of the figures, as witness the covering of 152 miles in one hour. However Eyston and Eldridge, the co-designer, are confident that they can deal with the existing records, and the good wishes of all enthusiasts will go. with them and their reserve drivers, C. S. Staniland and A. Denly.