Douglas was born in London but raised a New Zealander. While there, they heard that an American, Stanley Sayres, had raised the record from 141 to 160 mph (227 to 257 km/h), beyond K4's capabilities without substantial modification. Subsequently, he was a shareholder in a small engineering company called Kine Engineering, producing machine tools. She entered the measured kilometre at 8:46 am. Shortly after, on 16 September 1960, Campbell suffered a high-speed crash in Bluebird, fracturing his skull. The first of these marks was set at Ullswater on 23 July 1955, where he achieved a speed of 202.32 mph (325.60 km/h) but only after many months of trials and a major redesign of Bluebird's forward sponson attachments points. Bluebird finished third. The project began when diver Bill Smith was inspired to look for the wreck after hearing the Marillion song "Out of this World" (from the album Afraid of Sunlight), which was written about Campbell and Bluebird.[16]. Home; Books ; Thursday, June 2, 2011. The wreckage all evidenced an impact from left to right, wiping the whole front of the boat off in that direction. The … Problems with Bluebird's fuel system meant that the engine could not reach full speed, and so would not develop maximum power. Just over two years later, on 4 January 1967, Campbell was killed attempting to set an eighth WSR. [23], On Thursday 7 December 2006 Gina Campbell, Donald's daughter, formally gifted the recovered wreckage of Bluebird K7 to the Ruskin Museum in Coniston on behalf of the Campbell Family Heritage Trust. BP offered to find another venue and eventually after a long search, Lake Eyre, in South Australia, was chosen. Stroud, UK: The History Press. This greatly reduced hydrodynamic drag, as the third planing point would now be the propeller hub, meaning one of the two propeller blades was always out of the water at high speed. He was hospitalised with a fractured skull and a burst eardrum, as well as minor cuts and bruises, but CN7 was a write-off. This time the target was 300 mph (480 km/h). Once smooth water was reached some 700 metres (766 yd) or so from the start of the kilometre, K7 demonstrated cycles of ground effect hovering before accelerating hard at 0.63 g to a peak speed of 328 mph (528 km/h) some 200 metres or so from the southern marker buoy. On the night before his death, while playing cards he had drawn the queen and the ace of spades. His frustration was compounded by American Craig Breedlove having already exceeded Campbell’s speed, although this was not officially recognised by the FIA, as Breedlove’s Spirit of America was not wheel-driven by its jet engine. A Brief History of Donald Campbell and Bluebird K7 By Neil Sheppard. It hadn't rained there for nine years and the vast dry bed of the salt lake offered a course of up to 20-mile (32 km). It was a great day for sailing and a good learning experience. The boat still contained fuel in the engine fuel lines, discounting the fuel-starvation theory. As of May 2009 permission has been given for a one-off set of proving trials of Bluebird on Coniston Water, where she will be tested to a safe speed for demonstration purposes only. On 23 November 1964, Donald Campbell achieved the Australian water speed record of 216 miles per hour (348 km/h) on Lake Bonney Riverland in South Australia, although he was unable to smash the world record on that attempt.[7][8]. The ‘egg-box’ construction was apparently selected in order to sustain the pressure differential of around 3lb per square inch expected in the engine bay. I hope you will check in here from time to time to hear about what I am up to, whether in the world of Pauline scholarship, where I will be continuing to fight the good fight, or in relation to my wandering journey through life, which takes me down some interesting byways. He was travelling at more than 300mph (483 km/h) on Coniston Water when the boat was catapulted 50ft (15m) into the air after its nose lifted. [25] For safety reasons, there are no plans to attempt to reach any higher speeds. "[15], The wreckage of Campbell's craft was recovered by the Bluebird Project between October 2000, when the first sections were raised, and May 2001, when Campbell's body was recovered. Some of his early vehicles were named “Flapper”, he had 2 ”Flappers” altogether, apparently named after a racehorse he fancied. [citation needed] He was generally light-hearted and was generally, at least until his 1960 crash at the Bonneville Salt Flats, optimistic in his outlook. CN7. Steve Hogarth, lead singer for Marillion, was present at the funeral and performed the song "Out of this World" solo. The CMN8 was a very clean design that shares rear wheel features with other vehicles. He remains the only person to set land and water speed records in the same calendar year. The weather was appalling, and K7 suffered an engine failure when her air intakes collapsed and debris was drawn into the engine. English racecar driver and land & water speed record holder, For other people named Donald Campbell, see, Rocket car plans and final water speed record attempt, World speed records established by Donald Campbell, GRO Register of Births: JUN 1921 2a 815 KINGSTON — Donald M. Campbell, mmn = Whittall. [20] The funeral was attended by his widow Tonia, daughter Gina, other members of his family, members of his former team and admirers. He remains the only person to set both world land and water speed records in the same year (1964). On the sixth run in CN7, Campbell lost control at over 360 mph and crashed. [1] Designed by Ken and Lew Norris, the K7 was a steel-framed, aluminium-bodied, three-point hydroplane with a Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl axial-flow turbojet engine, producing 3,500-pound-force (16 kN) of thrust. It was essentially the same car, but with the addition of a large stabilising tail fin and a reinforced fibreglass cockpit cover. To extract more speed, and endow the boat with greater high-speed stability, in both pitch and yaw, K7 was subtly modified in the second half of the 1950s to incorporate more effective streamlining with a blown Perspex cockpit canopy and fluting to the lower part of the main hull. Bluebird, parked at the boat club on the Delaware River, has a new paint job (hull only) and may, if all goes well, be launched today. But rains that year also prevented Bluebird from reaching its full potential, and Campbell was disappointed not to have posted a speed in excess of 450mph. 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