Sir MALCOLM CAMPBELL , M.B.E. : 'The
Land Speed Record'
THIS EVENING'S BROADCAST is about the modem romance of speed by the most romantic figure in motoring today, and the holder of the world's land speed record.
It seems incredible that in a mere
thirty-six years the racing speed of a car should have increased from under forty miles an hour to over 270. Yet the very first of all speed records, made by the Marquis Chasseloup-Laubat in 1898, in an electric car, was at the then terrific speed of thirty-nine miles an hour. Rivalry between the Marquis and the German driver, Jenatzy, at last set up a final figure for the electric car of nearly sixty-six miles an hour.
The steam car took the record up to over seventy-five miles an hour. Daytona Beach came into the picture in 1903, when the record was raised to over ninety miles an hour. Next year Rigolly, at Ostend, was the first man to touch the 100 miles an hour mark.
How these records were again and again beaten will be heard in this talk.
A vivid description by Sir Malcolm of ' What it Feels Like' to drive at 270 miles per hour, is on page 259.