From the archives of Bob Montgomery
Donald Campbell was a 15-year-old boy when his famous father, Sir Malcolm, broke the land speed record at Bonneville, USA.
A slight child, he had been the victim of rheumatic fever and seemed destined for a quiet life as the head of a small engineering firm who also enjoyed the country life.
With the death of his father - by then a household name - in 1949 from a heart attack, something stirred within Donald which prompted him to follow in his father's footsteps into a life spent chasing the water and land speed records.
The next five years saw Donald capture world water speed records and, having achieved them, he began to conceive the idea of going after the land speed record as well.
He proposed the design and building of a turbine car which would be a showcase for British technology and which would be truly ground-breaking. The result of over one million man-hours expended on the project, this newest 'Bluebird' was built by the Norris Brothers, who had also designed Donald's Bluebird boat. Designed to exceed 500 mph, Bluebird's target to take the world land s4Speed record was 400 mph. Campbell had plenty of competition for the record: Craig Breedlove, Art and Walt Arfons and Mickey Thompson were all in pursuit of the same dream and all backed by corporate America.
The finished Bluebird was powered by a Bristol-Siddeley Proteus turbine and utilised four-wheel drive. The engine developed more than 4,000 bhp and the finished car had an unprecedented power-to-weight ratio of 2lb for 1 bhp. By August 1960 all was ready and Campbell and Bluebird travelled to Bonneville where Mickey Thompson had just run 372 mph. As Campbell grew more used to the characteristics of Bluebird he edged the speed higher until reaching 350 mph he got into a wild skid which resulted in Bluebird being written-off in a series of high-speed rolls from which Donald Campbell was fortunate to escape unscathed.
A virtually new Bluebird was rebuilt, incorporating a distinctive fin to aid high-speed stability and the search began for a new and more suitable venue for the planned record attempt. Eventually, Lake Eyre in Australia, some 400 miles from Adelaide, was selected.
Weather conditions at Lake Eyre did not favour the record attempt and it was only following a series of bizarre setbacks that Campbell and his dedicated team finally broke the lsLand speed record. In doing so they raised John Cobb's record of 394.20 mph set at Bonneville in 1947 to 403.10 mph. It was to be the last record - except for one set by Mickey Thompson - to be gained by a car whose engine drove its wheels, as a whole new generation of pure jet and rocket propelled cars raised the record almost out of sight over the next decade.
Donald Campbell lost his life attempting to regain the water speed record on Coniston Water on January 4th, 1967. His death marked the end of the most remarkable speed dynasty and the end of a very brave man who had lived in the shadow of his famous father. Between them, the Campbells, father and son, had established no fewer than 21 land and water speed records over a 40-year period.