Three hundred miles per hour in 1935 is
mind-boggling, especially as it was set
on a powdery, unstably loose salt surface
with that enormous supercharged
engine – itself the size of a small car
– driving the rear wheels through
canvas-belted tyres. To counteract
severe wheel-spin, the team fitted twin
rear wheels to increase grip. Despite
this, contemporary reports state that
Campbell’s rear wheels were spinning at
350mph during his top speed run.
1935 was an era predating six point
harnesses, Nomex race suits, full face
crash helmets or roll cages. This was an
era of motorsport that adopted cotton
overalls, flying goggles and boat-like
wooden-rimmed steering wheels. And
gritted teeth.
As a point of historical reference, the
1935 Hillman Minx family car produced
a paltry 30bhp and had a top speed,
downhill, with a wind behind it, of just
60mph.
If Campbell’s land speed record is
testimony to his bravery, what he
achieved on water just a few years later
on Lake Maggiore in Italy is conclusive,
although the fine line between bravery
and madness is perhaps murkier.
Having officially retired from land speed
record breaking, Campbell turned his
attention to water and in particular
the outright world water speed record
that had stood for five years, set by an
American named Garfield Wood.
The speed to beat? 124.86mph.
Even on a millpond-smooth, mirror-
like surface, travelling fast on water
is unpredictable at the best of times.
124mph is easily fast enough for a plane
to take off and at this speed on water a
boat is trying to do precisely the same.
The fine line between planing across the
surface and actually becoming a plane is
knife-edged.
In the late 1930s little was known about
the fluid dynamics of water at these sorts
of speeds. In short, Campbell and his
contemporaries were entering unknown
territory, literally flying by the seats of
their pants.
FACING DEATH
Using the enormously powerful R37
motor, plucked from the record breaking
Bluebird car, Campbell delivered the
gargantuan engine to an Isle of White
boatbuilder along with his own precise
design criteria. The boat used a gearbox
that span the propeller at three times the
engine’s speed.
This vessel (K3) – a real triumph of
thirties art nouveau styling - took
eighteen months to build and when it
was finished Campbell managed to beat
the original record in 1937 and break it
again in 1938 – both times at Maggiore
– and in a new boat (K4) in 1939 on lake
Coniston in Cumbria he set the bar at a
world-beating 141.74mph.
The noise and spectacle at this speed
must have been terrifying. The tail-
mounted R37 engine ran sixteen
short, individual exhaust stubs which
terminated just a few inches proud of the
engine cowling.
The current unbeaten world water
speed record, set back in 1978 by
Australian Ken Warby’s jet-powered
Spirit of Australia at 317mph is a graphic
demonstration of just how difficult and
dangerous water speed records can be.
He is famously quoted as saying, ‘those
that have tried (to beat it) have died’.
As a result, his amazing record, set in a
back-yard-built boat, still stands to this
day.
Image from the Florida Photographic Collection
A LEGEND IN SPEED...
eighty man-hours – beating, rolling, hand buffing. The
five-layer mohair-weave fabric top fluidly stows itself
away in under thirty seconds at the press of a beautifully
weighted button to create the perfect, unfettered viewing
experience.
This is definitely not a vehicle for someone wanting
to slip by unnoticed. The Drophead Coupé’s size and
presence makes it very hard to ignore and wherever you
stop, this car is guaranteed to draw a small crowd and
eager questions. The Waterpseed’s exclusivity adds to
this phenomena and is sure to have pedestrians walking
into lampposts and to spawn a thousand camera phone
pictures.
To travel this way – roof up or roof down- is an
undisputed privilege – the exclusive territory of the
successful, the discerning… and the owners of very wide
and very long garages.
ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM DROP-
HEAD COUPE WATERSPEED COL-
LECTION
PRICE:
£435,000
ENGINE:
6.75 LITRE V12
POWER:
453BHP
TORQUE:
720NM
TOP SPEED: 149MPH
0-62:
5.8SECS
MPG:
19.1 COMBINED
-------------------------------------------
I
n September 1935, using a 36.5litre, 2,300bhp V12 Rolls-Royce R37
aeroplane engine, Malcolm Campbell set a new land speed record in
excess of 301mph on the salt beds of Bonneville, Utah...
