From the archives of Bob Montgomery
RECORD BREAKING: Given the competitive nature of man, it was only a matter of time once cars became a practical reality, before record breaking became a regular practice.
And naturally it was ultimate speed that had - and still has - the greatest attraction for these record breakers. The World Land Speed Record beckoned from an early date; 1898 in fact, when Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat covered a one-way kilometre in a special electric car at Achères, near Paris, at a speed of 39.24 mph.
At the time it was not expected that cars could go much faster, as fears were expressed for the health of any motorist foolish enough to attempt to do so. It was widely held that they would succumb to heart failure or simply be unable to breathe. However, notwithstanding these fears, by April 1899 the record had been raised to 65.79 mph by Camille Jenatzy, the first time 100 km/h had been bettered. Again, an electric car had been used.
By July 1904, the 100 mph mark had been breached for the first time by Louis Rigolly over the flying kilometre at Ostend in a fearsome 100 hp Gobron-Brillié at a speed of 103.56 mph. Thereafter, the record was only slowly improved upon, and it was not until 1925 that the 150 mph mark was reached. In that year, Malcolm Campbell drove a V-12 Sunbeam to a new record of 150.87 mph on Pendine Sands. Thus began the golden era of record breaking with fierce rivalries between the main exponents of record breaking. Campbell's great rival, Sir Henry Segrave became the first to exceed 200 mph on land when he took the 1,000 hp Sunbeam to a speed of 203.79 mph at Daytona Beach in America in 1927.
Campbell responded with one of his many famous Bluebird cars, pushing the record to 253.968 mph at Daytona in 1932. The record is the average of two runs - one in either direction - to eliminate any advantage gained from a following wind and notably, Campbell reached 267.459 mph on one of his runs. And it was to Campbell that the honour of being the first to reach 300 mph fell in 1935.
His bid was at Bonneville where, despite the 4,000 ft altitude reducing the power of his Rolls-Royce R-Type aero engine, he raised the record to 301.13 mph.
To John Cobb fell the distinction of reaching 350 mph in his Railton Special with two supercharged Napier Lion aero engines at Utah in September 1938. When war stopped play for several years, it was John Cobb who again took up the challenge in the immediate post-war years. In 1947, again at Utah, he exceeded 400 mph in one direction with a speed of 403.135 mph and an overall record of 394.196 mph.
Soon afterwards, various jet and rocket cars appeared on the scene setting ever higher speed marks, but no longer driving through the wheels of the car. Today, the record stands to Trust 2 which has breached the sound barrier on land at a speed of more that 700 mph, something which must have seemed unimaginable to the record breakers of the 1920s and 30s.
Incidentally, to Irishman Kenelm Lee Guinness goes the distinction of setting the last World Land Speed Record to be set on a track when he achieved 133.75 mph on the banked Brooklands track in the 350 hp Sunbeam in 1922.
Ordinary roads continued to be used for record attempts until the early 1920s, and the last person to hold a record set on an open (tree-lined) road was Ernest Eldridge who drove a 300 hp FIAT along the roads near Arpajon, near Paris, in July 1924. In doing so he set a record of 146.01 mph and even took a passenger with him!