skywords
Donation Time
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Napier-Railton
- Thread starter skywords
- Start date
Nickodell
Donation Time
Great!!
The car was driven by John Cobb. He held the ultimate lap record at the track at an average speed of 143.44 mph achieved on 7 October 1935, the same Cobb who held the Land Speed Record longer than anyone else in history.
Driving the piston engined, wheel driven Railton Mobil Special he broke the Land Speed Record at Bonneville on August 23, 1939 at a speed of 367.91 m.p.h. Without this being beaten he raised the record to 394.19 m.p.h. in 1947, breaking 400 on one run. The record was unbeaten until 1963 when it was narrowly surpassed by Craig Breedlove in the jet powered Spirit of America.
During World War II he served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of Group Captain (eq. full colonel).
He died attempting to improve the water speed record at Loch Ness in the jet speedboat Crusader at a speed in excess of 200 mph. There is a memorial to him erected by the people of Glen Urquhart, which my wife and I have seen on one of our trops to Loch Ness. Like H.O.D. Seagrave (who used to race Sunbeams!) and Donald Campbell, he died while holding the land speed record, while going after the water speed record. We saw it happen in real time on TV, in September 1952. We were cheering him on and then "pow!"
The car was driven by John Cobb. He held the ultimate lap record at the track at an average speed of 143.44 mph achieved on 7 October 1935, the same Cobb who held the Land Speed Record longer than anyone else in history.
Driving the piston engined, wheel driven Railton Mobil Special he broke the Land Speed Record at Bonneville on August 23, 1939 at a speed of 367.91 m.p.h. Without this being beaten he raised the record to 394.19 m.p.h. in 1947, breaking 400 on one run. The record was unbeaten until 1963 when it was narrowly surpassed by Craig Breedlove in the jet powered Spirit of America.
During World War II he served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of Group Captain (eq. full colonel).
He died attempting to improve the water speed record at Loch Ness in the jet speedboat Crusader at a speed in excess of 200 mph. There is a memorial to him erected by the people of Glen Urquhart, which my wife and I have seen on one of our trops to Loch Ness. Like H.O.D. Seagrave (who used to race Sunbeams!) and Donald Campbell, he died while holding the land speed record, while going after the water speed record. We saw it happen in real time on TV, in September 1952. We were cheering him on and then "pow!"
O
odl21
wow. i love those early aero-engine racers.
i wonder if there is anyone making similar (reproduction) stuff these days? it would be fantastic to build something like that. not an exact replica, just something along those lines.
chassis and bodywork would be feasible.
finding an old big aero engine should be ok.
even the suspension shouldn't be too hard.
but you'd need wheels, tires and brakes....
i wonder if there is anyone making similar (reproduction) stuff these days? it would be fantastic to build something like that. not an exact replica, just something along those lines.
chassis and bodywork would be feasible.
finding an old big aero engine should be ok.
even the suspension shouldn't be too hard.
but you'd need wheels, tires and brakes....
