Malcolm Campbell was born on 11th March 1885, the son of a Scottish diamond merchant. He was educated at a prep school near Guildford, Surrey and then went to Uppingham - a traditional public school. He left home at the age of eighteen to carve out his own career as a businessman. His success in this field provided the wealth and means to pursue his passion for speed.
Malcolm Campbell first began his racing career not with cars or boats but with motorcycles. In 1902 he bought his first one, second-hand for fifteen pounds and later with another one he gained a gold medal in the London to Land’s End trial in 1906. This was the first of three successive gold medals he was to achieve between 1906 and 1908 to prove his result was not a fluke.
Malcolm Campbell was a member of Lloyds and as his business fortunes in the city improved he ventured into cars and at virtually the same time flying. In 1910 he built his own aeroplane after seeing a film of the Wright brothers in flight. Despite only a few photographs, a visit to see the Bleriot machine when it came to London and little money, Malcolm Campbell constructed a twin J.A.P. motorbike engine powered machine. On its first test run it did in fact leave the ground and fly before narrowly missing some spectators and crashing to the ground. The cost of repair was greater than Malcolm Campbell could afford and thus ended his brief aviation career.
Malcolm Campbell returned to racing, this time on four wheels at Brooklands in Surrey, with a 1903 Peugeot, a Darracq and then a Lion-Peugeot, which he named “The Flapper”. Racing at Brooklands was run on horse-racing lines in the early days and it was normal practice for drivers to name their cars. Malcolm Campbell liked a horse named ‘The Flapper’ and consequently named his cars the same. He was about to name his new Darracq ‘Flapper III’ just before its first outing in 1912 when he was recommended to see Maeterlinck’s opera “The Blue Bird” which was playing in London. The play was about the pursuit of happiness, hope and success and on the way home it occurred to Malcolm Campbell that this was an ideal name for his car and of course it would need to be painted blue. Despite the fact that it was now late in the evening and all the shops were shut he found an oil chandler and bought some blue paint. He painted the car there and then arriving at Brooklands the next day for the cars first race with the paint still wet!
There were many other Bluebirds that followed the Darracq, including a Schneider and a Sunbeam, before the outbreak of the First World War. Malcolm Campbell was a regular at Brooklands winning many races over varying distances before war broke out the day after the 1914 August Bank Holiday event.
After the war there were numerous surplus aero engines used, as the power source for cars and one such vehicle was the Sunbeam designed by Louis Coatalen, which captured the World’s Land Speed Record at 133.75mph for the flying mile in the capable hands of Kenelm Lee Guinness. Malcolm Campbell now had a desire for record breaking despite the inherent dangers and the fact that he was a family man with the birth of his son Donald less than a year before. He tried to buy the Sunbeam in 1922 but Coatalen would not sell it. Malcolm Campbell did however persuade Coatalen to let him borrow it for the Yorkshire Automobile Club’s meeting to take place in June at Saltburn. Here Malcolm Campbell attained his first record at 138.08mph but unfortunately the official international body, The Commission Sportive refused to accept the figure as the timing had been carried out by synchronised stopwatches.
Eventually Malcolm Campbell managed to pursuade Coatalen to sell the Sunbeam and Campbell took it to the Danish Automobile Club’s international speed trials in 1923 at the island of Fanoe. Again, Malcolm Campbell set a new record and again The Commission Sportive rejected it. This time the apparatus was not of an officially approved make. Malcolm Campbell returned to Fanoe a year later in 1924 but the event was not as successful as the previous. The sands were in poor condition and the control of the spectators was poor. On the first run both rear tyres were ripped off Bluebird and narrowly missed the crowd. Malcolm Campbell protested to the officials about the standards of safety and only set off again when he declined to take any responsibility for anything that might happen. Sadly, this time a front tyre came off Bluebird at 140mph and killed a boy in the crowd.
Despite still failing to set a record Malcolm Campbell was undeterred and sought about finding a suitable venue, finding it in South Wales at Pendine. After a brief visit, Malcolm Campbell returned with Bluebird and on 25th September 1924 in unfavourable weather conditions he averaged 146.16mph over two runs and had at last succeeded in setting his first official Land Speed Record. In July of the following year Malcolm Campbell returned to Pendine with Bluebird and in front of a large crowd reached 152.8mph with an average of 150.7mph over the flying mile. This was the last run of this particular Bluebird, as earlier in October 1924 Malcolm Campbell had had work started on a new Bluebird at the K.L.G. plugs works in London, designed with a top target speed of 180mph. While work continued, MC decided to go off in search of buried treasure on Cocos Island in the South Seas with Kenelm Lee Guiness. When he returned after this unsuccessful adventure he found that progress had been slow and it was unlikely that the new ‘Bluebird’ would run in 1925. This concerned Malcolm Campbell, as there were other drivers eager to attack the record and that the world record that he currently held would be taken from him.
During the 1920’s Malcolm Campbell raced at Brooklands against both Parry Thomas and Henry Segrave competing in numerous races including the first British Grand Prix in August 1926. All three also took on the challenge of the world land speed record with Parry Thomas taking the record from Malcolm Campbell in early 1926 while the new ‘Bluebird’ was still incomplete. He then devoted the rest of the year to finishing the car and had it moved from the K.L.G. plugs works to his home at Povey Cross in Surrey where there was a very well equipped workshop. The public launch was at the end of 1926 but it wasn’t until January 1927 when the new ‘Bluebird’ made its first run at Pendine. Conditions were appalling and there were problems with the car, which necessitated a return to Povey Cross. The team returned two weeks later and attempted to run ‘Bluebird’ again although the beach conditions were again dreadful. After days of delay waiting for better weather, Malcolm Campbell finally proved the new ‘Bluebird’ by recapturing the record from Parry Thomas at 174.2mph.
The 180mph barrier was now the next target and early in March 1927 Parry Thomas took his car ‘Babs’ back to Pendine to try and beat Campbell’s record but unfortunately he had a fatal accident when his car crashed and he was killed by the flailing drive chain. Malcolm Campbell was deeply affected by the loss of his friend and rival and in fact never raced at Pendine again. Neither the short five mile beach at Pendine or the seven mile beach at Southport Sands were safe for speeds approaching 200mph and so attention now switched to Daytona USA, which gave the racers a track over three times longer.
Henry Segrave was the first to set a record at Daytona with an average speed of 203.793mph in March 1927 and Malcolm Campbell knew that not only had he lost his record again but also that his new current car the Napier ‘Bluebird’ was underpowered. Malcolm Campbell managed to secure consent from the Air Ministry and Napier to use the same 900hp Sprint Lion VII engine, which was being used in the Supermarine S5 monoplane to be entered in the Schneider Cup air races in the autumn of 1927. After R.K.Pierson the Chief Designer with Vickers Aviation Ltd used wind tunnel tests, ‘Bluebird’s’ body shape was substantially changed with the famous coachbuilders Mulliner carrying out the bodywork.
The 1928 annual meeting was the biggest event ever to be held at Daytona with Malcolm Campbell with his new improved ‘Bluebird’ and two of the other then fastest cars in the world the Stutz ‘Black Hawk’ driven by Frank Lockhart and ‘White Triplex’ driven by Ray Keech. Malcolm Campbell’s first run of 214.797mph and his second of 199.667mph gave an average of 206.956mph beating Segrave’s record and Malcolm Campbell held the official record again.
Malcolm Campbell was certain that a more suitable venue than a beach, which varied depending on both wind and tide, could be found and started investigating possible sites in Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Jordan, South Africa and the Sahara. The last site was some 600 miles north of Timbuctoo and would have been perfect if not for the fact that it was some 400 miles from the nearest railway and habitation. The next best venue was a dried up lake bed in South Africa at Verneuk Pan some 450 miles north east of Cape Town and Malcolm Campbell and his team set off with ‘Bluebird’ early in 1929.
Unfortunately after a period of five years of no rainfall it poured down almost as soon as Malcolm Campbell arrived and the lakebed flooded. Campbell returned to Cape Town where he learnt on his birthday that Henry Segrave had set a new land speed record at 231.44mph at Daytona Beach in his new car “Golden Arrow”. Campbell went back to Verneuk Pan and after the lakebed dried and a course was prepared achieved a run at 218.5mph proving that the top speed of ‘Bluebird’ had indeed been reduced by the high altitude. The prepared track at Verneuk Pan was 12 miles long so Campbell decided to go for the longer distance records and he set the world 5 mile record at 212mph.
Malcolm Campbell knew that to regain the record he needed a brand new car and so the whole of 1930 was devoted to this aim. Again Reid Railton designed the car and again the power source was a Napier engine used in the 1929 Schneider Cup plane. When the car was put on show to the public for three days in London in January there was a permanent traffic jam in Picadilly. The team went to Daytona Beach and on February 5th 1931 secured the world record at 245.736mph making Malcolm Campbell the first to travel faster than four miles a minute. On his return to London he was knighted by King George V and was given a civic welcome and a Mansion House banquet. Malcolm Campbell was now considered one of the most famous people in Britain.
Having now achieved five world land speed records for the measured mile, won numerous races at Brooklands and been awarded with a knighthood, most people would have been satisfied with this level of success and begun to take things a little easier. But the lure of being the first through the 300mph barrier was too much for Malcolm Campbell and he set about the task of improving ‘Bluebird’ and reaching this target.
During the rest of 1931 the bodywork of ‘Bluebird’ was redesigned and more power was obtained from the Napier engine. The revitalised car, like all the ‘Bluebirds’, was displayed at Brooklands where Malcolm Campbell gave a demonstration run before he went to Daytona Beach again. Here on 24th February 1932 Campbell improved his own world land speed record by a further 8mph to 253.97mph.
In order to raise the record even further and reach 300mph Malcolm Campbell knew that a new and more powerful engine was required and he managed to source a Rolls-Royce “R” engine. This V12, 37 litre supercharged unit was later used in a more developed form during the Second World War where it was known as the Merlin and used in the Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes. The car was redesigned so much by Reid Railton that it was practically a new vehicle. It was lengthened to 27 feet and fitted with specially developed tyres by Dunlops. Malcolm Campbell despite knowing the dangers of running the car at Daytona Beach at even higher speeds took the new ‘Bluebird’ there in 1933. The team were there for several weeks before conditions were favourable enough to make a record attempt. On the 22nd February 1933 Malcolm Campbell managed to raise the record, which he still held, to 272.46mph for the measured mile but there was so much wheelspin due to the sand surface that an estimated 50mph was being lost.
The rest of 1933 and all of 1934 was devoted to redesigning ‘Bluebird’ for what was to be its last incarnation for Malcolm Campbell. The car was again lengthened, the bodywork made full width, and independent drive to the rear wheels, which were now twin were added. A pair of servo-operated air brakes was fitted to the rear wheel fairings and nearly a ton of ballast added to assist traction. ‘Bluebird’ was taken back to Daytona Beach for its first record attempt in 1935 and finally on March 7th Malcolm Campbell succeeded in improving his record to an average of 276.82mph. This was the last time the beach was used for record attempts and remains the venues ultimate record. Again, despite all the work of the previous two years there was still wheelspin and the frustrated Campbell knew that he had the car capable of 300mph if only he could find a suitable venue.
Malcolm Campbell had known of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah for some years, but after his experience at Verneuk Pan in 1929, he had decided that it was better to deal with the devil you know and had decided to continue his attempts at Daytona Beach. But now, with ‘Bluebird’ loosing traction on the sands the racer Ab Jenkins finally lured Campbell to the salt flats at Bonneville. Even with the loss of power due to the high altitude there were many advantages of the salt flats with a harder, flatter surface, longer prepared track and better weather. 
Malcolm Campbell set off for Bonneville with his son Donald who was now 14 years old, sailing across the Atlantic to New York and then flying on to Salt Lake City. The trip was highly successful and on the 3rd September 1935 Malcolm Campbell achieved his ambition of being the first through the 300mph barrier and the first to set a World Land Speed Record at Bonneville with a two way average over the measured mile of 301.13mph.
With his final target reached surely now Sir Malcolm Campbell at the age of 50 would stop record breaking and settle for more tranquil activities. But the desire for record breaking was too strong. He now set his sights on the World Water Speed Record, which in 1935 was held by the American Gar Wood at 124.86mph with the aim of returning the record to Britain.
... to be continued
© Anthony Edwards
Acknowledgements
"BP Book of the Racing Campbells" by Richard Hough
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