Record Breaking Places

Daytona provided up to 23 miles of straight, gently sloping hard-packed sands over 500 feet wide at low tide. It was also bordered on the shore side by a continuous run of grass-tufted dunes providing ideal vantage points for spectators. The beach itself runs from Daytona at the south eastern end to Ormond at the north west on a narrow half-mile wide spit of land separated from the East Coast of Florida, USA by the Halifax River. Although the length of beach at Daytona seems to make it ideal for racing it still suffers like any other beach with its condition dependent on the last tide. Weather conditions as the tide goes out determine the hardness of the sand and the size, shape and distribution of ripples on the surface. The wind at Daytona is mainly from the north east but when it blows from the west across the low land acting directly against the sea it disturbs the Atlantic rollers which pound the beach creating deep gullies and ripples.

1903 was the first officially organised event with Winton setting a new beach record for the measured mile of 68.198mph. It was only a year later in 1904, that the first Daytona record appears in the record books. Millionaire William K. Vanderbilt in his Mercedes took the record away from Henry Ford with a 39 second measured mile at 92.30mph on 27th January although the record was not recognised by European authority.

At the next annual speed event in January 1905 the Englishman Arthur Macdonald raised the record to 104.65mph in his Napier but again it was a record not recognised in Europe. The beach conditions were far from ideal and on his return to Britain he commented of Daytona that, "it is not by any means a first class track for fast racing....at times it was in a shocking condition". In fact during the 1905 event the sand was never good and was left frequently in a rippled condition. So much so on one day that Macdonald refused to drive on it.

The fourth annual event in January 1906 saw the next significant records at Daytona with petrol cars competing against Fred Marriott in the twin engined steam powered Stanley Steamer 'Rocket'. The makers were the Stanley brothers, identical twins sporting identical beards and bowler hats and with the future of their steam company depending on the performance of the 'Rocket' they were determined to prove the superiority of steam power. On the first day of the event, the 23rd January, Marriott won the Dewar's cup with a speed of 111.80mph finishing several seconds ahead of the nearest petrol car. This was from a slow rolling start and only 4 mph slower than the then world record set by Victor Hemery that same day when he raised his own record from 109.65 to 115.306mph. This was the last time Hemery was to set a world record in the Darracq V8. He had been barred from competing in Italy for a year for "insolent behaviour toward officials" and was still in a bad mood when he arrived in Daytona. After early practice runs he could see that he was faster than anything else around apart from Marriott, so as they lined up at the start during the elimination trials, Hemery revved his engine and flame from his engines open exhaust stacks blasted the wood and canvas-bodied steamer. Hemery was threatened with disqualification but fortunately for him the officials did not understand the barrage of French profanity which met their ears. Later on further disputes led to his disqualification and subsequently the Darracq Company fired him. Two days later Louis Chevrolet now driving the Darracq improved the record further to 117.647mph, although this was only recognised as a new world record for gasoline cars. Undaunted by these recent improvements, Marriot on the following day, the 26th January, completed the mile in 28.2 seconds to set a new speed record of 127.66mph - the first vehicle faster than 2 miles a minute. However, only his lower speed of 121.57mph for the kilometre was officially recognised by European authority.

At the fifth annual meeting in 1907, the Stanley brothers returned with their improved 'Rocket' again with Marriott at the wheel. It was 25th January, almost exactly a year to the day later and he was determined to improve on his own record, which still stood. Marriott noticed quite severe vibrations when passing over ripples in the sand but was undeterred. He began his nine-mile run up and entered the measured mile, but after only a quarter of a mile the 'Rocket' hit a rough patch of ripples and the front wheels lifted off the ground. The front of the car was airborne for over 100ft before coming back to the ground. At this time the car was off-line and heading towards the sea. The front wheels collapsed and the car then rolled over and over breaking into two, with the boiler rolling on further away from the wreckage. Miraculously Marriott survived when he was thrown clear as the car began to break up and was amazingly still conscious after this estimated crash speed of 150mph. Despite Marriott's survival, the Stanley brothers swore they would never prepare a car for record breaking again.

The annual events at Daytona continued with ever increasing speeds: Barney Oldfield in 1910 at 131.275mph; Ralph De Palma in 1919 with 149.87mph and Tommy Milton in 1920 with 156mph. Most of these though were one way runs and not officially recognised by the European Authorities. It wasn't until 1927 that the golden age of Daytona was really to begin. On 29th March Henry Segrave in a 3.75 tons red monster of a car powered by two Sunbeam engines and nicknamed "The Slug" set a new world record at an average speed of 203.793mph. This was the first world land speed record through the 200mph barrier. It began one of the most exciting periods of land speed record history with the record changing seven times in eight years and adding a further 75mph. All these records were set on the sands at Daytona.

The 1928 annual meeting was the biggest event ever to be held at Daytona and promised an exciting climax. Not only was Malcolm Campbell there with 'Bluebird', who had previously set the land speed record on Pendine Sands, but also two of the other then fastest cars in the world. Frank Lockhart was present with his 3 litre twin-engined supercharged 500bhp streamlined Stutz 'Black Hawk' and Ray Keech with an enormous 81 litre triple-engined 1,200-1,500bhp vehicle called 'White Triplex'. On the19th February Malcolm Campbell set an average of 206.956mph beating Segrave's record. Malcolm Campbell held the official record again but less than two months later in April 1928 Ray Keech returned to Daytona and at last returned the record to America with an average over the mile of 207.552mph.

In March of 1929 Segrave returned to Daytona with a new car called 'Golden Arrow' and returned the record to Britain with an average speed of 231.362mph for the mile. In the following year a car specifically designed to break the land speed record called the 'Silver Bullet' ran at Daytona but only produced a 190mph in one direction despite twin engines of 48,000cc combined. It was Malcolm Campbell who was next to break Segrave's record in the 1931 Bluebird at Daytona with an average of 246.09mph and he was knighted by George V on his return to London. The following year Campbell returned to Daytona and raised his own record to 253.09mph and then as if to show his domination of the land speed record at this time he returned the next year to raise it again, this time to 272.46mph in 'Bluebird IV'.

At this time there was a pier at Daytona and a 40feet wide arch had to be constructed in it at one point so that the cars could pass through. The pier was situated one mile from the north end of the course, so that on record attempts by Campbell, 'Bluebird' had to pass through it at 100mph. The construction of this pier made the beach unavailable as a course for setting 10-mile records although Campbell did break his own 5 mile record at 242.751mph here in 1932.

The last ultimate land speed record at Daytona was again by Campbell in 'Bluebird' on 7th March 1935 at a speed of 276.82mph. The peak speed on one run was 330mph and is the highest speed to be set on the beach. Campbell was well aware after these runs that there was more to be achieved from 'Bluebird' as the wheels were slipping on the sand surface. The beach was also a dangerous place at these excessive speeds steering a course on less than 500 feet between the sea on one side and dunes crowded with spectators on the other. Speed attempts moved to the Bonneville Salt Flats where Campbell was the first to break the 300mph barrier in September 1935.

Now that speed attempts were no longer safe at Daytona a new oval 4.1 mile Beach-Road course was created for stock car races with the first race staged the next year in March 1936. The course consisted of running for approximately 2 miles north along the beach before turning off the beach at the North Turn and taking the A1A road south for another 2 miles with a similar turn at the southern end to complete the course. One of the entrants in this first race was Bill France who later on in 1947 was a founder member of NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing). 1937 saw the inaugural Daytona 200 motorcycle race and a land speed record for a motorcycle was also set in this year on the beach by Joe Petrali on a Harley-Davidson at 136.183mph.

Racing continued on the beach and the beach-road course until 1958. Now the beach is lined almost continually with miles of multi-storey hotels. Bill France built the Daytona International Speedway in 1958 on land 4 miles from the beach. This is a 2.5 mile trioval design featuring 40ft wide and 31 degree banked turns and is still used today for the famous Daytona 500 NASCAR where lap records are in excess of 200mph. Adjacent to the course is Daytona USA where Malcolm Campbell's original 'Bluebird V' and a replica of the 'Stanley Steamer' can both be seen.