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Lake Eyre |
After Donald Campbell’s serious crash in 1960 at the Bonneville Salt Flats, he was eager to find a new venue for his wheel driven Land Speed Record. British Petroleum sent out expedition parties out to look at various salt flats, and Lake Eyre, located in Southern Australia and approximately 450 miles inland from Adelaide, seemed ideal.
The lake consisted of 3,000 square miles of scorched, rock-hard salt which was very hard and flat and but marred by many salt "islands" which would have to be ground down somehow. The chance of rain was felt to be rather slim, as none had fallen for years, but it was so remote that the nearest sheep and cattle station was thirty miles away at Muloorina, and a road would need to be laid to transport supplies in.
The South Australian government were keen to allow Campbell to run Bluebird CN7 on these salt flats, and they agreed a nominal fee of £1 for Campbell’s extensive use of the salt flats. They also agreed to build a 400 yard wide causeway to the lake itself, and they graded sixty five miles of road from the railhead at Marree to Muloorina. The modified Bluebird CN7 looked less graceful than at Bonneville with the addition of a huge tailfin fitted for stability reasons.
There were no trees or bushes for miles on the salt flats and with no clouds in the sky, within seconds you had no sense of direction. There was the sense of eeriness, enhhanced by the locals who had put a battered old car on the road to Lake Eyre driven by two phantom sheep driver skeletons - the guardians of the lake.
The people who survived here were sheep owners and Aborigines, one of the oldest civilisations in the world. Round the campfires stories were told. Campbell was captivated by one story, he did not believe it, but it was a good story, Aborigine myth states ‘in the beginning of time, sweet, clear water lapped the shores of Lake Eyre. In those far-off days, two of their number Purleemill and Wimbakaboto, had a baby son in their home on the western plains. An evil man, Tirlta, was jealous of their child and their happiness, and in the darkness of night came and murdered them and went away gloating. According to the legend, this was the origin of the Aborigine’s sin, and to punish Tirlta, the gods turned him into stone. The tears of the spirits turned the waters of the lake to salt and the tradition says that anyone who intrudes into its territory will be swallowed up for ever'.
Campbell went to Lake Eyre at various times between 1963 and 1964, and experienced nothing but problems with the weather. When the team was ready, heavy rain would fall and flood the tracks where he was running, and when the desert began to dry out it took quite a long time.
On test runs, Bluebird's wheels would punch holes in the hard crust like surface, and water would come through from underneath.
On the Friday 17th July 1964, in less than ideal conditions, Campbell achieved 403.10mph on his first run. While the tyres were being changed, Campbell was found staring at the open cockpit window. Afterwards, he said he saw his father’s reflection who told him ’Now you know what it felt like in 1935, but don’t worry old boy, it’ll be all right’. With this, Leo said ’Ok skipper, we’re ready when you are’ and this brought him back to reality. Campbell returned on the same track, which now had grooves in it from his previous run, and amazingly achieved 403.10mph. He’d done it at last. Campbell had officially broken the wheel driven Land Speed Record.
John Bullivant, 2002
‘Bluebird And The Dead Lake – The Story Of The Strangest Record Ever Won’ by John Pearson.
‘Land Speed Record – From 39.24 to 600 + mph’ By Cyril Posthumus & David Tremayne.
‘The Record Breakers – Sir Malcolm and Donald Campbell Land And Water Speed Kings Of The 20th Century’ by Leo Villa & Tony Gray.