The fast show
It is almost 60 years since the land-speed record entered the jet age. Simon Arron rewinds to a golden age of pre-1963 wheel-driven power – hasty cars designed to make waves
Daytona Beach
February 5, 1931
Looking like something from a distant future alongside period road cars, Captain Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird crosses the finishing line to raise the land-speed record to 245.733mph – an achievement later recognised with a knighthood
BETTMANN ARCHIVE
Daytona Beach
February 22, 1933
It had yet to be acknowledged that smoking was potentially more harmful to one’s health than chasing speed records, so the now Sir Malcolm Campbell celebrated with a cigarette after raising the bar yet again, this time leaving it at 272.108mph
Daytona Beach
March 27, 1930
Irishman Kaye Don set a number of speed records at Brooklands and hoped to raise the land-speed record to 250mph at the wheel of Sunbeam’s Silver Bullet, powered by two supercharged V12s. He is pictured here on a test run, but the car fell short of expectations