No Prize Needed
There has never been a prize for holding
the World Land Speed Record, yet driving faster than anyone else captured
the imagination of most car enthusiasts since the invention of the
motor car itself.
Never more so than in the early part of last century,
when man and machine would combine to set, then break, record after
record.
The very first record, in 1898, and the following five records,
were set by electric cars. Then came the turn of steam-driven cars.
But by 1902 it was evident that the petrol engine was the answer (albeit
that borrowed from an engine designed to be used in the air, not on
land).
Although there is no limit to engine capacity, there
have been different rules governing the record.
As jet power was
developed through the 1950’s, organisers deemed there must
be direct drive from the engine to at least two wheels, thus ruling
out the possibility of using a jet engine to provide power by air
thrust alone.
Another important requirement was that the front wheels
had to be capable of being steered. In addition, two runs were to be
made in opposite directions within a period of one hour. This allowed
time for refueling and tyre changing, but helped cancel out any advantage
of wind or gradient. The speed was assessed as the average of the
two runs. To qualify for a new record the car had to better the existing
record by at least one per cent.
However in the very early days the
rules were not so well established, and while competitors had to
comply with a maximum weight limit, only one run was required to
set the record. Additionally, there have over the years been differences
of opinion about the timing apparatus used. In the very beginning,
of course, there were no recognised rules at all.
This was so until
1904, when the International Association of Motor Clubs was formed
in an effort to secure world-wide agreement. It is widely accepted
today that the Germans invented the motor-car, however it was the
French that were the first to organise races, and so it came about
that the headquarters of the first world body to control motor sport,
the Association Internationale des Automobiles Clubs Reconnus, was
in Paris.
The Rules Were Always Changing
In time, the A.I.A.C.R. became the F.I.A. (Federation Internationale
de L’Auto), whose Sporting Commission controls
all motor sport through the affiliated national clubs.
In the early
years of this century the French and the Americans failed to agree
over rival claims to the highest speeds, and this led to conflicting
lists being regarded as “official” in their respective
countries.
Even today, when there is international agreement on these
matters, the names of some of the early record-breakers differ in the
lists maintained by different motoring organisations. Therefore the
list as detailed below may be contradictory to that which you have
seen elsewhere, either in books or on the internet.
The French, who
were the first to tackle a land speed record, introduced the first
rules. They laid down that the run must be made over a measured kilometre.
Later they modified this to impose the rule that runs must be made
in two directions.
Then another requirement was added, that record
cars should be equipped with a reverse gear. Later still, hand-timing
with a stop watch was ruled out and electrical timing insisted upon.
All these were common-sense provisions introduced in the light of experience.
At one time, the maximum weight limit of 1,000 kilograms which applied
to Grand Prix cars in the early 1900's was also imposed on record-breakers,
but this was short-lived. It was followed by the imposition of a rule
that the interval between the two runs in opposite directions should
not be more than half an hour, later lengthened to one hour.
This again
was a commonsense rule to prevent drivers making one run, then waiting
hours or even days for ideal conditions for the return run. A study
of the medley of vehicles used for the many attempts on the land speed
record over the years reveals that there are very few ideas of propulsion
and the application of power that have not been tried. Some of them
did not prove entirely practical. It is doubtful if a complete list
of all the attempts ever made exists anywhere.
The cars officially
credited by the R.A.C. as having held the record represent only a handful
of the number of unsuccessful attempts, which
is probably in the hundreds. The word "unsuccessful" should
be qualified; in some cases the driver did exceed the existing record,
but did not conform to the rules in some way and so failed to take
their place on the list.
Very little limitation has been imposed upon
the type of vehicle used, which may be of any engine size; one of the
biggest-ever was the American Triplex with a capacity of no less than
81,118 ci. The reason it is difficult to apply an engine size capacity
is the fact that there is no land speed record “class” as
such. Speed records could be taken in any one of 15 internationally
recognised classes, ranging in engine size from 400 cc up to over 5000
cc.
The fastest speed in any class, irrespective of engine size, qualified
as the world record. A close inspection of the following list will
also reveal just how much more difficult each new attempt on the record
became.
At the start, the record changed hands even on the same day,
and while the jump to the magic ton (100mph) would come about in quick
time (by 1904), it would take another 16 years for the record to climb
to 150mph.
It was another seven years before the 200 mph mark was passed
by Sir Henry Segrave, and 12 years more before Sir Malcolm Campbell
took the record over 250 mph in 1932.
By this time engineering was a
much more exact science, in particular the study of metals and the
manufacture of high-speed tyres. So it was only three years before
the 300 mph hurdle was passed, again by Campbell, in 1935.
But even
with all the knowledge that was gained in the Second World War,
John Cobb was not able to put the two-way average over 400 mph in his
1947 attempt, although he did achieve this speed in one direction.
For a long time the belief persisted that the way to more speed was
by making using a larger capacity engine, and record-breakers tended
to use giant aero-engines in the search for enough power to beat their
rivals.
It was not until the 1930's that a more scientific approach
led to the building of cars which relied upon design rather than brute
force to achieve their objective. Curiously enough the very first record-breakers
in their crude electrically-driven cars realised the need for streamlined
bodywork. Jenatzy's "Jamais Contente" used a torpedo-shaped
shell with this in mind. Yet this apparently obvious principle was
soon lost, only to be re-discovered in the thirties.
As speeds rose
another serious problem presented itself to seekers after the ultimate
in speed, and this was the difficulty of finding a site which would
permit a long enough straight run for acceleration, the timed run,
and slowing down again. In the early days the French authorities nominated
certain sites as officially “recognized” for
record runs.
Finding The Ultimate Land Speed Record Venue
Then roads became too narrow for the speeds involved,
and wide stretches of sand were sought after and used until they too
became inadequate. Daytona Beach in Florida was a popular speed venue,
and Pendine Sands in Wales.
After unsuccessful experiments in Africa,
the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah served the purpose for many years.
The history of the record mirrors the development of the motor-car.
The first problem was to find enough power allied to reliability for
the short time needed to cover a mile or a kilometre.
Then transmitting
the power to the track became more difficult than producing it, so
that transmission, suspension and particularly engine cooling became
the pre-eminent problems. Some record-breakers used ice instead of
water to dispose of the heat generated. This is not a practical method
for longer runs, but tanks which could be re-packed with ice between
runs were a feature of many of the land speed record cars through the
1950’s.
In the early days the record speeds were not so far above those of
production cars, and record-breaking, like racing, helped to improve
the breed.
