Land speed records set on World's Most Famous Beach® in Daytona & Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah

YouTube download / Spark video / Brits Sir Malcolm Campbell, shown above, and Henry Segrave push for the world land speed records in the 1920s and 1930s in locations like the World's Most Famous Beach in Daytona Beach, Florida.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- On March 29, 1927, Major Henry Segrave and his Sunbeam 1000 hp Mystery set a world land speed record on the Daytona Beach Road Course, at 203.79 mph (327.97 km/h), peaking at a top speed of 211 mph. 

Sir Malcolm Campbell in a Bluebird bested British challenger Segrave with a record 206.956 mph, eclipsing Segrave's then-record run later that year. 

This would set in motion a battle among several men over the next decade. By the 1960s, the speeds had doubled and in 1997, a new record of 713.990 miles would be set by a Brit at the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, which stands to this day.

In 1931, Campbell took a new and improved Bluebird to Daytona Beach and set his fifth land-speed record: 246.088 mph. That year, he was knighted by King George V for his achievements. Campbell went on to set three more consecutive land-speed records at Daytona Beach: 253.968 mph in 1932, 272.465 mph in 1933, and 276.710 mph in early 1935.

Campbell took Bluebird to the searing Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah. On Sept. 3, 1935, where he set a new record of 301.129 mph.

During the 1960s, American Craig Breedlove held the record three times during that decade, the last with Spirit of America – Sonic 1, which reached 594 mph (955.95 km/h) on Nov, 15, 1965, at the Bonneville Salt Flats. 

Brit Andy Green becomes land speed standard bearer in 1997 

Brit Richard Noble had reached 634.051 mph (1,020.406 km/h) in the jet-powered Thrust2 at Black Rock Desert in Nevada, in 1983, and held the record for nearly 14 years. Then, on Sept. 25,  1997, at the same location, fellow Brit Andy Green reached 713.990 mph (1,149.055 km/h) in the jet-propelled Thrust SSC, packed with a pair of Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engines.

 On Oct. 15, 1997, Green made another official attempt on the land-speed record, which is measured as an average of two runs made across a measured mile, both to be completed within an hour. The result? An average speed across both runs of 763.035 mph (1,226.986 km/h) – a new world land-speed record that still stands. 

Green’s record was the first official land-speed time to exceed the speed of sound.

 

YouTube download / Documentary National video / Supersonic land speeds -- reaching mach 1.

Andy Green sets land speed record in 1997 at Salt Flats in Utah / Headline SurferBrit Andy Green sets land speed record / Headline SurferBrit Andy Green becomes land speed standard bearer in 1997 

Fellow Brit Richard Noble had reached 634.051 mph (1,020.406 km/h) in the jet-powered Thrust2 at Black Rock Desert in Nevada, in 1983, and held the record for nearly 14 years. 

Then, on Sept. 25,  1997, at the same location, fellow Brit Andy Green, shown here, reached 713.990 mph (1,149.055 km/h) in the jet-propelled Thrust SSC, packed with a pair of Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engines, as shown here. 

On Oct. 15, 1997, Green made another official attempt on the land-speed record, which is measured as an average of two runs made across a measured mile, both to be completed within an hour. The result? An average speed across both runs of 763.035 mph (1,226.986 km/h) – a new world land-speed record that still stands. 

Green’s record was the first official land-speed time to exceed the speed of sound.

Sources: Wikipedia, This Day in History and Guinness World Records

-- Compiled by Henry Frederick, Headline Surfer