245.733 m.p.h.

Capt. Malcolm Campbell, British racing driver, ordered his mechanics to give the fishtailed, monster-snouted Bluebird a shove. Slipping into first gear he pointed her up Daytona Beach toward the judges' stand. A white mist hung over the course and the sand was wet. When he was going 80 m.p.h. he shifted the Napier motor to second speed. At 125 m.p.h. he changed to high. The motor settled into a rising drone like the hum of an enormous bee. At the end of the ten-mile course, without stopping for the usual tire change and mechanical adjustment, he turned around and drove back again. Mist obscured the timing trap where a red bulls-eye was hung to guide him. Slightly off his course Capt. Campbell nearly missed the guide, but saw it in time and swerved into the measured mile without taking his foot off the throttle. His average time for the two trips-- 245.733 rn.p.h.. faster by 14 m.p.h. than the late Sir Henry Segrave's previous world record. Next day in a little car he set a new world record of 94.031 m.p.h. for cars of less than 45 cubic inches piston displacement. Said he of both runs: "I was lucky. . . . The wet sand cut my speed down. . . . High speed is nothing if you have control of the car. . . .

"There is plenty more speed in my Bluebird, but these trials are so beastly expensive. . . . Perhaps, if I can find some millionaire who will help finance [the] undertaking, I shall shoot for the 300-mile mark within the next few years." With a stable car on a perfect course, Capt. Campbell said he would have no fear.

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