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Vintage Race Car of the Week: Sir Malcom Campbell’s 1935 Bluebird


Vintage Race Car of the Week: Sir Malcom Campbell’s 1935 Bluebird

If you want to talk about the intersection of blunt force trauma and stylized design, then no conversation on the topic would be complete with out bringing up the Bluebird of Sir Malcom Campbell, this week’s featured Vintage Race Car.

This car was the first to crest the nearly unthinkable (in 1935 terms) 300 mph barrier on the salt at Bonneville, it also saw duty at Daytona Beach that year, running 276 mph; loose sand conditions prevented the car from going any faster than that.

The car was absolutely massive, sporting a wheelbase of nearly 14 feet and an overall length of 28 feet. Much of that length was due to some aerodynamic styling, with the large tail in the rear and long front overhang. The front track width was 5 feet and 3 inches.

Motorvation was provided by a truly heroic lump. It was a 6.0:1 compression, supercharged, V12 Rolls Royce aircraft engine that made an estimated 2,500 hp at 3,200 rpm. The supercharging was handled by a child-swallowing single centrifugal unit. The motor displaced over 2,100 cubic inches.

Our research was unable to verify a stated weight for the car but judging on just the motor alone, it had to be ungodly. After experimenting on earlier models, Campbell had air brakes installed on this vehicle. There was a large onboard tank that carried the air supply for the brakes.

Believe it or not the car used a three-speed transmission with a final drive ratio of 1.19:1 in high gear.

The main chassis was formed of aluminum in a monocoque style with a network of tubing built off of that to support the huge hand-formed aluminum body. It’s seemingly impossible for a car of this size to be graceful. Every design element gets exaggerated to the point of humor on a vehicle this size, but we more than respect the craftsman who hand made the body.

Campbell was an international playboy, a rich gentleman, and basically was wont for nothing in the world. Land speed racing was his passion and driving force and this massive car was his tool to pursue it with. Imagine being in his position, sitting there on the salt in 1935, waiting for that motor to be fired. He was in the largest and most powerful automobile in the world, by a long shot. Tough not to get some kind of complex  with power and prestige like that being part of your daily life.

The Bluebird name would adorn another car of Campbell’s in 1960. It was turbine powered and set the LS record at over 400 mph.

Sir Malcom Campbell Bluebird

Sir Malcom Campbell


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