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On This Day: Briton George Eyston breaks his own land speed record
AUGUST 27, 1938: British daredevil inventor George Eyston broke his own land speed record – raising the mark to 345.49mph – in a bid to outdo two compatriot rivals on this day in 1938.
The former army captain, who had earned an engineering degree from Cambridge, achieved the feat in his own Thunderbolt car at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
A British Pathé newsreel shows Eyston roaring away in his 4,700-horse-power machine and hitting 347mph on the first mile along the dried out Ice Age lake.
He went slower on the return leg, but the two times averaged 345.49mph – more than 34mph faster than the previous record he set in the same place nine months earlier.
He had been determined to significantly outdo Malcolm Campbell, a fellow Briton who in 1935 became the first man to break the 300mph barrier.
But fearless Eyston, who had been decorated for bravery during the First World War, also had another rival in John Cobb, who would twice outdo the ex-artillery officer.
Three weeks later, on September 15, Cobb, who traded fur for a living, raised the mark to 350.20mph in a specialist car built by Reid Railton as Eyston watched.
Yet the record stood for less than 24 hours as the former captain returned to the salt flats the next day and took his newly streamlined Thunderbolt to 357.50mph.
Many then thought the car, which was powered by two 37-litre Rolls-Royce R-type V-12 aero engines, was unbeatable.
But, following another attempt later that year, Eyston retired after cheating death when his vehicle’s suspension wishbone snapped at nearly 400mph.
Cobb, whose rivalry was good natured, returned to Utah and on August 23, 1939 set a new land speed record of 369.74mph with his Railton Special.
Eleven days later World War II began and the six-year global conflict ensured that no more attempts were made during that period.
After Germany’s defeat, Cobb smashed his own record with a speed of 394.196mph set again at Bonneville Salt Flats with his new Railton Mobil Special.
Eyston, who also designed several regular car parts, including the Powerplus supercharger for MG, later assisted his friend in other attempts.
He supported Cobb during his ill-fated attempt to break the water speed record at Loch Ness on September 29, 1952.
He died after his 200mph boat hit a ripple, which Nessie hunters say was caused by the lake’s reputed monster, and the Crusader vessel disintegrated and sank.
Cobb had also planned to make another land speed record – and smash through the 400mph barrier.
[On This Day: Water speed legend John Cobb ‘killed by Loch Ness Monster’]
His mark was not broken until August 5, 1963, when American Craig Breedlove, the first non-Briton to achieve the feat for 35 years, reached 407.447mph in a jet-propelled car.
And it was not until Malcolm Campbell’s son Donald hit 403.10mph on July 17, 1964 that a wheel-driven vehicle would go faster than Cobb had.
Donald Campbell, like Cobb, died while attempting the water speed record after crashing at 310mph at Conniston Water in the Lake District on January 4, 1967.
Campbell, the only man ever to set both the land and water speed records in a single year, was not confirmed dead until his body was finally discovered in 2001.
Eyston, however, was unusual among his daredevil friends and outlived all of them by dying from natural causes at the ripe old age of 3 in 1979.
