State Library of South Australia

Papers and photographs related to Donald Campbell's 1963 land speed record attempt, Lake Eyre [PRG 1711/1/2] • Mixed material

Info

Buy
Permanent link
Print

Prev List Next

Summary

Double sided handwritten letter, written and signed by Donald Campbell while in the air, en route via Adelaide to Lake Eyre. Headed with the address 'In Flight 25:XI:63 Sydney - Adelaide'. The letter is addressed to 'Bill', offering thanks for his kindness to Campbell's team at Lake Eyre and speaking of the heartbreaking experience of rain on Lake Eyre which halted the planned 1963 land speed record attempt in the CN7 Bluebird. Campbell then speaks of going in search of an alternative location; across the Nullarbor, Kalgoorlie, Perth, Port Hedland, Broome, Derby, Fitzroy, Wyndham and Darwin. The letter is written on Campbell's 'Roundwood, Horley, Surrey' letterhead. 1963. 0.5 cm. Original WITHDRAWN, access by prior arrangement - contact the archival team.

Restrictions

This image has no known copyright restrictions.

Please refer to the State Library's Conditions of use

Learn more about copyright and our collection.

Physical description

Manuscripts
handwritten
typed
printed
Photographs (prints)
black and white
4 sheets, 45 photographs : 2 cm

Dates / Publication details

1963

Creator

Campbell, Donald

Subject

Campbell, Donald, 1921-1967
Automobiles, Racing -- Speed records -- South Australia -- Eyre, Lake
Automobiles, Gas-turbine
Engineers -- South Australia -- Eyre, Lake
Eyre, Lake (S.A.)
Muloorina Station (S.A.)

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

General notes

See also 636.301 : 'Muloorina' [motion picture], produced by BP Australia, 1963.

Historical information

In 1956, Donald Campbell began planning a car to break the land speed record, which then stood at 394 mph (630 km/h). The Norris brothers designed Bluebird CN7 with 500 mph (800 km/h) in mind, and was the first land speed record vehicle to be powered by a gas turbine engine. The CN7 was completed by the spring of 1960 and was taken to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA, scene of his father's last LSR triumph in 1935. The attempt was unsuccessful and CN7 was written off following a high-speed crash in September at Bonneville. Campbell was not seriously hurt, suffering a fracture to his lower skull, and was by 1961 on the road to recovery and planning the rebuild of CN7.

The rebuilt car was completed, with minor modifications, in 1962, and by the end of the year was shipped to Australia for an attempt at Lake Eyre in 1963. The Lake Eyre location was chosen as it offered 450 square miles (1,170 km²) of dried salt lake, where rain had not fallen in the previous 20 years, and the surface of the 20 miles (32 km) long track was as hard as concrete. Campbell and his entourage of nearly 500 people - engineers, technicians, police and army personnel, reporters and others - had their headquarters at Muloorina Station, which was owned and run by the Price family. In 1938 Elliot Price and his brother sank bores all over the property and diverted water into the dry bed of the Frome River where it flowed along for 25 kms, supplying the homestead and forming billabongs to which many birds flocked. The Price family and workers on the sheep station also assisted in preparing for the attempt. The Price's 'Blitz' Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) semi-trailer was initially used to take the jet car from the Station to the Lake, until it broke down and an Army wrecker truck was used to tow the rig.

As Campbell arrived in late March, with a view to a May attempt, the first light rain fell. Campbell and Bluebird were running by early May but once again more rain fell, and low-speed test runs could not progress into the higher speed ranges. By late May, the rain became torrential, and the lake was flooded. Campbell had to move the CN7 off the lake in the middle of the night to save the car from being submerged by the rising flood waters. The rains and the additional water moving down from the North forced the 1963 attempt to be cancelled. However Campbell returned with the Bluebird the following year, and on 17 July 1964, broke the land speed record at 403.10 mph (648.73 km/h).

Digitisation information

Date

16/05/2017

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

3,275 x 4,026 pixels (13.2 MP)

Size

39.58 MB

Ask Us

If you would like further information about this image, please Ask Us