State Library of South Australia

Papers and photographs related to Donald Campbell's 1963 land speed record attempt, Lake Eyre [PRG 1711/2/3] • Mixed material

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Summary

Two foolscap folio sheets (four pages) of typescript notes titled 'The Lake Eyre Story', outlining numerous conditions laid down by authorities which visitors to the Lake Eyre area during the land speed record attempt were required to obey. Compiled as a result of a conference called by the South Australian Commissioner of Police which a number of other State authorities attended. nd. 0.5 cm. Original WITHDRAWN, access by prior arrangement - contact the archival team.;PRG 1711/3/1-44 : Black and white gelatin silver photographs of Donald Campbell and his support team at Lake Eyre, and at Muloorina Station, with the CN7 Bluebird for the 1963 land speed world record attempt. Includes a newspaper clipping showing a locations of the causeway, run and camp at Lake Eyre. 1963. Originals WITHDRAWN, view online.

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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

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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

2,486 x 4,010 pixels (10.0 MP)

Size

29.93 MB

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