Written by: Glen Smale.
Images by: Glen Smale & National Motor Museum, Beaulieu
South Wales is a favourite destination for many holidaymakers, with its wide open spaces and outdoor attractions. One such popular tourist spot along the coast is the village of Pendine, where Pendine Sands offers a wide, flat beach stretching in an easterly direction for seven miles (11 kilometres). Located along the south coast of Carmarthen Bay, this section of the beach has long been used for all manner of motorcycle races and speed trials.
The history of Land Speed Record attempts can be read here in our feature: Pendine Sands: A Century of Land Speed Records, showcasing the Pendine Museum of Land Speed, which opened to the public in 2023.
Sunbeam Racer
The Sunbeam racer was the brainchild of Sunbeam’s chief engineer and racing team manager Louis Coatalen, being constructed at the company’s works in Wolverhampton, England, during 1919 and early 1920. Its power came from a one-off 18,322cc V12 engine derived from Sunbeam’s Manitou and Arab series aero engine.
The car’s first two outings in 1920 were unsuccessful, but in October that year, René Thomas succeeded in setting a course record of 108 miles per hour at the Gaillon Hill Climb in France. In 1921 the Sunbeam enjoyed mixed results, and following some mechanical failures early in the year, it ended the year with a second place at the Brooklands Autumn meeting. In the Long Handicap race, Kenelm Lee Guinness, achieved speeds of 140 miles per hour and completed the last lap at an average speed of 116 miles per hour. In May the following year, Guinness was at Brooklands again to attempt a number of speed records. These included completing the flying kilometre at a speed of 133.75 miles per hour, which qualified as a new Land Speed Record.
Malcolm Campbell borrowed the Sunbeam in 1922 to compete in the Saltburn Speed Trials (Yorkshire, England), where he achieved a speed of 138 miles per hour. However, being only a one way run, this was not recognised as an official world record. Campbell then decided to purchase the car in order to mount a more serious challenge to speed record, but by the time Campbell acquired Blue Bird in 1923, it had already had a hard competitive life.
Campbell recorded a similar speed at the Saltburn Trials in 1923. But at the Royal Danish Automobile Club International Speed Trials at Fanø on 23-24 June, he set an unofficial world record of 136.32 miles per hour for the flying kilometre and flying mile of 137.72 miles per hour. His fastest one way speed over the mile was 146.40 miles per hour.
Sunbeam Becomes Blue Bird
For the 1924 season, Malcolm Campbell made several important modifications to the Sunbeam. Except for the polished aluminium bonnet, the car was repainted from green to its now familiar blue. The Sunbeam name was removed from the bonnet and The Bluebird was painted in small lettering on both sides of the radiator cowl, and a Union Jack flag was painted on each side of the scuttle. The body-length exhaust pipes (as used at Brooklands) were removed, leaving exhaust stubs flush with the bonnet. Streamlined Ace wheel discs were fitted to all four wheels.
On 23 August 1924 at the Danish International Speed Trials at Fanø, all four wheels were shod with bead-edge tyres on the first run, each having seven security bolts. During the run the rear tyres were torn from the wheels, and so for the return run these were changed to straight-sided tyres at the rear. Towards the end of the second run, the off-side front tyre came off and fatally injured a young boy spectator. As Campbell had already expressed his concerns about the safety of the course, this was the last year that a speed event was held here.
Blue Bird Land Speed Record Attempts
A month later at Pendine in South Wales in September 1924, Campbell attempted an official Land Speed Record in the Blue Bird, achieving a new record speed of 146.16 miles per hour. But Campbell was not satisfied with this achievement, and wanting to reach even higher speeds, he made plans to sell the Blue Bird. Advertised with a price tag of £1,500 he made plans to build a new record breaker.
But plans have a habit of changing, and on 21 July 1925 Campbell decided to make one further Land Speed Record attempt at Pendine Sands. Driving his famous Blue Bird, Campbell became the first person to exceed 150 miles per hour, achieving a speed of 150.76 miles per hour. The Sunbeam Blue Bird was entered in the record books for eternity alongside the name of Malcolm Campbell, but for Campbell the record breaking attempts continued.
The Sunbeam, renamed Blue Bird by Campbell, holds three World Land Speed Records, the first achieved by Kenelm Lee Guinness at Brooklands in 1922 with a speed of 133.75 miles per hour. After Campbell purchased the car, he initially achieved a new record speed of 146.16 miles per hour at Pendine Sands in September 1924, raising it the following year to 150.76 miles per hour.
Sir Malcolm Campbell
In 1931, on his return from Daytona Beach where he set a land speed record of 245.736 miles per hour, Malcolm Campbell was knighted by King George V on 21 February that year. He received the Segrave Trophy in 1933 and again in 1939, the trophy being named after the pioneering racing driver Sir Henry Segrave. This trophy was awarded to those with the ‘Spirit of Adventure’ for the outstanding demonstration of skill, courage and initiative in transportation on land, water or in the air.
Sir Malcolm Campbell was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990, and also into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1994.
Blue Bird After Campbell
After Malcolm Campbell had completed his record-breaking run at Pendine on 21 July 1925, he sold the Blue Bird and it passed through the hands of several owners. In 1944, some two decades later, the vehicle was acquired by Harold Pratley who restored it to its Brooklands trim. Pratley then loaned it to the Rootes Group (successors to the Sunbeam Company) who undertook a cosmetic restoration for promotional purposes. The next owner was none other than Lord Montagu of Beaulieu who purchased the vehicle in 1957, although by this time it was in a poor condition. It was restored by the National Motor Museum in 1958, and put on display in the Museum in 1959.
Once it was restored back to working order, and when not on display, it was taken to motoring events in the UK, Europe and even as far afield as South Africa. Its last outing was at the British Automobile Racing Club Festival of Motoring at Goodwood in July 1962, when Lord Montagu took it on a three-lap demonstration run, culminating in a lap d’honneur by Donald Campbell, Sir Malcolm’s son.
But it was during a test fire-up in 1993 to assess the car’s condition, that disaster struck when a blocked oil way in the engine caused it to seize, putting a rod through the block. For several years after that, the car was on display in the museum with a very visible hole in its engine where the piston and con-rod had tried to escape. Almost a further two decades later, in January 2014, and following an engine rebuild of more then 2,000 hours undertaken by the National Motor Museum’s workshop team, the Blue Bird was fired-up once again. It was the first time it had been heard in public in over 50 years. The following month, February, it was the star of the show at Retromobile, Paris and later that year it was run in public at the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
90th Anniversary Commemorative Run
On 21 July 2015, the National Motor Museum organised a commemorative run at Pendine Sands, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Land Speed Record set by (Sir) Malcolm Campbell. Although it was still officially summer time, it certainly didn’t feel like it with a stiff wind blowing, but after all, this was ‘Wales-by-the-Sea’ and any weather was possible.
Ian Stanfield, Senior Engineer at Beaulieu and the man that rebuilt Blue Bird’s engine, was on hand to give the record-breaker a shake-down ahead of the low speed commemorative demonstration run. It was then the turn of Don Wales, Sir Malcolm Campbell’s grandson, to climb aboard for the commemorative run.
Keeping Blue Bird company on this day was the 1933 aero-engined Napier-Railton Special, which holds the all-time lap record of 143.44 miles per hour at Brooklands. The Napier-Railton has its own unique history at Pendine, having been the star (alongside James Mason and Ava Gardner) of the 1951 movie Pandora and the Flying Dutchman. In the film, the car was used for an attempt on the Land Speed Record, for which the action sequences (culminating in the car being driven into the sea to quench an engine fire) were filmed on Pendine Sands during 1950. This record-breaker has been owned by the Brooklands Museum since 1977.
The beach at Pendine that day was a hive of activity as many onlookers had arrived to witness the sight that certainly most enthusiasts present in 2015, would not have been around to witness back in 1925. In addition to the small army of mechanics, technicians, museum staff and public, a sizeable media contingent was also present to record the event for posterity.
Rather cleverly, several mechanics and museum staff re-enacted the photos of old when Malcolm Campbell set the original records. Don Wales performed several low-speed runs up and down the beach, sometimes accompanied by the media vehicle, sometimes not. The Napier-Railton Special, with Brooklands Museum Director and CEO Allan Winn behind the wheel, also had an opportunity to stretch its legs giving the brave souls on the beach something to tell their grandchildren about.
Pendine Sands
While one cannot always guarantee the weather down at Pendine Sands, it does make for a memorable outing when such a worthwhile event is staged. But choosing your visiting dates carefully is advised, because the beach also doubles as an artillery range for the military!
(Author’s note: Don Wales and Beaulieu Senior Engineer Ian Stanfield, were both dressed in the same colours and style of clothing in 2015, that Malcolm Campbell wore on the day of his record-breaking run in 1925).
As this event covered here in 2015 was the 90th anniversary commemorating Malcolm Campbell’s record-breaking run, perhaps there might be a juicy announcement to be made soon about a centenary run. Stay tuned!
