We're the toys rubber band powered? I had a spirit of America toy with a winder on one end for the rubber band. It may have been an early snap together kit.
Segrave quits the land speed record business in favour of water. Having seen a couple of videos about the dangers of water speed records, I immediately thought "This won't end well."
@@colinmunro7337 "The [water speed] record is one of the sporting world's most hazardous competitions. Of the thirteen people who have attempted the record since June 1930 seven have died. There has been two official attempts to beat Ken Warby's 1978 record, and both resulted in the death of the pilot; Lee Taylor (1980) and Craig Arfons (1989)." (Wikipedia) After 43 years one has to wonder if Warby's record will ever be beaten.
That report on the Triplex Special by Jack Irving almost sounds as if it could have been written in the modern era; it shows a much deeper understanding of aerodynamic stability than I was aware existed at the time.
There was a great amount of understanding amongst aircraft designers and manufacturers, but the application of it to land vehicles was in its relative infancy.
The comments on the Triplex were in the report on Golden Arrow that Irving presented to the Institute of Mechanical / Automotive Engineers (one became the other but I can’t remember which it was at the time of the report) in 1930, a year after Segrave’ set his last record. You can get it online but you have to buy it.
People who are into top speed records generally don't die of old age. The Brits are unsurpassed in engineering expertise, back in the day they built some very fine equipment. As an American I have a lot of admiration for their accomplishments.
@505197, that is true of several countries... The British were great at LSR vehicles, and the US had competitive LSR vehicles as well... The Mormon Meteor, comes to mind, The Green Monster, The Spirit of America, The Golden Rod, Challenger, the blue flame, are but a few....
>unsurpassed in engineering expertise Bro America is litterally the engineering capital of the world lmao there is a reason 8/10 of the best colleges in the world are in the US
In two thousand and something I had the chance to stand alongside this incredible machine at Beaulieu Motor Museum, I christened it a 'Deco Demon'. In 1929 Art deco was at its height yet this is a movement associated with grace and dedicate femininity, yet this car seems to have somehow turned this on its head and made the whole movement menacing yet still beautiful... a masterclass in proportion. A huge slice of Deco that just happens to have a wheel on each corner. For me this is easily the fastest stationary vehicle I have ever seen. 🇬🇧🏆
Thats about the time I was there. I had a free ticket, because I offered them a rare Dashboard instrument, from the 1930's that they hadn't got ,in their vast displays.
@8:35 "Despite this [the car hitting a bump and going airborne on the 180MPH run], Seagrave declared himself happy with the car, and he drove it off the sand and back to the garage through the streets of Daytona."
Great coverage of my all time favourite car, propelled by one of my favourite engines. Hats off to the ingenious Mr. Irving, and the brave Mr. Segrave!
In 1956 my farther purchased that model of the golden arrow from Young & Whites a action place in Portsmouth. I played with it pushing it up and down our passage with my younger brother until one day we broke a wheel off the car my farther was not very happy as he told us it was the model they used before making the full size car. He later advertised the car in the exchange & mart and sold it to a collector I believe in the Bristol area who had several large models.
Thank you for all these Land Speed Record car histories. These are the cars I grew up reading and dreaming about. Being from Ohio, Art Arfons was a hero of mine, and I saw him running his turbine-powered tractors in tractor pulls of the 80's and 90's.
With a name like Segrave I'd have thought he'd stay away from boats. I wonder about the claim that he held the water and LSR simultaneously. Didn't Campbell hold both in 1964?
I always saw the White Triplex Special as a symptom of how America saw speed: all you need is power. The basic was there, at least the "power" part but all the remainder was just off, the streamlining was apalling, the build was pretty much the same as a 2-ton truck and, unfortunatelly, who suffered was the poor devil behing the wheel (and the unlucky cameraman who stood recording the event).
I think that it's a shame that so many of these land speed record holders never drove again. It would be nice if they could at least do some safe demonstration runs.
I am 64 and when I was very young a old guy gave me a windup toy car of the Golden Arrow. I still have it somewhere in the basement. Back then I thought it was just a toy. I am glad my parents always told me to keep it.
The Napier Lion--W configuration, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder. Not much new under the sun. Pretty amazing when you realize how old that technology really is.
Another wonderful upload from Scarf and Goggles, and what a story. It's a beautiful car, driven by a remarkable man - I'll have to see these vehicles in the flesh.
I always loved the Golden Arrow because of it's incredible beauty. I am really glad to watch this video because I know next to nothing about it's story and also never the footages. I never thought that he would go back to the garage trough town, what a sight and sound to see it. Thanks for sharing 👍 👍
Wonderful stuff, again, Sir, a treat of superbly-researched and patiently-presented information. My dad saw this car during its Australian tour, after it set the new record. As for Segrave, who goes anywhere near water with a name like that, doubly so on Friday the 13th!!??
Great video. Note Donald Malcolm Campbell, CBE (23 March 1921 - 4 January 1967) was a British speed record breaker who broke eight absolute world speed records on water and on land in the 1950s and 1960s. He remains the only person to set both world land and water speed records in the same year (1964).
i kept waiting for the weight... then you showed the design and production pics with those giant steel rails and yeah, i still choked a little at how much of a tank that thing is... a beautiful and incredibly engineered tank mind.
It is scayr to realise that today 180mph is achievable with ease in cars and motorcycles, albeit for the few who dare ! I take my hat off to those ingenious, incredible pioneers !!!
I would've loved for these men to see how the automotive world developed into the late 20th and early 21st century, and to be able to see a car like a McLaren F1 or Bugatti Veyron before their own eyes
Hmm... I'm not sure I agree. To be the tip of the spear in your time, and then see how flippantly a later generation will make all your hard work look easy, it can be... Disheartening. I'd leave them in the glory of their golden era, forever a standard of excellence. Stay well🍀
Well done bravo! To my surprise while hearing some of the past recipients of the Segrave trophy near the end of the video that Jim Clark was never mentioned. Just a thought! Again, well done
Just 4 inches taller than the Ford GT40! Though to be pedantic 1.1 metres is equal to 43.30798661 inches which is under 4 feet 4 inches, I'd round it down to 4' 3". “3 pistons per crank” that’d be 9 cylinders so what happened to the odd 3? Another superb video though by the way! An observation though, why not have a crew with the necessary equipment already waiting at the far end to save time on the turn around?
I thought that Donald Campbell held both LSR and WSR at the same time too in 1964?? Great vid, I enjoyed this but I still think that Donald Campbells Bluebird and the stunning Railton Mobil Special driven by Cobb are more stunning cars but maybe that's just me.
Thanks for your comment - glad you enjoyed the video! Campbell broke both records in 1964 but a change in the LSR rules permitted Breedlove’s earlier jet powered / tricycle record to stand, so Campbell didn’t hold both records at the same time.
A truly excellent docu video. I like the degree of technical details it goes into, for all the gear heads out there. England is ahead in the land speed record contest. Anybody in the USA up to the challenge?
I just found this video in my Recommended List and I enjoyed it very much. In the 1960's, as a teenager, I subscribed to Hot Rod Magazine and became obsessed with LSR vehicles. Mickey Thompson's "Challenger" was the rage of the day, but I learned as much as I could about earlier cars and earlier attempts at the LSR as well. Thanks For The Memories !!!
What a beautiful and strange looking car! Also thank you for keeping the metric conversions that you did in the re-upload of the last video, they really help!
Your videos are awesome. I'm 37 years old, I now drive like a granny. But I'll never forget the insatiable urge to be faster than the last guy. Keep it up. Subbed, 100%.
I'd sooner drive a car built in the 20s/'30 at 300 mph than drive a boat built yesterday at 100 mph. Where do the get the balls? : ) GREAT video sir. Time well spent!
One Saturday morning in 1966 four of us piled into Chas Walters our woodwork teacher’s little car and off too Beaulieu Motor Museum we went. We were about the only people there that morning and I was allowed to sit in Golden Arrow, and the thing that has stayed with me was the twin prop shafts. There are two UJ’s, one each side of the driver’s seat, just where my elbows wanted to be, and to save weight there was no guards over the UJ’s.
"In 2020 terms, it's 780-something thousand pounds" [my paraphrase]. That's less than the cost of a Bugatti Veyron, which was also designed to do 250 mph.... How times have changed! Also, if Segrave is the only person to have simultaneously held the land and water world speed records, how does that fit with Donald Campbell being the only person to have broken both records in the same year? Was Campbell's landspeed record broken before he took the water speed record, or what?
Hi, thanks for your comment! With regard to Donald Campbell - he broke the outright LSR in July 1964 in Bluebird, which conformed to the FIA rules at the time (car must be wheel-driven). Subsequently, the rules for the outright land speed record changed to accommodate the thrust-powered cars that the FIM already recognised, and Breedlove and the Arfons brothers set new outright LSR records in October 1964. Campbell went on to set a new WSR on the last day of 1964, giving him the distinction of having broken both records in the same year, yet without holding both at the same time. There's a couple of videos on my channel that might be of interest, on Bluebird CN7 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dLB4mWKlEcs.html and also The Battle of Bonneville ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--kPGaQdKL1M.html
RE:Veyron, yes it costs more, but it also can be driven by anyone, does thousands of miles between services, has tailpipe emissions that meet very tight legislative standards, has aircon, a radio, decen tcrash performance, and can also be driven as comfortably at 25 mph as at 250 ! That is why it is a wonder of modern engineering just as the GA was a wonder back in 1929 :-)
I remember seeing Golden Arrow at Beaulieu when I was an impressionable 10 year old. It is truly breathtaking, the complete image of speed and power - and so low slung, even I towered over it. Recommended to visit.
Before we get into the details of the Golden Arrow we need to go back in history to a time when Dinosaurs ruled the Earth only then can we appreciate how this marvelous machine was built. No Thank You.
Great stories, of the Sunbeam 'Mystery' LSR vehicle, the 'Golden Arrow' Napier Lion powered car ant the 'Queen' Napier Lion powered boat... It is Ironic, that Henry Seagrave was killed on Friday the 13th in that boat, and his Last name, describing how he was finally killed... Henry SeaGrave won't soon be forgotten... The only person to hold the Land and Water speed records at the same time...
I was told a story about a Welsh horse-drawn delivery cart pulled by a character everyone called 'Seagrave', jokingly, because of his extreme slowness. One day, someone placed a railway detonator, by its two lead ribbons, on the top of the wheel. As the cart wheel turned, the detonator exploded. Just for once, horse and driver actually lived up to the soubriquet.
He thought land was too dangerous..but water is safer? How does anybody know that some sunken branch is waiting to kill you? Most of those speedboat deaths are because they hit something not seen. Turned out to all be meaningless really when you think of it.
