(01 Feb 04)

Sir Henry Segrave’s 1000bhp Sunbeam, the first car to push the World Land Speed Record over 200mph, will be one of the stars of Classic Cars Live! at Alexandra Palace, London, on March 20/21.

On loan to the show from the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, this Wolverhampton-built car was fitted with two of Sunbeam’s 22.4-litre V12 aero-engines, which had previously been installed in a record-breaking boat.

In March 1927 at Daytona Beach, Segrave planned to do one exploratory run, a second "fairly fast" as the timekeepers checked their equipment, and a third flat-out for the record.

Anthony Heal describes in Sunbeam Racing Cars what a fraught day it turned out to be: "After the second run it was found that air coming through the front radiator and the engine compartment into the cockpit nearly blew the driver out of his seat, and the wind pressure on his helmet tore the strap and dislodged his goggles.

"The gear change from second to top was difficult due to the long movement required, and the gear teeth were not fully engaged . . . The aluminium shoes of the rear brakes, which were unlined, had melted when applied at nearly 200mph."

Just another day at the office for Segrave, who was more disappointed by the fact that he reckoned from the rev counter that he’d got up to about 180mph, whereas the timekeepers said his speed was just 166mph.

In fact, spectators wandering onto the timing strip caused the timekeeping equipment to record various speeds from 166 to 280mph, and the officials had shown him the lowest figure, just to be on the safe side.

A week later, he was back again, in windy conditions which helped him somewhat on the southern run, although the driving was extremely hairy in both directions, with the Sunbeam subject to gusts of wind which swerved it across the course on more than one occasion. However, "Segrave kept the throttles open throughout."

Getting to the end of the return run didn’t mean his problems were over: "After crossing the timing strip he closed the throttles but found that the wind resistance did little to reduce the speed. He found himself running beyond the nine-mile course available, so he applied the brakes but they proved ineffective. It was afterwards found that the heat developed had melted the aluminium brake shoes."

At this point Segrave had to choose either to go straight on and plough into the river which crossed the beach, turn right and let his runaway car career to a halt in the sandhills, or steer into the sea. He chose the shallow edge of the sea, got the whole issue under control, motored back to the timekeepers’ box and found he’d managed 203.79mph as a two-way speed over the measured mile, beating the previous LSR by the huge margin of 28mph.

An awesome drive in an equally awesome machine, which is rarely seen outside Beaulieu. More about the Alexandra Palace show on www.classiccarslive.com.

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