Wednesday, March 13, 2013

John Cobb and his Railtons

Eithne Farry, Karen Hurrell and Jon Sutherland.  Snapshots in Time.  
100 Years of Change.  North Vancouver:  Whitecap Books, 1998.
G.F. Lamb.  The Spirit of Modern Adventure.  George G. Harrap & Co., 1955.
On August 23, 1939, British driver John Cobb piloted his Railton Red Lion (top photo) to 368.85 MPH at the Bonneville Salt Flats, setting a new land speed record.  Created by Reid Railton, the aerodynamically-styled car used ice to cool the transmission brakes.  On September 26, 1947, he clocked 394.19 MPH in his Railton Mobil Special, a record that wasn't broken until Donald Campbell achieved 403.1 MPH in his Bluebird in 1964.

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