Donald Campbell grew up idolising people like Henry Segrave, John Cobb and his own father, Malcolm Campbell – speed freaks who spent their time attempting to break land and water speed records. They raced and the public loved them for it. Driven by a desire to live up to his image of his father, Campbell junior had a burning ambition to prove himself as a racer too. But it was a dangerous business – hitting water at over 100mph is like hitting concrete. Ten people have held the water speed record, but a further ten have died attempting it.
In spite of the dangers, within six months of his father's death through illness in 1949, Donald came close to bettering his old man's record and finally, in 1955, he set a new water speed record – 202mph.
When, in 1964, Campbell broke the land speed record, reaching 403mph, and reset the water speed record to 276mph, he became the only man to hold the double – an achievement that has never been matched.
Campbell soon announced plans to smash his own record of 276mph. But this time he wanted to push the new record well beyond the reach of others and travel the same speed his father had travelled on land – 300mph.
The announcement, however, was received with little fanfare by the media, who had begun to tire of speed racing and saw Campbell's as just yet another record attempt. With few offers of sponsorship he was forced to finance the attempt almost entirely himself. Campbell saw his challenge as a way of saying farewell to water racing; he would then return to land racing. If he could smash the 300mph barrier he believed it would not only increase his credibility but also help him raise enough money for the supersonic car that he so desperately wanted to build.
But first he had to break the water record and at such speeds he knew that even the slightest water disturbance would spell disaster. It was as brave as it was ambitious and many people considered it impossible ... read on.
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