Leatherhead's historic links with the
legendary speed champion Donald Campbell will be covered in a major talk at
Horsley's De Vere Hotel from 8pm on Friday, 7 June.
Belfast-based tour operator Colin Cobb
will be giving the keynote lecture to members of the Speed Record Club, an
international body that was founded in 1991 some 25 years after Campbell 's fatal crash at Lake Coniston
Donald
Campbell (1921-1967) broke eight world records for speed on both land and
water. He died trying to exceed 300 mph on the water speed
record when his boat Bluebird K7 flipped out of
control on the lake and sank. When it was finally recovered,
together with his body, in 2001 it was found that the water brake had deployed
after the accident as a result of stored accumulator pressure.
Donald's
passion for speed was ignited by the example of his father, Sir Malcolm
Campbell (1885-1948), who broke 13 world records during the 1920s and 1930s.
Between 1955 and 1964, Donald set seven world speed records, increasing the
record from 202mph in 1955 to 276mph in 1964.
In the
mid-1960s he and his third wife were living at Priors Ford on Gimcrack Hill in
Leatherhead. It was there that he and his engineering team prepared to race
Bluebird K7 for what proved to be his final speed attempt. Bluebird K7 is shown
above outside the building, flanked by two other vehicles. The house was sold
after his death, demolished and replaced by the Campbell Court
In the 1980s
Donald's daughter Gina took up power boat racing. She won the UK Offshore
Boating Association Championship and broke the Women's World Water Speed Record
at 122.8 mph. She was later awarded the Queen's Service Order for promoting
water safety. In January 2017 she returned to Coniston Water to mark the 50th
anniversary of her father's death.
You can hear
and read an historic interview with Gina in 1981 on this website. Go to SOCIETY
- ORAL HISTORIES - GINA CAMPBELL.
