Land speed record family at it again

| 7 Jun 2011

 

Pendine Sands – the famous Welsh site of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s epic record breaking speed runs – will again host record attempts when his grandson, Don Wales, attempts to bust the current world speed record for an electric car over the first weekend of July.

Wales will be piloting the latest variant of the famous Blue Bird on 2 and 3 July and is aiming to smash the 137mph record he set for an electrically-powered car at Pendine back in 2000.  The event is part of Wales’ long term ambition to smash the 500mph barrier for an electric car by 2013.

The attempt on the Carmarthenshire beach continues some nine decades of family fixation with speed, which began with Sir Malcolm’s 146.16 mph record at Pendine back in 1924 and included his son Donald’s tragic end while attempting to break the 300mph barrier on water at Lake Coniston in January 1967. 

Wales already has the British steam car title under his belt, having piloted a steam-powered vehicle to 148.308mph at Edwards Airforce Base in California back in 2009. 

He’s also, rather amusingly, the fastest lawn mower driver, thanks to his 87.833mph entry in the Guiness World Record following a stint on a ride-on mower at Pendine Sands in May last year.