28 replies to this topic

[hittheapex]

Hello,

 

I was wondering if anybody could recommend any good speed record documentaries?

 

It is a subject that I've marvelled at when I see or hear something about it but I've never really made an effort to find more. It was the discovery of one of my late grandad's cigarette cards sets from 1938 that included several speed record machines, followed coincidentally by listening to a long interview with Richard Noble that rekindled my interest. I'm interested in learning more about speed records, land sea or air, the Campbells or anything else that you would highly recommend.

 

Many thanks.

Edited by hittheapex, 21 January 2015 - 06:02.

[Victor_RO]

There's a late-'90s BBC documentary about ThrustSSC, I recall seeing it a couple of years ago. It was called "Supersonic Dreams" or something along those lines.

[Steve L]

There was a great documentary called "For Britain and the Hell of It!" about Richard Noble's Thrust 2 LSR - I think this may be available on dvd now (from the Bloodhound LSR site?).

 

A great documentary made by Donald Campbell himself about his 1964 records has just been released on dvd also, and is available through a well known online retailer!

[f1steveuk]

As record breaking is a bit of a thing with me, I have seen most, and to be honest, there aren't many good ones.

 

One Second From Enternity has some content, Across the Lake ( a docu/drama about Donald Campbell's last attempt) is pretty good, as was The Speed King, about Malcolm Campbell.

 

I have a list somewhere, but most are/were on VHS!! There are some nice clips on the Pathe web site, it depends what you are after?

[Vitesse2]

An Auburn documentary about Ab Jenkins and one of his early endurance runs at Bonneveille:

 

 

Jay Leno on Mormon Meteor III:

 

 

'Of Time and Speed' - MG at Bonneville in 1956:

 

[Glengavel]

There have been a couple of documentaries in (long) past years on UK television; one about the Campbells and another about the early jet-powered pioneers (Breedlove and Arfons). Sadly I can't find any trace of them.

[Vitesse2]

BBC Genome throws up what looks like an interesting Top Gear special called 'Blood, Salt and Tears'. Fronted by Tiff Needell. Broadcast December 21st 1998 and seemingly never repeated!

 

The Breedlove/Arfons one was probably episode one of 'In Search of Speed' - first shown on BBC4 2005 and repeated several times until 2009. The other two parts of the series were on rocket-powered aircraft and powerboats.

[hittheapex]

Thank you all, I'm going to enjoy these. If I find any others myself, I will share them here.

[Gwalter]

The Blue Flame - Speedquest


 

[hittheapex]

There's a late-'90s BBC documentary about ThrustSSC, I recall seeing it a couple of years ago. It was called "Supersonic Dreams" or something along those lines.

I watched this one first. Maybe it's because I was still in primary school when the sound barrier was broken on land and the nostalgia is irrestible. Thanks for the recommendation Victor, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it myself to anybody. It's an hour and a half and can be found on YouTube here:

 

[Gwalter]

Chris Harris on Cars - 1000mph! Inside Bloodhound SSC

 

[DogEarred]

Both Thrust SSc & Thrust 2 are (or at least were, 10 years ago) displayed in the Coventry Motor Museum.

 

Next to them was a Thrust SSC simulator (similar to those ones you have in fairgrounds) which shows cockpit film of the actual record breaking run.

Although it could not portray the full experience of course, it was an exciting experience nevertheless. The key points were the slow start until sufficient speed was reached to apply full beans, the sudden lurch to the side of about 3 feet at about 600mph & the sudden deceleration when the parachutes were deployed. All accompanied by the original radio soundtrack.

 

Worth the visit for that alone! Is it all still there?

[IanWegg]

A collectors' piece this one. 26-December-1980 45 minutes

 

 

 

 

[Vitesse2]

Thanks! A collector's piece indeed! I have a feeling I saw it when first broadcast.

 

They were obviously short of film of Cobb, as the scene where they were fitting the body - which was implied to be 1938 - was actually 1947: the clue is in the Mobil red Pegasus logo. In 1938 the Railton had no logo on the nose and in 1939 it carried the leaping lion logo of Gilmore Oil. Gilmore was sold to Mobil in the early 1940s and they took up the Gilmore sponsorship when Cobb returned to Bonneville. Rather surprised Ray Baxter got Cobb's death date wrong by 10 years though: he quite clearly said 1962.

 

I don't think I'd ever heard Bert Denley speak before - although his comment about how Eyston looked was more than a tad politically incorrect by today's standards. Americans - you have been warned!

[Gary C]

has 'For Britain and For The Hell Of It' been mentioned yet ?

[f1steveuk]

I too am surprised by Mr Baxter. We did a slot with him once, for which I wrote the script. While he did a walk through for the camera, i was digging the script out of a bag, by which time I heard Ray walk past, identify, give the full history of, speeds  and years and drivers biographies from memory. I threw the script away.

 

I met both Eyston and Bert Denly, chalk and cheese, but what a team!

[Vitesse2]

Just aired on BBC News, a 25-minute programme on Bloodhound -  Bloodhound: Chasing the Land Speed Record. Repeated at 16.30 today and then at various other times up to Christmas Day. Already on iPlayer and also showing on BBC World News for viewers outside the UK.

 

Trailer: Bloodhound: Chasing the Land Speed Record

 

iPlayer link: https://www.bbc.co.u...rammes/m000cgls

[E1pix]

There was a great documentary called "For Britain and the Hell of It!" about Richard Noble's Thrust 2 LSR - I think this may be available on dvd now (from the Bloodhound LSR site?).

An all-time favorite I recorded on VHS over 30 years ago.

Enjoy!
https://m.youtube.co...h?v=-z5CsYXIpxg

[Pascal]

I found this quite fascinating:

[E1pix]

Very cool, Pascal!

[Pascal]

I don't deserve any credit.

On the other hand, the YouTube channel on which it is posted is a true treasure trove when it comes to the history of the land speed record. I discovered many things thanks to it, including the fate of McLaren's stillborn programme to build a supersonic car, the original announcement of which I clearly remember:

[E1pix]

Great video. If only...

Funny how time is. I told the Missus, "Wow, I totally forgot about the McLaren/Maverick project... that had to be a good decade ago." But nooo, 27 years?

And of course, with "Eric" in its name it would be assured of having:
-- a sleek frontal area
-- a misfiring computer
-- a tendency to sway wildly
-- an attraction to salt
-- an inability to STFU
-- etc.

I now recall the Senna connection. Just imagine if it had run...

[Pascal]

While Bloodhound SSC gets most of the headlines these days, there's also an Australian team in the race with Aussie Invader 5R:

[JacnGille]

Great video. If only...

Funny how time is. I told the Missus, "Wow, I totally forgot about the McLaren/Maverick project... that had to be a good decade ago." But nooo, 27 years?

And of course, with "Eric" in its name it would be assured of having:
-- a sleek frontal area
-- a misfiring computer
-- a tendency to sway wildly
-- an attraction to salt
-- an inability to STFU
-- etc.
 

Wildlife Avoidance Radar  

[Pascal]

And then there was this thing recycled from an old F-104 Starfighter, the North American Eagle, in which Jessi Combs tragically lost her life last August:

[E1pix]

I've been on the mailing list for the Aussie attempt for years.

Last I heard, they were going to do a test run over here in 2020 -- if still so we might go watch...

[E1pix]

Wildlife Avoidance Radar  

I crash for mice. ;-)

[Steve L]

Has anyone heard of a confirmed transmission date yet for the documentary about finding John Cobb's Crusader at the bottom of Loch Ness, please?

[Vitesse2]

Just aired on BBC News, a 25-minute programme on Bloodhound -  Bloodhound: Chasing the Land Speed Record. Repeated at 16.30 today and then at various other times up to Christmas Day. Already on iPlayer and also showing on BBC World News for viewers outside the UK.

 

Trailer: Bloodhound: Chasing the Land Speed Record

 

iPlayer link: https://www.bbc.co.u...rammes/m000cgls

More Bloodhound. BBC West's local news programme Points West will apparently be showing an item on Bloodhound tomorrow (Monday Jan 6th) in their 6.30pm bulletin. For those not in BBC West's area with satellite (Sky or Freesat) it should be viewable live if you know where to look -  I think it's channel 965 on Freesat and channel 966 on Sky. Otherwise it should be on iPlayer from about 11pm Monday for 24 hours.