British land speed record

The British land speed record is the fastest land speed achieved by a vehicle in the United Kingdom, as opposed to one on water or in the air. It is standardised as the speed over a course of fixed length, averaged over two runs in opposite directions.

On 25 September 1924, Malcolm Campbell driving the 350 hp Sunbeam Blue Bird set records for the Flying Mile (146.16 m.p.h.) and Flying Kilometre (146.15 m.p.h.) at Pendine Sands, in Wales.

On 21 July 1925, Malcolm Campbell, Sunbeam Blue Bird, at Pendine Sands, broke the records for the Flying Mile (150.76 m.p.h.) and Flying Kilometre (150.86 m.p.h.).

Henry Segrave on 16 March 1926 set the land speed record in his 4-litre Sunbeam Tiger 'Ladybird' on the sands at Southport, England at 152.3 m.p.h. "The mean time for the flying kilometre was 14.6876 seconds equal to 245.11 kilometres per hour, or 152.308 miles per hour." The car suffered supercharger failure during the record run and did not break the mile record.

On 27 April 1926, at Pendine Sands J. G. Parry-Thomas in the Higham-Thomas Special Babs set the Flying Mile record at 168.07 m.p.h. and the Flying Kilometre at 169.29 m.p.h. The following day on 28 April 1926, Parry-Thomas raised the Flying Mile to 170.62 m.p.h. and the Flying Kilometre to 171.01 m.p.h.

On 4 February 1927, Malcolm Campbell set the World Land Speed Record at Pendine Sands covering the Flying Kilometre in a mean average of 174.883 m.p.h. and the Flying Mile in 174.224 m.p.h. on the Napier-Campbell Blue Bird. These also established British records that were to last for many years. The achievement was overshadowed by the death of Parry-Thomas at Pendine Sands on 3 March 1927.

On 3 October 1970, Tony Densham, driving the Ford-powered "Commuter" dragster set a record at Elvington, Yorkshire, averaging 207.6 m.p.h. over the Flying Kilometre course. This broke Campbell's record set 43 years previously.

Robert Horne set a Flying Mile record on 27 April 1977, at RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, in the ex-Scuderia Montjuich Ferrari 512M, chassis number 1002, at a speed of 191.64 m.p.h.

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