Kaye Don
| Kaye Don | |
|---|---|
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Kaye Don in 1933
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| Born |
Kaye Ernest Donsky 10 April 1891 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 29 August 1981 (aged 90) Chobham, Surrey |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Occupation | Motor Racer |
| Known for | 1930 Speedboat World Record |
Kaye Ernest Donsky (10 April 1891 – 29 August 1981), better known by his nom de course Kaye Don, was a world record breaking car and speedboat racer. He became a motorcycle dealer on his retirement from road racing and set up Ambassador Motorcycles.
Kaye Ernest Donsky was born in Dublin on 10 April 1891. Kaye Don began his career as a motorcycle racer but soon switched to cars and won the inaugural 1928 Ards-Belfast circuit, Northern Ireland, Tourist Trophy with a Lea-Francis. Between 1926 and 1928 Kaye raced a 1921 Grand Prix Sunbeam at Brooklands which was an ex-Malcolm Campbell ‘Blue Bird’ and extensively contributed to what W Boddy described as “the best run of success by any Brooklands car in such a period”.
In 1928 he had three ex-works Sunbeam cars which he named "Cub", "Tiger" and "Tigress". Don regularly raced at Brooklands and driving a Sunbeam on 22 September 1928 he set an outer circuit lap flying start record of 131.76 miles per hour (212.05 km/h) and increased this to 134.24 miles per hour (216.04 km/h) on 5 August 1929. Driving a Wolseley Viper at Brooklands Don achieved many class records between 1928 and 1930. Driving the V-12 Sunbeam Tigress at Brooklands on 9 June 1930, Kaye set a new Outer Circuit lap record of 137.58 miles per hour (221.41 km/h).
Kaye Don died in Chobham Surrey in 1981 aged 90. In memory of his heroic achievements at Brooklands race track the area has a street named after Kaye Don in the borough of Elmbridge District. Perhaps the best memorial to him was made by Kaye Don in a victory speech to the Empire Club of Canada in 1931, when he was the holder of land and water world speed records and said "One or two experiences that I have had have been somewhat thrilling".
The Sunbeam Silver Bullet was the last attempt on the land speed record by the Sunbeam Motor Car Company of Wolverhampton. It was built in 1929 for Kaye Don. Powered by two Sunbeam supercharged aircraft engines of 24 litres each, it looked impressive but failed to achieve any records.
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