SpeedReaders.info

Authoritative reviews of transportation books and media

Archives for: July 2010, 10

07/10/10

03:23:54 pm, by sabu advani

, 946 words, 108 views

Categories: Automobiles, Racing, Rally, Technology

Bluebird CN7 by D Stevens

Bluebird CN7
The Inside Story of Donald Campbell’s Last Land Speed Record Car 
by Donald Stevens

This book tells the story of a pair of brothers, Ken and Lew Norris, who designed and built Britain’s Bluebird CN7 with a mind to break the world’s land speed record. In the hands of Donald Campbell (hence the name of the vehicle: C for Campbell, N for Norris), the greatest-ever LSR holder, this gas turbine-powered car established itself as the fastest wheel-driven vehicle on earth until 1965 and even then was only bested by 6 mph (Summers brothers). The challenges of producing a car capable of achieving speeds of more than 500 mph were substantial, requiring a chassis, gearboxes, and drive shafts that could withstand the enormous torque stresses produced by its 4100 hp gas turbine. And all this happened 50 years ago! Imagine if CN8 had ever been built—a supersonic car capable of a theoretical 852 mph!

Author Don Stevens was a young engineer when he became the Norris Brothers’ first employee in 1958 where he first worked on the jet-powered Bluebird K7 hydrofoil and later became project coordinator on the Bluebird CN7 car.