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Campbell-Norris-Proteus Bluebird CN7 1960
The design concept was certainly simple. Take a jet engine - run drive shafts out of each end to the front and rear axles and build a steel frame to house the engine driver and wheels. Well, that's how it started. But hundreds of drawings later and £1,000,000 spent, the vehicle sported an aluminium honeycomb chassis, with huge wheels all covered in a voluptuous ally body.
CN7 looking into the air intake
In fact, the shape (aerodynamics) of the cn7 was very similar to John Cobb's Mobil Railton Special which almost achieved 400 mph using petrol engines and no tail fin - dare we say John Cobb's car inspired Donald Campbell and Ken and Louis Norris, the designers of the cn7 = campbell/norris 7.
Getting things in proportion - cn7's wheels
Not long after topping John Cobbs 390mph + record, the Summers brothers raised the record above that of the cn7 using 4 petrol engines, comparatively smaller wheels and budget, in Goldenrod. But no-one can deny the spectacle of the cn7, perhaps only eclipsed by Richard Noble's Thrust SSC charging across the desert sands.
5 miles to go chaps - pushing the jet Bluebird to base
Powered by a Bristol Siddeley Proteus free turbine engine developing in excess of 5,000-hp, this revolutionary car was designed by the Norris Brothers and built by Motor Panels, Ltd, of Coventry. It utilised four-wheel drive and two gearboxes, with the gearboxes having a fixed ratio, as there was enough power from the engine, in the lower speed ranges, to dispense with gear changing all together. It utilised three independent braking systems and a mass of complicated electronic instrumentation. First trials were at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah in September 1960.
This Bluebird was then severely damaged after a huge crash later in the same month. The car was completely rebuilt, thanks to the generosity of Sir Alfred Owen, with the only noticeable changes being a different shaped cockpit cover and the addition of a tail fin for extra stability. The first trials of the rebuilt Bluebird CN7 took place at Lake Eyre in Australia in May 1963, with the world land speed record being set at 403.10 mph at Lake Eyre on 17th July, 1964 after months of torrential rain and flooding.
Bluebird CN7 exhausts
Country of Manufacture: Great Britain
Transmission:
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