Project Bluebird

[Craig 6702]

Originating from the Lake District I've always had an interest in the Bluebird water speed records that were set on Coniston back in the 60s. Of course most media attention is focused on the crash that killed Donald Campbell but that was the one failure when in reality, him and his team had probably the best speed record breaking career in history and what they achieved was outstanding.

 

It's over 8 years now since they found the boat (and his remains) and brought them up from the bed of the lake. Some (particularly those who were involved in the record attempts) say both should have been left where they were but it was the express wish of his family that Campbell was found and brought back to land. To find him, they'd had to find the boat and in doing that, people would have known where it was and would have come under threat from souvenier hunters.

 

So bringing the boat to the surface, what do they do? Leave it as it is and put it on display? Not really a fitting tribute to the man. Instead a decision was made to rebuild the vessel to how it was before the accident using as much original material as they could. Not only is it a fitting tribute, it's an engineering project of epic proportions.

 

Some of you may be aware but the restoration is all taking place in North Shields by Bill Smith who was the diver who salvaged the boat.

 

The project is well on the way to completion and the boat is very recognisable to how it was before the crash - they've even obtained an identical engine for it. When it is completed it'll go through a proving trial and they've been permitted by the Lake District National Park Authority to take it back to Coniston and allow it to break the 10mph speed limit taking it up to 100mph. Current timescales suggest this'll be towards the end of 2010 / start of 2011 - some 44 years since it last ran on the lake. Once the trial is complete, it'll never run again and will sit in a museum in the village of Coniston

 

Although they weren't there on the day of the accident, I've spoken to people who did witness some of the runs Campbell did on Coniston and they said the noise from the engine was deafening and magnified by the sound being bounced off the mountains surrounding the lake. Pretty much audible for miles around. I'm certainly planning to be there to see and hear a piece of history run for one last time.

 

The project's website is here: http://www.bluebirdproject.com/Bluebirdproject/

 

There's also regular news updates posted to youtube:

 

 

 

 

 

There was also a TV drama made back in the late 80s starring Anthony Hopkins. Some footage can be seen here along with 'Out Of This World' which Marillion wrote about Campbell.

 

[Rob W 0]

I think this is weird TBH - Campbell was a driven man and, like so many, was killed in the end

 

I can't understand the point in rebuilding the original Bluebird

[Craig 6702]

I think this is weird TBH - Campbell was a driven man and, like so many, was killed in the end

 

I can't understand the point in rebuilding the original Bluebird

 

What would you propose to do with it then Rob? Modern sonar technologies made it possible to be found and as those who brought it to the surface commented, souvenir hunters would have been constantly diving down to the wreck which at the time was also the resting place of the man who crashed it.

 

The point is that the boat has held the water-speed record more times than any other vessel. It's a champion in its own right and the rebuilding of it is a celebration of what it achieved.

[Rob W 0]

well I can remember those dreadful pictures as he somersaulted the day after it happened

 

sure - put the wreckage in a museum -as a warning if nowt else

 

but a "celebration" - what of? His death???

 

PS - Joke a week later IIRC

 

"what's blue and comes out of tap in Manchester?" Donald Campbell"

Edited July 6, 2009 by Rob W

[Craig 6702]

well I can remember those dreadful pictures as he somersaulted the day after it happened

 

sure - put the wreckage in a museum -as a warning if nowt else

 

but a "celebration" - what of? His death???

 

PS - Joke a week later IIRC

 

"what's blue and comes out of tap in Manchester?" Donald Campbell"

 

You see you fall into the category of those who focus on his one spectacular failure rather than recognise what he and K7 actually achieved.

 

It's part of British engineering heritage - a vehicle which claimed the world speed record not once, but seven times! His car is on display at Beulieu, so why not his boat at Coniston?

 

Putting the wreck on display is ghoulish IMO.

 

Shit joke BTW - would have been mildly amusing if the accident had taken place on Haweswater rather than Coniston.

[trophyshy 7099]

Thanks for posting Craig, interesting stuff.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

You're wasting your time talking to Rob about this Craig. This is a man who thinks of cars the same way he thinks about domestic appliances remember, he has no empathy for machines or engineering.

 

Interesting stuff btw, hope they get it up and running.

Edited July 6, 2009 by Dr Kenneth Noisewater

[Rob W 0]

As someone who actually lived through the Campbell glory years I would like to point out that for most of his life he WAS seen as a star, and as a Great Briton

 

But times moved on, traveling at a couple of hundred miles an hour wasn't as impressive when normal people could get on a a plane that did 350 mph for their holidays and when the British held the AIR world speed record at 1200 mph and we were moving into the space age

 

Donald Campbell was becoming an anachronism (unfortunately) and he was having more and more trouble raising cash and interest. I think there were only a couple of journos actually there on the fatal afternoon.

 

Personally I think Bluebird should be left as a wreck as a memory to a brave man

[Rob W 0]

You're wasting your time talking to Rob about this Craig. This is a man who thinks of cars the same way he thinks about domestic appliances remember, he has no empathy for machines or engineering.

 

Interesting stuff btw, hope they get it up and running.

 

 

But a car IS a domestic appliance FFS - its a machine that they turn out by the million for getting from A to B and Henry Ford turned it into a mass-good 90 years ago

 

You'd think anyone who "customised" their washing machine was weird; I logically extend that to petrol heads

[sammynb 3644]

As someone who actually lived through the Campbell glory years I would like to point out that for most of his life he WAS seen as a star, and as a Great Briton

 

But times moved on, traveling at a couple of hundred miles an hour wasn't as impressive when normal people could get on a a plane that did 350 mph for their holidays and when the British held the AIR world speed record at 1200 mph and we were moving into the space age

 

Donald Campbell was becoming an anachronism (unfortunately) and he was having more and more trouble raising cash and interest. I think there were only a couple of journos actually there on the fatal afternoon.

 

Personally I think Bluebird should be left as a wreck as a memory to a brave man

 

Unfortunately Rob this is where you are wrong and mistaken. Campbell's record in the Bluebird was a true automobile feat and what is wrong with the structure of the land speed record. The later jet cars are just that, planes and space travel without wings.

There is no true mechanical feat involved, just luck that your sphincter doesn't pop out before your wing-less plane takes off.

Campbell's 429 mph (690 km/h) speed on his final Lake Eyre run in 1964, however remained the highest speed achieved by a wheel-driven car until 2001. Name me another speed record that has been unbroken for 37 years?

[Guest alex]

If you were an air hostess, you'd be biased.

[sammynb 3644]

If you were an air hostess, you'd be biased.

 

Explains all.

I forgot Rob is a man woman man of the world

[Meenzer 15871]

Name me another speed record that has been unbroken for 37 years?

I suspect FloJo and Kratochvilova will still hold their records in 2025 and 2020 respectively, but that's probably not quite what you're after.

[Guest alex]

Name me another speed record that has been unbroken for 37 years?

I suspect FloJo and Kratochvilova will still hold their records in 2025 and 2020 respectively, but that's probably not quite what you're after.

What a babe though.

[Meenzer 15871]

Name me another speed record that has been unbroken for 37 years?

I suspect FloJo and Kratochvilova will still hold their records in 2025 and 2020 respectively, but that's probably not quite what you're after.

What a babe though.

Certainly ticks all my boxes.

[Guest alex]

Name me another speed record that has been unbroken for 37 years?

I suspect FloJo and Kratochvilova will still hold their records in 2025 and 2020 respectively, but that's probably not quite what you're after.

What a babe though.

Certainly ticks all my boxes.

Right down to having a cock

[sammynb 3644]

Name me another speed record that has been unbroken for 37 years?

I suspect FloJo and Kratochvilova will still hold their records in 2025 and 2020 respectively, but that's probably not quite what you're after.

 

Again, wing-less planes so their records shouldn't count

On that there is no way in hell those two would have got away with such blatant steroid use today.

The 80s, drugs were so much better then.

[sammynb 3644]

Name me another speed record that has been unbroken for 37 years?

I suspect FloJo and Kratochvilova will still hold their records in 2025 and 2020 respectively, but that's probably not quite what you're after.

What a babe though.

Certainly ticks all my boxes.

Right down to having a BIG cock

 

FYP

[Lazarus 0]

Youve got to admire the balls of a man who drives a boat with jet engine at the back.

 

[ChezGiven 0]

Youve got to admire the balls of a man who drives a boat with jet engine at the back.

 

 

Bit difficult to see them at that speed.

[Craig 6702]

As someone who actually lived through the Campbell glory years I would like to point out that for most of his life he WAS seen as a star, and as a Great Briton

 

But times moved on, traveling at a couple of hundred miles an hour wasn't as impressive when normal people could get on a a plane that did 350 mph for their holidays and when the British held the AIR world speed record at 1200 mph and we were moving into the space age

 

Donald Campbell was becoming an anachronism (unfortunately) and he was having more and more trouble raising cash and interest. I think there were only a couple of journos actually there on the fatal afternoon.

 

Personally I think Bluebird should be left as a wreck as a memory to a brave man

 

You also thought that Challenger 'exploded' and that the astronauts died instantly so I'm not surprised your view differs from the majority.

 

My Dad lived through the Campbell glory years too and was privileged to have witnessed the boat on one of it's earlier runs on Coniston (commented that it was before the larger tail-fin was attached so I presume it was before they put the bigger engine into it). He said that it was an awesome sight to view the boat going across the lake at such a rate and that the noise was deafening. It's also he who states that if they're going to run it for one last time, even if it's only going at a third of the speed it did when it crashed, then I should make the effort to see it.

 

And I will

[Rob W 0]

sorry - next time I'll be careful to differentiate between "came apart due to stress in a rapid manner killing everyone" and "exploded" - I'm sure there is a big difference

[Craig 6702]

sorry - next time I'll be careful to differentiate between "came apart due to stress in a rapid manner killing everyone" and "exploded" - I'm sure there is a big difference

 

Considering there was no explosion on Challenger, yeah I'd say there was.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

You're wasting your time talking to Rob about this Craig. This is a man who thinks of cars the same way he thinks about domestic appliances remember, he has no empathy for machines or engineering.

 

Interesting stuff btw, hope they get it up and running.

 

 

But a car IS a domestic appliance FFS - its a machine that they turn out by the million for getting from A to B and Henry Ford turned it into a mass-good 90 years ago

 

You'd think anyone who "customised" their washing machine was weird; I logically extend that to petrol heads

Jeremy Clarkson wrote a book called 'I Know You Got Soul' about how certain machines became more than a sum of their parts.

 

You'd fucking hate it.

[Rob W 0]

(shrug)

 

I just see it as tool - like a hammer or a toaster or a radio

 

It doesn't have any mystic significance, it doesn't make me any extra cash

 

As long as it works every morning who cares what sort it is or what colour it is??

 

They make over 50 MILLION a year FFS - not exactly a rare item then??????