The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-02-15
TEST RUN SHOWS BLUEBIRD CAN DO
 275'ATDAYTONA
Many Adjustments to Be Made After First Trial Showed 24O M. P. H. Yesterday
BY HENRY McLEMORE United Press Staff Correspondent

l (United l'reSS Stnft COrreSpOnucit) Daytona Beach, Florida, Febru- ary 15 -- (UP) - The worlds
 land speed record of 253.9 miles
 an hour may go by the boards to-
 Gay if Sir Malcolm Campbell Is
 given a fair beach and his me-
 chanics finish the adjustments on the Bluebird which yesterdays trial
 run showed to be necessary. The mechanics, who started
 delving into Bluebird's insides almost before she finished her first
 run and then worked over the big
 Cobalt monster through the night,
 promised the car would be ready at low tide. Whether they can live up to their promise Is some- thing else, for the changes neces- sary were many.
 The principal one is the lowering of the cars gear ratio. Sir Mal-
 colm ordered this when he learned he might have no more than three
 miles in which to pick up speed prevent the cockpit from becom-
 ing filled with poisonous fumes. Sir Malcolm was almost stitled yesterday by carbon monoxide. Then, there is the beach. No-
 body knows how the racing strip
 will look until the tide rccedes late
 in the afternoon.
 Driver Prepared
 The only sure thing is Sir Mall
 colm. He Is ready to go. He
 proved that to the satisfaction of
 the thousands of spectators who lined the dunes yesterday, when
 driving the Bluebird for the first
 time, he swept across the sands at
 the rate of more than 200 miles an
 hour. The timing traps failed to
 catch him in the measured mile
 and over the one-kilometer course
 but they caught him at 212.63
 miles an hour for two kilometers
 and 179.S2 for five miles. Midway in the measured mile his tachnometor showed speed of 240 M. F. kilometers and 179.S2 for five miles.
 If 240 miles an hour seems slow
 as compared to 167 plus made on | his run south last year, please re-
 member that only four years ago
 the King of England knighted the
 late Henry Seagrhve and sent his
 royal car to meet him at Liver. pool when Seagrave returned to
 England with worlds record of | 231.44.
 The 240 Campbell hit yesterday is made downright remarkable
 when you remember that Sir Nal colm had not run the car under its own power, since 1t was re-
 modelled, that the beach was moro
 fit fort a horse and buggy than a
 speeding automobile, that he used
 only three miles in which to pick
 up speed. that he drove squarely
 into the teeth of stiff southwest
 wind that in spots his visibility was less than 800 yards two seconds | of travelling time) and finally that he was not shooting for any rec. | ord, but was merely out to test | the cars new clutch.
 Reaction
 After his run Campbell told mo: My only bad moments came | when after crossing tho measured
 mile. cut my engine and the car tried to take chhrge. It snaked badly, due, 1 think, to the really bad condition of the beach, bat after q bit 1t strengthened out. and
 the fun, fumes $. in h., the } cockp!i.ts became While yesterdays run did not
 entirely clear up the question how
 fast Biuebird will run, 1t did indl- | cate that when Bluebird Is given
 her head on a clear fast track 253.9 will be the record no more.
 Our own estimate is that 275 will
 not be wide of the mark.