Page 77 - Adrenaline DEC

1933 ROLLS-ROYCE 40/50HP PHANTOM II CONTINENTAL TOURING SALOON
COACHWORK BY BARKER & CO.
On 22 February 1933, Sir Malcolm Campbell set a new World Land Speed Record of 272 mph (438 km/h) at Daytona
Beach, Florida. He had broken the record on no fewer than six previous occasions. But this was the first time that his car, Blue Bird, had been equipped with a Rolls-Royce engine – specifically, a 36.5-litre, 2,600hp ‘R’ series aero engine, whose later incarnations would power the immortal Supermarine Spitfire.
To celebrate his achievement, Campbell took delivery of a new Phantom II Continental. Introduced in 1930, this was a ‘sportier’ version of the Phantom II, with a shorter wheelbase, improved balance and uprated springing. At 95mph, its top speed was modest by Campbell’s standards, yet highly impressive for a car weighing almost two-and-a-half tons. And with typical Rolls-Royce inventiveness, the pearlescent glow of the car’s pale-blue bodywork was achieved (so the story goes) by adding ground herring scales to the paint. But Campbell wasn’t finished with record-breaking. In September 1935, on the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, a radically redesigned Blue Bird, with the proven R-series engine, attained 301.29mph – the first car ever to exceed 300mph.
The car has been generously loaned to the Exhibition by Richard Biddulph
77
THE SIR MALCOLM CAMPBELL PHANTOM II