Born to a diamond seller Kent, England, Malcolm Campbell was headed for a life in the family business before fate intervened. While in Germany learning more about the business of retailing gemstones, he found himself drawn to the motorcycle races held in the countryside. Fascinated by the power and precision required to pilot the small bikes around the course, he returned to England with a need for speed. Beginning in 1906, the twenty something Campbell rose to fame on in the speed bike community by winning the prestigious London to Lakes End Trials three times in a row. Driven by his success on two wheels, Campbell made the transition to four by getting behind the wheel at the Brooklands racing circuit in Surrey, the first automotive racetrack in the world, during 1910. He served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, but he continued with his interest in automobile racing. In 1924, he set the land speed record for the first time in his life — just over 146mph at Pendine Sands on the southern coast of Wales. Three years later, he would take it again, pushing his 350hp Sunbeam to just shy of 175mph just months before winning the first of two consecutive Grand Prix de Boulogne.
It seemed there was nothing that could slow Campbell down, as he took hold of the land speed records both in England and across the Atlantic in the United States (five times at Daytona Beach alone). Knighted in 1931, it seemed there was little more for the 46-year-old Campbell to achieve, but he continued testing the limits of his vehicles. After taking the land speed record eight separate times, he set his sights on something even more challenging: passing 300mph. At the age of 50, the thrill seeker headed to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to see what could be done. Making two laps across the famous prehistoric lake bed, he averaged more than 301mph for two passes, earning immortality as the first to break the barrier. Undeterred by transferring from car to boat, he set speed records on the water, too — four different times, surpassing 140mph on his last attempt in 1939. Each of Campbell’s racing cars and hydroplanes was named Bluebird. His son Donald Malcolm Campbell set subsequent land- and water-speed records.
Reference:
This Day in History 