History 1937 - George Eyston at Bonneville

Found these on the Life archive......

George Eyston & "Thunderbolt"
1937 at Bonneville Salt Flats
photographer: Hansel Mieth
--------------------------------------

George Eyston of the UK drove the 6-ton"Thunderbolt" at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Powered by twin Rolls-Royce Merlin Aero engines developing 4,000HP. Eyston set a world land speed record of 311.42 MPH over 1 Mile.

To give you an idea of what that speed really means, the 44-inch diameter tires were revolving at 45 revolutions per second.


The car was built in England in eight months.

 

George Eyston

 

Also in November 1937, "Speed of the Wind", driven by George Eyston & Albert Denly, increased the 24-Hour record to 163.68 miles per hour
















George Eyston returned the following year, with a modified nose and tail and an enclosed cockpit. In competition with John Cobb's Railton, he increased the 1 Mile record to 345.50 miles per hour on 27th August, & the 1 Km record to 345.21 mph.

After removing the tail and the radiator, Eyston set a 1 Mile speed of 357.50 miles per hour on September 16th, & a 1 Km speed of 357.3 mph, to beat the times set only the previous day by John Cobb.
--------------------------------------------------------

You can see all of these images in high resolution here:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=Bonnieville+source%3Alife&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

 

Where did you find these?!?!?! I have been buying old Bonneville photos off e-bay and other places, but have not seen these....AWSOME! The pre war years at Bonneville saw some amazing records being set by Eyston, Cobb and Jenkins.

 

I stumbled across them searching for something else. If you follow the link you'll notice the misspelling of Bonnieville, so the correct spelling won't bring the photos up in a search.

 

Here are a couple of Eyston i bought from the State of Utah Archives.

Spirit of Wind

 

Thank you so much for posting. This is real history. I enjoy looking at the details in the background.

A true treasure.

John

 

Don't get any cooler than that. Thanks for sharing.

 

Had never seen those photos, Thank you! One of the pioneers of LSR.
Keeping the tires of the day from shredding at over 350 mph was about impossible. Balls of tempered steel, those guys.!

 

I am always amazed at the size of these early record setting cars.

 

I'm with you, man. Huge engines require huge frames and bodies.

Swell photos. Thanks for posting 'em.

 

Actually Thunderbolt was powered by two Rolls Royce 'R' engines that predated the Merlin. They were 6" bore x 6.6" stroke 2240 cubic inches, 2500 HP @ 3200 rpm, and 2800 HP @ 3400 rpm. Also powered the first airplane to travel over 400 mph.

Piper106

 

Awesome pix of an awesome racing machine.
Love the old "Speed of the Wind", too!

 

Wow! ... How in the heck did I miss this thread?

LowKat - Great find! ... thanks for sharing!

Buick59 - Thanks for sharing your State of Utah Archive photos ... very cool!

 

I posted these images, from my collection, over on the Auto Racing thread several weeks agoas my homage to Bonneville and the start of Speed Week. Seemed more than appropriate to post them here on this cool Eyston thread as well. All were taken in 1937, so they fit in nicely with the others. The classic image of Thunderbolt on the salt is dated 10/23/37 on the back with a caption stating that the photo was of Capt. Eyston making a test run, in second gear, at 240 m.p.h.

Great images so far. Love old Thunderbolt. Let's find more of it as well as more information on Speed of the Winds. We know Thunderbolt did not survive history intact, but does anyone have information on the fate of Speed of the Winds?
Bob.

 

Im seriously in love with these old Bonneville photos! I have to get my scanner up and running so I can post the other stuff I have.

 

Fantastic pictures.

 

Here are a couple more from original August 24, 1937 photo. I get a kick out of that huge old leaf spring..in the giant car.

 

Again, showing the huge size of these cars...and the thought of doing those speed on wire wheels!
Here is a Feb 32,1936 original photo of Eyston in the "Flying Spray."

 

Excellent Pictures many thanks for all that have posted these as my grandfather is in quite a few Albert Denly.

If anyone is interested and have any questions about the Thunderbolt (which Albert Denly was the chief engineer or the Flying Spray / Speed of the Wind which he shared the records with Eyston).
I will endeavour to answer them.

Thanks again for these great Pics.

 

Thanks for sharing the photos. Keep them coming please! I love the history and what they used to use for the records. Quite different from today.

 

Really great pictures, thanks for posting! The engineering shown in the photos is amazing, as is the courage to drive these cars at over 300 mph with no helmet, roll cage, and 30's-era tires.

 

Thought I'd give this a 6 month bump for those who missed it.

 

Thunderbolt was burnt in a fire at Wellington airport here in NZ. Some say it was not badly damaged and the remains were buried I heard of an attempt to find them some years ago but dont know the results. Parts of the car[undamaged] were in a auto museum in Wellington.

 

BTT. Been dormant too long.

 

I like the beginning sign where it said the salt was 4 feet thick. Now it's a 1/4" but no one ever admits they've done anything wrong....