Sunday, July 8, 2012

Cobb's Railton Special land speed streamliner... why it needed a Utah License plate... Sept 1938 land speed record setter at 353mph

From what I recall from reading the superb book 'The Fast Set' about the British land speed record racers in the 1920's and 1930's, it required a license plate for a short distance it had to travel from the trials site to it's garage 


above is a shot of ice being added to the intake or fuel tank to lower temps for higher speeds. Is this the first use of ice on a race car? I asked... and the wonderful Electric Edwardians  http://electric-edwardians.blogspot.com/ blogger Richard Hannay knew the answer Golden Arrow' was the first land speed record car to use it, also 'Thunderbolt' which for a time was rivalling the Railton Special at the salt flats used dry ice - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(car) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Arrow_(land_speed_racer) 
Photos from http://content.lib.utah.edu