LAND SPEED RECORD
COBB READY FOR ATTEMPT Within the next lew days, John Cobb, 47 year old English racing driver, is expected to make an attempt at surpassing his own world’s land speed record of 369.7 m.p.h. when he opens the throttle of his three-ton “Railton-Mobil-Special” car on the salt flats of Bonneville, Utah. Cobb is holder of all the worlds land speed records from one kilometer to 10 miles. This attempt on the record, which will be a feature of the Utah State Centennial celebrations, will be the first held on the course since the war. Reid Railton, designer of the Railton Mobil Special; P. T. Taylor, who was in charge of the car’s construction; and engineers of Vacuum Oil Company, will be present during the speed trials. The Railton Mobil Special was built at a cost of 100,000 dollars. The specially-designed streamlined body is made of aluminium alloy with the entire unit, including the tyres, housed inside the shell
The two 12-cylinder, supercharged Napier engines are hung on each side of the single frame girder in the centre. The front engine drives the i ear wheels and the rear engine pow ers the front wheels to obtain maximum adhesion to the ground. Each engine has a separate transmission set of gears and operates independently of the other. There are three forward speeds but no reverse. The cooling unit consists of a 75gallon tank in which ice is placed before each run and a 15-gallon lubricating oil tank of regular Mobiloil to help dissipate heat.
Cobb’s seat is in front of the axle to give him maximum visibility. When he has seated himself behind the wheel, the 400-pound body is placed on the car sealing him in. A truck pushes the car to start it. The shift from first to second gear is made at 140 miles per hour, and from second to high at 240 miles. Both Vacuum Engineers and those responsible for design and construction of this super car are confident along with Cobb of' lifting the world’s speed record to a substantially higher figure.
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Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 73, 29 August 1947, Page 7
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348LAND SPEED RECORD Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 73, 29 August 1947, Page 7
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