Credit: TheBluebirdProject / YouTube
Almost 60 years ago,Donald Campbellwas killed on Coniston Water as he raced to break 300mph.
Now the hydroplane used in that record attempt is returning to the crash site, for the first time since it somersaulted and sank on Jan 4, 1967.
Bluebird, which set four water-speed records before the crash, will race across the lake again this week. But this time it will only be allowed to reach speeds of 150mph.
Some 20,000 spectators are expected to visit the lake each day during the six-day Bluebird K7 Festival, hoping for a glimpse of the Bluebird flying across the water.
It will be piloted by Australian Dave Warby, who is himself a world water-speed record challenger and the son of the current record holder, the late Ken Warby.
The jet-powered hydroplane’s design means it glides on top of the water at high speeds, only touching the surface at three points so as to reduce drag that would slow it down.
Ken’s record of 317.6mph was set in 1978 in his boat, the Spirit of Australia, which he built himself. The mark still stands almost 50 years later, but son Dave is hoping to replicate his father’s achievements, albeit not in the Bluebird.
Dave, 58, has spent the last decade leading a motorsport team to design and build the Spirit of Australia II, focusing on safety measures and slowly increasing the speed of the craft through testing.
The boat has a theoretical top speed of 370mph and is powered by a Rolls-Royce engine.
However, this week, Dave will have to be satisfied with tamer speeds of around 150mph, implemented for safety reasons.
In 1967, Campbell had been attempting to set a new world record on water of more than 300mph when he crashed.
Its wreckage and his body were left on the lake bed for decades before being pulled out in 2001 byBill Smith, a Tyneside engineer, who enlisted a group of volunteers to restore it. Ultimately, around 50 per cent of the original craft was lost and had to be replaced.
Alengthy ownership battleensued after Mr Smith claimed part-ownership because of the work he and his Bluebird Project team had carried out.
He relinquished his claim and the vessel returned to Coniston in March 2024 and was installed at the Ruskin Museum.
Advertisement
Gina Campbell, the daughter of Donald, said her father “would be delighted and pleased” by this week’s festival.
“I have no doubt that Bluebird K7 will lift up her skirts and perform for the public,” she said.
For the festival, the craft has been given special dispensation to exceed the lake’s 10mph speed limit in place since the 1970s.
For a record to be achieved, the craft will have to go a kilometre out into the water and then back through speed traps, with the average speed used to calculate the record.
Campbell, who reached 315mph on the way out, recorded an average speed of 297.6mph.
On the return journey, with his own record already seemingly torn up, Campbell continued to fight to beat the 300mph, but crashed as he reached 328mph.
After his body was recovered and buried in a local cemetery, an inquest in 2002 recorded a verdict of accidental death. The coroner concluded it was likely that Bluebird was unbalanced by factors, including the speed of travel and rough water.
Since its reconstruction, the Bluebird has had one outing, at Loch Fad in Scotland in 2018.
Even now, despite the festival running between May 11 and 17, there’s a possibility the craft won’t ever take to the water.
Poor weather will make a run across the water too dangerous, and while rain is forecast across the week, it is the predicted wind that is understood to be the main concern.
As well as making for choppier waters, the wind can unsettle the balance of the craft and increase headwinds, ultimately causing it to flip.
Organisers were constrained on dates to hold the event after the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) demanded it take place during term-time to minimise the number of tourists.
The Bluebird K3, which set three world water-speed records when it was piloted by Campbell’s father, Sir Malcolm Campbell, in the 1930s, will also be running.
Jeff Carroll, the chair of the Ruskin Museum’s trustees, told a LDNPA committee meeting last year that the Bluebird K7 represented the UK’s post-war “engineering prowess”.
He said it was “a possibly one-time-only event to inspire a new generation” and that “Campbell’s death was a day that shook the world”.
“Four of Bluebird’s seven world water-speed records were set on Coniston Water. That would have been five had fate not intervened.”
