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Today in History: Sir Malcolm Campbell Breaks the Land Speed Record

September 3rd, 1935 - Sir Malcolm Campbell drove his specially built Campbell-Railton Bluebird, powered by a supercharged Rolls-Royce R V12, across the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, surpassing 300 mph and breaking the land speed record for the ninth time.

That’s right, ninth time. Campbell broke nine land speed records, and five of them were in a row, meaning he kept going back to break his own damn records. Balls of Solid Steel. The first was in 1924, when he broke 146 mph; and only 11 years later, he would be the first person on earth to drive a car over 300 mph.

Sir Malcolm Campbell: WWI pilot, motorcycle racer, Grand Prix racer, journalist, knight, and general badass extraordinaire, is the first man inducted into our RideLust Badass Hall of Fame (possibily to be re-named the Sir Malcolm Campbell Balls of Steel Award)

If you have any further nominations, feel free to leave them in the comments.

First Porsche on Display in Atlanta

Porsche 356 Coupe

The world’s very first Porsche sports car will be on display at Porsche’s North American headquarter in Atlanta headquarters for a private viewing. See, in the business world you go ahead and make announcements of special events to REMIND people that, “No, this is not for you.” It’s just good business. At any rate, the first 356 that was made in 1948 will be on display at the company’s 60th Anniversary celebration from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 6 at 980 Hammond Drive in Atlanta. That’s 1-3. But you aren’t invited. Only employees and media. Not you. So for those of you that are not Executives at Porsche, here are the details of this classic.

Porsche 356 convertible

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, son of Volkswagen Beetle designer Ferdinand Porsche gave the go ahead on the building of the 356 which was a lightweight rear engine, rear-wheel-drive 2 door sports car available in hardtop and as a convertible and a predecessor to the 911. The 356, like the Beetle, was a four-cylinder, air-cooled, rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive car pan and body construction. The first 356 had between 46 and a whopping 82 horsepower. The 356 had 170 horsepower in its last years of production. Much of the actual initial parts were from Volkswagon with Porsche’s efforts mainly in refining the car for better performance. The basic design of the 356 remained the same throughout its lifespan, with most improvements focused on the mechanics of the car rather than styling changes. Production of the 356 continued until April 1965.

The Porsche 356 enjoyed a ton of victories as racecar at the 24 hours of Le Mans, the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio and the Carrera Panamericana. Several Porsche 356’s were stripped down in weight, and modified in order to have better performance and handling for these races. Examples include the Porsche 356 SL, and the Porsche 356A Carrera GT.

Today, the Porsche 356 is a highly-regarded collector car. Few 356 Carreras were produced and these often bring well over $250,000 at auction. A fully-restored 356 Carrera Speedster (of which only about 140 were ever made) will sell for around $300,000 at auction.

The original selling price of a late 1950s Porsche was around $4,000, which was also the price of a new;today they regularly bring between $20,000 to well over $100,000 at auction.

Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa: World Record Price

Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa: World Record Price
Ferrari once again claimed the record for the most expensive car ever to be sold at an auction. At the recently concluded Leggenda e Passione event, a lucky and undoubtedly rich fellow paid about $12.2 million dollars for the rare 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. A truly rare catch as this is one of only 22 ever made, with chassis number 0714TR. This pony isn’t all show however, with its long history of racing. Its first owner, Piero Drogo was a racer. The previous record holder for the most expensive car that went under the hammer was the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder that was sold for almost 11 million dollars.