The Atkinson, Thursday 23 July 2015, 7pm
At the turn of the century, a visit to Southport wasn’t just about enjoying an ice cream on the pier. Racing, both on the land and water, was in its heyday and a thoroughly fashionable and aspirational pursuit, for participants and well-heeled audience alike.
The Atkinson is holding a special event on Thursday 23 July 2015 to celebrate the achievements of some remarkable figures in land and water speed record breaking as well as exploring Southport’s pivotal role in the early years of motor racing. This event coincides with the 60th anniversary of Donald Campbell’s first world water speed record at Ullswater.
This unique evening will bring to life some of the personalities that dominated the early years of motor-racing, as well as the nail-biting occasions when records were lost and won. Gina Campbell, daughter of Donald and grand-daughter of Sir Malcolm Campbell and a past holder of the women’s world water speed record, will talk about her life, experiences and achievements. Whilst local historians and racing enthusiasts Peter Cowley and Keith Hick will discuss the fierce rivalry between Sir Henry Segrave and Sir Malcolm Campbell.
The event is organised by The Atkinson’s Development Trust, in order to launch next year’s celebrations of the 90th anniversary of Sir Henry Segrave’s world land speed record.
In March 1926, Segrave captured the land speed record on Southport sands in his four-litre Sunbeam Tiger Ladybird.
Throughout the latter part of the 1920s, until Segrave’s untimely death in 1930 aged just 33, a great struggle for speed developed between the pair. Segrave, a former fighter pilot set three land speed and one water speed record, was the first person to hold both simultaneously, and was the first to travel at over 200 mph (320 km/h) in a land vehicle.
Rival Sir Malcolm Campbell broke the world land speed record on nine occasions between 1924 and 1935, was the first person to drive at over 300 mph and set the water speed record four times.
There’s no better place in the north west to celebrate a motor-racing milestone, as The Atkinson’s permanent museum displays, Between Land and Sea-10,000 years of Sefton’s Coast, strongly features the early years of motor racing.
Treasures on show include 1920s medals and trophies won on Southport beach by motorcycle racer William ‘Sax’ Pearce, a model of the Hudlass car from the 1903 speed trials on Southport promenade, and a 1920s racing car wheel similar to those used on Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird.
Emma Anderson, Director, The Atkinson, said: “The heyday of motor racing in Southport was the 1920s and 30s, when record times were being set and broken in magnificently crafted machines which were themselves lovingly tended by the finest mechanics in the land.”
In addition to three inspiring talks, the fundraising event will also include drinks and refreshments, a chance to handle some of the museum’s objects and related displays of pictures and memorabilia.