Sunbeam 1000HP Record Car

The Sunbeam Motor Car Company found Grand Prix racing too expensive and quit competing in 1926. Meanwhile Henry Segrave had left auto racing completely to focus solely on setting land speed records. Sunbeam had previously supplied Segrave’s Land Speed Record cars but these had been modified race cars. Louis Coatalen was the managing director of Sunbeam and understood how speed records would translate into auto sales. He knew that a specially-designed LSR car would be able to achieve much higher speeds than the current record. He also knew that such a car could be built fairly inexpensively by utilizing many of the unused parts at the Sunbeam factory. So, he agreed to build a special LSR car for Segrave, and their target was 200 mph (322 kph) The new LSR car was designed by John Samuel Irving in 1926 and built by the Sunbeam works in Wolverhampton. Its frame and cross members were made of channel-steel. Two Sunbeam V12 Matabele aircraft engines would be used to push the car to 200 mph. The two engines in the car had actually been salvaged from the four used in the Maple Leaf VII powerboat, which sank during the 1921 Harmsworth Trophy Race on the Detroit River in the United States. Because of its shape, the workers at the factory referred to ir as The Slug. On 29 March 1927, Segrave set off to Daytona Beach, determined to get every bit of speed he could out of the Slug. The first run hit several problems. The car was prepared for its second run: tyres were changed, new brakes were installed, and fuel and water were replenished. A short time later, Segrave ran the Slug with the wind to the south and at the end of the course. Segrave and the Sunbeam 1,000 hp Mystery Slug had set a new LSR of 203.793 mph, an astounding 29.569 mph faster than the previous record (held by Campbell). This was the first time the 200 mph mark had been exceeded. Segrave was the first non-US citizen to make a record attempt at Daytona Beach. Likewise, the 1,000 HP Sunbeam was the first non-US car to make a record attempt at Daytona Beach. The Slug ushered in a new era of large, streamlined machines designed solely to break the LSR.