Mens 1957 Donald Campbell 'Water Speed' Bluebird K7 Hydroplane T-Shirt

RetroClassic™ RetroClassic™ Mens 1957 Donald Campbell 'Water Speed' Bluebird K7 Hydroplane T-Shirt design.

We're thrilled to be collaborating with the Campbell Family Heritage Trust to celebrate Donald and Sir Malcolm's land/water speed record achievements, and legacies, in a series of new t-shirt designs featuring designs from the families photo archives. 

This design features the Bluebird K7 which was a turbo jet-engined hydroplane in which Donald Campbell set seven world water speed records during the 1950s and 1960s. Tragically, Donald Campbell lost his life in K7 on January 4, 1967 whilst making a bid to raise the speed record to over 300 miles per hour (480 km/h) on Coniston Water in the English Lake District.  

Donald Campbell set seven world water speed records in K7 between 1955 and 1964. The first of these occurred at Ullswater on 23 July 1955, where he set a record of 202.15 mph (324 km/h). He achieved subsequent speed-record increases with the boat during the rest of the decade, beginning with a mark of 216 mph (348 km/h) in 1955 on Lake Mead.

Subsequently, four new marks were registered on Coniston Water, where Campbell and Bluebird became an annual fixture in the later half of the fifties, attracting sponsorship from the Mobil oil company and then from BP. There was also an unsuccessful attempt in 1957 at Canandaigua in New York state in the summer of 1957, which failed due to lack of suitable water conditions.

Bluebird K7 was much photographed; as well as her annual Coniston appearances, she was displayed extensively in the UK, USA, Canada and Europe, and then subsequently in Australia during Campbell’s prolonged attempt on the land speed record (LSR) in 1963 – 64.

In order to extract more speed, and endow the boat with greater stability, in both pitch and yaw, K7 was modified in the second half of the 1950s with the installation of smoother streamlining, a blown cockpit canopy and, from 1958 onwards, a small wedge shaped tail fin, modified sponson fairings, that reduced aerodynamic lift, and a fixed hydrodynamic fin, fixed to the transom to aid hydrodynamic stability, and exert a marginal downforce on the nose. Thus she reached 225 mph (362 km/h) in 1956, where an unprecedented peak speed of 286.78 mph (461.53 km/h) was achieved on one run, 239 mph (385 km/h) in 1957, 248 mph (399 km/h) in 1958 and 260 mph (420 km/h) in 1959.

Donald Campbell then turned to the LSR, and after surviving a high speed crash in his Bluebird CN7 turbine powered car, he spent a frustrating two years in the Australian desert, battling adverse conditions. Finally, after he exceeded the LSR on Lake Eyre in 1964, at 403.10 mph (648.73 km/h) in Bluebird CN7, Donald snared his seventh water speed record on 31 December 1964 at Dumbleyung Lake, Western Australia, when he reached 276.33 mph (444.71 km/h), with two runs at 283.3 mph (455.9 km/h) and 269.3 mph (433.4 km/h) completed with only hours to spare on New Years Eve 1964.

This made Donald Campbell and K7 the world’s most prolific breakers of the Water Speed Record. It was his finest achievement and Donald became the only person to break both the Land Speed Record and the Water Speed Record in the same year, a feat that is unlikely to be ever equalled.

Photography By:
Campbell Heritage - https://campbellheritage.co.uk/

This 100% cotton crew neck T-shirt has a taped Shoulder to Shoulder and has Twin Needle stitching on neck and shoulders.

Wash Information: 
• Hand Wash is best
• Machine wash is best at 30°C inside out
• Do not tumble dry
• Do not iron over printed areas

This is an official Campbell Heritage collaboration, but we do not imply any association or relationship with any brands or manufacturers and it is in no way suggested that this range of clothing is officially approved or authorised by any organisation.