Friday, June 18, 2010

Stutz Black Hawk

Here's another land speed record car. It's one of the most beautiful cars but unfortunately has a tragic story attached to it. Frank Lockhart built it using two supercharged 1.5 litre straight eights. This made for quite a compact, lightweight car - quite an unusual approach at the time - he was competing against Seagrave's 1000hp Sunbeam.

The first attempt at Ormond Beach in Florida ended with him surviving a crash at over 200mph - landing in the sea itself. He returned to try again a few months later but this time wasn't so lucky - a burst rear tyre sent the car into a barrel roll - again at over 200mph.

2 comments:

50Fraud said...

I really like your series of record cars -- especially the "Beast of Turin". Please keep it up!

stefan marjoram said...

Thanks - I'll try - it would be easier if I could settle on one style - I keep changing my mind though.