George Eyston
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| Captain George E.T. Eyston | |
| Born | 1897 |
|---|---|
| Died | 1979 |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Land Speed Record holder |
Captain George Edward Thomas Eyston, MC OBE (1897 - 1979) was a British racing and land speed record car driver in the 1920s and 1930s. [1]
His racing career began in 1923, with European road races and his record-setting car Speed of the Wind. [2]
He is best known for land speed records set in his car Thunderbolt. [3] Between 1937 and 1939 he set three new land speed records taking over from Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird, but was twice bettered by John Cobb. The rivalry was friendly though, and in later years Eyston, as competitions manager for Castrol, assisted with Cobb's ill-fated attempt on the water speed record in Crusader. [4]
Although prominent in his day, history has rather overlooked him and he is far less well known today than the Campbell dynasty, or even John Cobb.
As well as racing, he was also an engineer and inventor, with a number of patents related to motor engineering and particularly supercharging.[5] His work on developing high-power gearboxes was important for Thunderbolt, along with his invention of the Powerplus supercharger used on MGs.
He was made an OBE in 1948.
[edit] References
- ^ Colin Dryden (Sept 2004). Eyston, George Edward Thomas (1897–1979). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. DOI:10.1093/ref:odnb/31092.
- ^ George Eyston racing at Montlhery. (Commercial photo gallery)
- ^ Captain George Eyston: The Empire Club of Canada Speeches 1938-1939. (includes some images of Thunderbolt)
- ^ John Cobb and the Crusader., reprinted from Leo Villa and Kevin Desmond (1976). The World Water Speed Record.
- ^ GB patent 260804, GB patent 375886, GB patent 348524 et al.
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