THE CAMPBELL DYNASTY|CW
“Christopher Ward is now the official timing partner to the Bluebird speed record team. It’s a brilliant combination of two innovative British names”
of races currently being considered by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the global governing body of motor racing. As well as planning to enter its own works team, the Bluebird project is hoping that it will be an approved constructor to the new series and therefore will supply vehicles for other competitors also.
THE FLAPPER BECOMES THE BLUEBIRD
One hundred years ago the 27-year-old Malcolm Campbell saw a play called The Blue Bird by Belgian author Maurice Maeterlinck at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in central London. He was so inspired by this story of a search for happiness that he rushed home, bought the entire stock of blue paint from his local ironmonger, and repainted and renamed his racing car Blue Bird. It had been previously called The Flapper. To start the process of reconnecting the British public with the Bluebirds a display of five record-breaking craft from 1912 to 2000 was paraded outside the Theatre Royal Haymarket on June 12 this year. Also on show was a prototype of the Bluebird GTL Formula E Racer, which is being developed for the proposed Formula E global race series, which, it is hoped, will see electric cars speeding round the city centres of eight major cities from 2014. “In 1912 Malcolm Campbell was racing the first Bluebird at Brooklands. With the return of a Bluebird to the race track, hopefully we will be one of 24 electric-powered cars speeding round city centre race tracks. These will be sprint races with top drivers,” says Martin Rees, project director for Bluebird Speed Records, the Campbell family’s current initiative. Working right alongside the squad will be Christopher Ward, which has been confirmed as the official timing partner to the Bluebird speed
record team, so creating a brilliant combination of two innovative companies that champion British design and technology. “This is a partnership, not a sponsorship deal,” says Chris Ward. “We were pleased and honoured when Bluebird approached us as for many people, especially from the generation of me and my fellow directors, the Campbells’ story is very fresh, exciting and British. Given our company’s on-going involvement with motoring and aviation, this makes a totally appropriate alliance.” Chris’ fellow director Mike France adds: “Donald Campbell’s death
on Wednesday, 4th January 1967 was a ‘JFK’ moment for me and many of my generation. I can remember exactly the moment I heard - I was in Duke Street Park in Formby, Lancashire, playing football at the end of the Christmas hols. He was a real-life ‘Boy’s Own’ hero and the prospect of being involved with the current generation of the Bluebird legend was just too marvellous an opportunity to miss. There are similarities between us – like Christopher Ward, the Bluebird project is British, design-led and innovative. We are both trying to overcome much bigger competitors. We were also hugely attracted by the eco- friendly nature of the new Bluebird ambitions.”
RESPECTING THE HERITAGE
Rees, who has been with the Bluebird team since 1996, made the initial contact with CW. A former industrial designer himself, he is full of praise for the company’s approach. “Christopher Ward has been brilliant at engaging with what we do and knowing instantly what would work for us,” he says. “Chris Ward in particular has been very respectful of our heritage and just seemed to understand from the start what we are about.”
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opposite page, top; With a supercharged 26.9litre, 1450bhp Napier Lion engine, this Bluebird achieved 246mph on Daytona Beach in February 1931 bottom left; born in 1885, Malcolm Campbell was knighted in 1931 for his effort on Daytona Beach bottom right; in 1927 on Pendine Sands, south Wales, Campbell hit 174mph in this 450bhp Bluebird Napier Lion; this page; at Bonneville Salt Flats in 1935 Campbell was the first man to break the 300mph barrier
www.christopherward.co.uk 25
Photos; Campbell archive, MPL picture library
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