17-07-2025
Blue Bird returns to Welsh beach 100 years on from record run
The record now stands at 1227,985km/h, set in 1997 by retired British Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green who thundered across Nevada's Black Rock desert to break the sound barrier on land for the first time with the jet-powered Thrust SSC.
The record has stood still this century, though a Bloodhound project is still seeking the funds to hit the 1,609km/h mark with a jet engine and monopropellant rocket working together.
An Australian rocket-propelled 'Aussie Invader 5R' project also needs millions.
Wales, from a family of record-breakers and whose late uncle Donald died in 1967 at speed on Coniston Water in his Bluebird K7 boat, doubted anything would happen soon.
'You look at the problems that Thrust SSC had getting enough money to do the sound barrier, which again is a magic figure that captures the imagination,' he said.
'A thousand miles an hour, yes, it's a big figure, but it just doesn't seem to have the attraction at the moment.'
Wales, whose records were set in a steam-powered vehicle and on a lawnmower, cited the space race and even the ever-increasing popularity of Formula One as possible reasons for waning interest.
'I don't think the appetite is there anymore. At the moment there is no money in record-breaking,' he said.
'The adage of 'if you want to make a small fortune from motorsport, start with a large one' is so true in record-breaking.'
