In October I will be covering the centenary of motor racing on the remote West Australian dust track of Lake Perkolilli out beyond Kalgoorlie. It should make for a fascinating occasion especially as I will also have the opportunity to drive the famous reconstructed 1904 Gordon Bennett Napier L48 “Samson” 15 litre racing car! The fastest British racing car of its day Samson set a World Land Speed record on Daytona Beach in America in 1905. Later its engine was used in the 1914 and 1915 Griffith Cup winning speedboat Nautilus II, of which I brokered the sale to the Australian National Maritime Museum a few years ago. The engine is now back in “Samson”, which Bill Body in the December 1988 issue of Motor Sport Magazine stated, “Whether or not you approve of the modern reconstruction of old cars, you must concede that this is the recreation of the decade. Modifications made were in keeping with the ethics of a highly experienced engineer intent on providing a habitat for a decidedly historic engine, and had the task not been undertaken there would now be no 1904 Napier L48.”
Whilst way out West I will also be visiting Lake Dumbleyung in order to complete my saga of Donald Campbell’s historic undertaking of being the only person ever to break the World Land Speed Record and World Water Speed Record in the same year in 1964. This should prove to be an interesting follow up to my visit earlier in the year to Lake Eyre in South Australia.
