Racing Career
He held the ultimate lap record at the track, driving the 24-litre Napier Railton at an average speed of 143.44 mph (230.84 km/h) achieved on 7 October 1935, having earlier overtaken the 1931 record set by Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin drving Bentley Blower No.1, and regaining it from his friend Oliver Bertram.
Driving the piston-engined, wheel-driven Railton Special he broke the land speed record at Bonneville on 23 August 1939, achieving a mark of 367.91 mph (592.09 km/h). Without this being beaten he raised the record to 394.19 mph (634.39 km/h) in 1947.
During the Second World War he served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force, and between 1943 and 1945 in the Air Transport Auxiliary. He reached the rank of group captain.
He died in 1952, attempting to break the world water speed record at Loch Ness in the jet speedboat Crusader at a speed in excess of 200 mph (320 km/h). The boat hit an unexplained wake, which some believers of the Loch Ness Monster claim was caused by the wake of a large animal. Nearby, there is a memorial to him erected by the people of Glenurquhart. He is buried at Christ Church, Esher.
Read more about this topic: John Cobb (racing Driver)
Famous quotes containing the words racing and/or career:
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“John Brown’s career for the last six weeks of his life was meteor-like, flashing through the darkness in which we live. I know of nothing so miraculous in our history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)