If you happen to be in England on January 29, you might want to visit the Beaulieu, the National Motor Museum, where the engine in Sir Malcolm Campbell’s world land speed record-breaking Sunbeam 350hp will be started for the first time in more than 50 years.
In 1924, the car reached a then-record 146.16 miles per hour and then did 150.76 on the Pendine Sands beach in Wales. The car last ran in 1962, when Lord Montagu drove three laps around the track at Goodwood.
Recently, the museum’s workshop team and a group of volunteers have done a rebuild of the engine with help from the Sunbeam Talbot Darracq Register in finding parts and specialist services needed to complete the mechanical work.
The car will be started at “midday” just outside the museum entrance.
“Visitors are welcome to watch as this iconic motor is fired up,” the museum said in the news release, “but please be warned — it will make quite a noise!”
The museum is located in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, and includes more than 250 automobiles and motorcycles displayed to tell the story of the history of motoring in Britain.
