1999 has turned out to be a year of mixed fortunes for Don Wales and the Bluebird Project. At the beginning of 1999 we all believed we had the chance of improving on our successes in 1998 (Four UK national records for electric vehicles) and maybe, just maybe, being in a position to challenge for the international record (then held by Lightning Rod of the USA at 215mph).
However, in order to become competitive - and to stay competitive, Don and I believed the project required a complete overhaul - in the business sense - and the car required radical improvements - on the technical front. If we were to see our ambitions fulfilled in 1999, and the project sustained over a number of years, these two factors were crucial to get right before continuing.
Above all we re-emphasised the project's primary objectives:
One of the high points of 1999 was also one of the very first achievements we made in the year. Bluebird Electric was awarded Millennium Product status by the Design Council of the UK. This prestigious award was created by the UK government to acknowledge the depth and diversity of innovation and design in the UK at the beginning of a new millennium. The Bluebird Project members were all honoured and delighted to receive this recognition so early in the project's development.
Decisions about how we were to improve the car were relatively easy. Without the funding to start with a clean sheet of paper, we had to look at how best we could improve what we had. In this respect we decided that the car required a whole new space-frame chassis which needed to be stronger and lighter. To reduce rolling resistance we needed, at least, to reduce the width of the wheels and tyres and we also needed to improve the aerodynamics of the body by enclosing the wheels and cockpit. We would also look at ways we could improve the already excellent motors we have on Bluebird. Sheffield University's Electric Machines and Drives Group was therefore commissioned to undertake a complete evaluation of the motors performance and to look at ways of improving the electronic power control unit. For 1999 we would stick with the Hawker Energy supplied lead acid batteries.
Following a complete re-vamp of the projects business structure a new company was formed to undertake the car improvements. Bluebird Technologies Limited subsequently opened its doors at a small engineering facility adjacent to the Brawdy airbase in Pembrokeshire UK, in April, and Simon Garrett appointed as chief design engineer of the new chassis and Paul Sparrow (assisted by Richard Eastop) was put in charge of bodywork modifications.
Confident that we could complete the work in time and raise the money to do it, we set a notional target of the end of September to produce and run the car.
Throughout the year, the project was represented at significant electric industry events and several other trade shows and exhibitions. We took the 1998 Bluebird to both the International Power Sources Symposium in Brighton and to ISATA in Vienna. I'd like to thank the IPSS members for their support and to Eurotunnel, Mark Richies and Neil Houghton for their support and energy in getting us to Vienna. We made some new friends at these events as well as meeting a number of new contacts for the project. Later in the year a model of Bluebird Electric was on show in South Africa as part of a trade mission exhibition for the UK's government.
Meanwhile, work on the car continued apace throughout the summer with fabulous support from Air Products, who supplied welding equipment and specialist welding expertise for the chassis, and Scott Bader & Co. who provided huge quantities of body work materials. We'd particularly like to mention Craig Hunt and Jo Hills of Air Products and Chris Tucker of Scott Bader without whose unstinting support we could not have made as much progress with the car as we did.
I'd also like to thank Dyfed Steels, Wickes Welding Supplies, Fenton Factors, and the Brawdy Business Park (all of Pembrokeshire), The Virginia Water Motor Company (Surrey), and Bodyshop Services (Cardiff), for their help, patience and support during this time.
September 25th 1999 was to mark an important date for the project. On this date seventy five years previously, Malcolm Campbell set his very first world land speed record. That record was set at Pendine where we are hopeful of continuing that glorious heritage in 2000. In July of 1925, Malcolm Campbell set the second (of his nine) world records, again at Pendine, and became the first person ever through 150mph. Seventy five years on, Don and the Bluebird Team expect to be back on Pendine breaking records.
By the end of October 1999 we had completed the work on the new car and it was duly presented to the world at Pendine on October 16th. It then went directly to Goodwood Race Circuit in Sussex where Don Wales showed off the car and started the Greenpower Electric Marathon event where over 70 schools form the South East of England built and raced there own electric vehicles.
Getting the car ready for this date proved particularly hectic and I'd like to thank Simon Garrett, Paul Sparrow, and Richard Eastop, for their efforts in completing the car. I'd also like to thank Mike and Bernice, Anthony, Mark, Keith, and Neil, from the Bluebird Supporters Club for their help in getting the car prepared and delivered to Pendine in fine form.
We were also joined at Pendine by Richard Baker and the safety crew from Rover BMW who have joined the project as its safety crew at all record attempts. I would also like to thank Land Rover for the long-term loan of two Land Rover Discoveries. We hope that this is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship.
At this time, we felt two further elements of the project were ripe for improvement. First, we felt the website required an overhaul and our web master, Emyr Wyn Morris of Gwe Preseli, did a fine job of reorganising the site (you are too kind, Em.) and making it much more user friendly. With further improvements expected next year, things can only get better!
Secondly, the Bluebird Supporters Club needed a rethink and I felt it was time that the supporters themselves took charge. The Club is currently appointing a new set of executive members and will publish a new constitution by the spring. From there on in it will be up to the membership to decide on policy and run its own affairs. I'm positive they will do a fine job and build the Club into a fine organisation.
Meanwhile, anyone interested in joining the club can do so here.
However, this is where the positives began to run out. As the weather closed in and prevented the project from running the car at all on Pendine this autumn, we were also to hear that the Americans were going great guns at Bonneville. Signs were ominous in the summer when both Lightning Rod and White lightning teams posted impressive improvements on their old records. White Lightning in particular was looking in great shape to shatter the existing record, and so it was that in October (the week after we completed the re-vamped Bluebird), they posted a new international record for electric vehicles of 245mph. A remarkable and fabulous achievement. We now know that the fight was really on to be the first electric vehicle to 300mph.
Above all it proved to the team that the advantages the Americans had by being able to run on a track much less sticky and almost twice as long as the beach at Pendine were going to be almost impossible for us to overcome in the UK. When it comes to our turn to have a go at that record, we are going to have to consider going abroad to get it. But, for now, that is a consideration for the future. First we have to prove we have a car of competitive worth and that was proving increasingly frustrating to achieve. By the end of November we knew that such attempts were going to have to wait until year 2000.
One further initiative was to be created by the end of 1999. To have any realistic chance of catching the Americans what was needed was a stable and workable facility that allowed for concerted test and preparation work on the car. After a short search we found a site that was too perfect for words - in all respects. At the beginning of November we moved into a new operational and testing facility for the project at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency site at Pendine! Now we could foresee our ability to test the car in all weathers and on surfaces from tarmac to sand, and at times and costs that meant the project could sustain itself without the need for vastly expensive test runs in public.
The DERA facility provides us with several units for chassis / drivetrain engineering and bodywork as well as units for design, testing (including a rolling road) and prototyping. In this respect Sheffield University have been commissioned to design a and produce for us a full electric vehicle test cell which will provide us with complete data and simulation abilities. We also hope to add a battery test facility and new CAD facilities early in the new year. There is much work needed to bring the facility fully up to scratch, but it is felt we finally have a base from which real progress can be made.
In 2000 we hope to make the facility available to other land speed record projects as well as for the development of electric vehicle prototypes. We expect some exciting news on this front in January. It is also hoped that the new facility will become a place for our Supporters Club members and funders to visit regularly at "open days".
In the immediate future we will be testing the car in private during early 2000 and are planning to run in public during the spring. We should know by then the abilities of our re vamped car and what prospect we have of challenging for the international record in 2000. A full diary of events and appearances will be posted on the website in February.
Two further initiatives will be under way in early 2000. Both have been possible by the efforts and drive of Don Wales. Firstly, after many years of needing to exist, a new Trust has been formed to protect the interests of the Bluebird and Campbell legacy. The new Bluebird Campbell Trust will be fully operational from the end of January 2000 and will be an essential "policing" authority for the future protection of the Bluebird/Campbell heritage. Key trustees include Don, Jean Wales (Sir Malcolm Campbells daughter and Don's mother), Gina Campbell, Ken Norris (designer of the 1960's Bluebirds), and Don's brothers Malcolm and PJ.
I would also like to mention Alex Spofforth who was instrumental, with Don and I, in the establishment of the new structures and continues to be a great supporter of the project.
Don will also be heading up the final element of the Bluebird project plan - Bluebird Team Racing. BTR will be a professional outfit fully suited to the testing and racing of not only Bluebird but, a whole range of racing electric vehicles.
Finally, I'd like to thank our main sponsors for their continued support. Chief amongst them are Hawker Energy, Castrol International and Imphy Ugine Precision. Ironically, we lost three of our main contacts from these companies; Norman Finn of Hawker, Bev Slaughter of Castrol and Colin Woolger of Imphy have all moved on to new adventures. I would like to give a personal "thank you" to these guys for their support over the past two years. I'm sure the project has not heard the last of either!
And, of course, we mustn't forget to mention Sir Terence Conran who continues to support the project as he has done from day one.
Stick with us and check back for regular updates and diary listings. Don't forget too that our Supporters Club requires more members!
In the meantime, have a prosperous and speedy New Year!
Martin Rees, Bluebird Electric Project Director
For information on the project and its sponsorship benefit packages complete the contact form.