VGMagazine

   It was appreciated that the fall weather at 4300 feet would be a close run thing. How close became apparent when they rolled the Thunderbolt into the shed at Wendover that afternoon, and the rains came. With absolutely no natural drainage on the salt flats, the rain had to stop, the sun return and evaporation work its magic before they could get back out there. While nature took its coarse, Eyston and his crew stayed fully occupied during the two-week delay effecting clutch modifications.
   With the salt dry, the clutch repaired, hopefully, they wheeled Thunderbolt out for its initial test runs. Eyston ran her up and made a couple of 230 mile an hour passes. So far so good. They rolled her out again on the 23rd of October for their first serious run at the record. A ten-mile course had been laid out, and Eyston rolled a 309.6 mph pass through the timing lights. A second run the same or better would top Campbell's record. As he turned about for the second run, the clutches again went south. A week later Thunderbolt was wheeled onto the flats and a push start was effected to relieve some stress on the transmission. This time Eyston brought her up to 310.68 before the clutches let go. Unfazed by the what he saw as early trials of a car with great potential, Eyston contracted a couple of racing engineers in LA who fabricated the necessary clutch bits.
    New clutches back from LA, Thunderbolt was reassembled and ready to run the evening of November 16th. Eyston and his team knew that winter wouldn't hold back much longer. In the steel gray dawn of November 17th Eyston once again settled himself in the open cockpit and fired up all 4700 horsepower at his shoulders and rolled off ahead of the push car. The clutches engaged flawlessly, and the immense blowers next to his seat spooled up, nearly silencing the 24 cylinders. As the timers caught the sound and scent of Thunderbolt they had recorded a time of 305.59 miles per hour. A record by 4, but hardly representative. The return run showed more. Through the traps Eyston piloted Thunderbolt to 319.11.
    With an average of 312 Eyston had taken the record, having barely scratched the surface of this potent bolide.
      As they rolled the Birmabright aluminum car back to the sheds, the winter's first snow began to fall. Eyston looked at a landscape that was still the same steely gray of the dawn and vowed to return.

. They were independently sprung by cross frame leaf springs, with upper and lower A arms. The brakes were early disc units from Borg & Beck and Lockheed, which, like a modern Grand Prix car, were mounted inboard, connected by short axle shafts to reduce unsprung weight. The four front wheels were staggered; the width of the rear set being wider than the front. With two separate steering boxes, all four front wheels turned in unison. The rear suspension was also independently sprung by a cross-frame leaf spring, and the twin rear wheels per side were attached by A arms, with a disc brake unit mounted to the massive transmission. The use of eight wheels offered a safety margin of directional control, should one blow at speed.
   The power would also be massive. Eyston acquired two supercharged Rolls Royce R Schneider race-plane engines. Between them they displaced 73 liters, and produced 4700 horse power. Each engine had a massive clutch assembly with gear wheels connecting it to the transmission. To make certain the power got to the ground the engines were placed side by side in the middle of the chassis. Placing there full, and considerable, weight between the front and rear set of wheels. The cockpit was just ahead of the engines and behind the second set of front wheels.
    For the body design Eyston went to one of the foremost aerodynamist of the period, the Frenchman Jean Andreau. It was he, and Dr. Kamm of Germany, whose pioneering research during the thirties defined automotive aerodynamics. The chassis was designed to reflect the aerodynamic shape Andreau established for the projected 400mph speeds.
   Once the engineering and design were in place, construction began at the old Bean Motor works in the Midlands. And the construction went rapidly; the entire car was completed in a mere six weeks.
    Construction may have taken only six weeks, but it was the calendar of the year 1937 Eyston had before him. The sponsorship had come through in late winter, the design and construction took the spring and summer, trans-shipment by sea and rail occupied the fall. Eyston rolled the yet to be tested Thunderbolt onto the salt in October. It's said the Rolls engines fired off in perfect cadence, echoing their Schneider Trophy voice off the Wasatch Mountains. The clutches were not so cooperative. The massive power couldn't make its way to the twin rear tires. Eyston couldn't get a gear. Test over.