VERNEUKPAN- THE SUMMER OF '29 

  It was the summer of  1929, February when captain Malcomb Campbell arrived in Cape Town on the Caernarvon Castle  with  his NapieR - Arrol- Astor Bluebird.  In his first interview he said:  Verneuk pan is the most interesting experience experiment I have  ever made. It never came to his mind that he would experience the pan's name - to trick, mislead or swindle.

  At first he lost his dispatch case with imported paper in it, then survived when his plane crashed in a tree near  Calvinia , while flying to Verneukpan, one week after his arrival in Cape Town. 

A formidable task was facing the people preparing the track.   Oom Willem Louw was in charge sweeping the pan. Pofadders and scorpions trove in a land where the temperature could  rise  to 42' C  in the shade.

There was no shortage of excitement.  Campbell's camp had been set up with tents, shelters,  fires, water bags, stews canned fruit, tea  and even a gramophone.   Local traders   from Kenhardt and Brandvlei anticipated a killing as spectators in their hundreds were  expected to flock in. 

News Paper stands were set up. Aunt Susanna Burger, then six years old, still remember the festival atmosphere. Also remembering Campbell,  lifting his hat and said:   'O Gad what a ride'                                                                           Campbell and  every one else had underestimated the pan's artful dodginess. The  track, starting  from a ridge on the fringe and striking into the heart of the brown saucer, was to be 16 miles long.   It was layed out directly west-east and looked straight into the rising sun.  Dust devils hazard  over the pan. Mirages,  more entertaining than the cinema, created phantom trees and ghostly men on stilts.  Razor-sharp stones, litter the area.  When removed, holes were left.  The day of the 'flash in the pan' was postponed repeatedly.

A tortoise on the track, was named 'Blue Bird II.  During the delays, the   targeted record of 207 mph was pushed to 231.36 mph. 

The margin of  survival was so fine.  'One slip of his hand or one swerve,  and he would be  whirled  to all eternity" his wife said.

His mean speed for the measured mile was 218.45mph.  He had beaten the speed he had come to South Africa for, but it was 6 weeks to late.  He had been 'verneuked'    Campbell however, made the last move.  With only one set of tyres left, he took  on the 5km record, 202mph.  On Friday 25, at 5am, under the moon and the early light, Bluebird with her nickel-plated nose glinted like a silver eye as she started her last run along the white line that stretched beyond sight.  He set two record that day:  211mph for the 5km and 212 mph for the 5 miles. He promised to come back in his 'Springbok '  He never did.  In a new Bluebird designed by Reid Railton , campbell broke the land speed record four more times at Daytona.  In 1935, at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah he became the first man to exceed 300 mph on land.