Reid Railton was the most important figure in the field of high-speed performance engineering in Britain between the wars yet he never really received the credit he deserved for his amazing achievements. He was always the slim figure in the background, in a fedora and prescription sunglasses if the background was the Bonneville Salt Flats. Railton engineered the final and fastest versions of Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebirds and he designed and built a twin- engined 4-wheel-drive Land Speed Record car for John Cobb that was amazingly advanced yet devastatingly simple. It was the first car to top 400mph.
