Gnoo Blas club member Tim Guinness has been chasing a land speed record in his 1980 Alfasud Sprint on the salt flats of South Australia’s Lake Gairdner for the last 8 years.
After 5 visits to the salt lake over that time, Tim, at the wheel of the Alfa, finally secured his land speed record this year for production cars up to 1500cc at the 35th DLRA Annual Speed Week event in early March. The record to beat was 125.226mph (201.53km/h). Despite the Race Director being a little “salty” concerning a minor indiscretion of the rulebook after one of the runs, Tim and his team went on to successfully record a final land speed of 125.927mph (202.66km/h) and a spot in the record books.
The Gnoo Blas Classic Car Club congratulates the team on their fantastic feat finally securing their long sought after record at this year’s event. The team chasing the record consisted of Tim and partner, Frankie, accompanied by son, Murray and mate, Ray Taylor. Mascots Zman & KLG Bear also shared the glory by joining Tim on his runs (strapped in securely we assume).
What would be of great interest to Tim’s fellow members, Tim is distantly related to Kenelm Lee Guinness, a pre-WW1 racing driver and the founder of KLG spark plugs. KLG’s fastest speed was reportedly 136mph (218km/h) before he sold the car, a Sunbeam, to Malcolm Campbell, who renamed it Bluebird, names that should be very familiar with anyone interested in the history of land speed records.
Photos of Tim, the team and his 1980 Alfasud Sprint courtesy of Phil Radoslovich Photography