Captain George Eyston MC OBE

The courtly George, who attained the rank of Captain in the Royal Field Artillery during the First World War, was widely admired for his sportsmanship and impeccable manners. He achieved an awful lot in racing and record-breaking, although his name has tended to be overshadowed by those of his peers Sir Malcolm Campbell, John Cobb and, indeed, Sir Henry Segrave himself. George Eyston was born in 1897 in Bampton, Oxfordshire, and when his prosperous Catholic family moved to Weybridge in Surrey, he became hooked on activities at the nearby Brooklands circuit. His parents disapproved of racing so initially he used an alias when riding motorbikes and then – in 1923, with an Aston Martin – driving cars competitively. It was soon speed record-breaking that absorbed him, in a wide range of classes and categories. The cars were diverse too, including Riley, Sunbeam, Hotchkiss, Chrysler (with diesel engines), and especially MG. He oversaw all the specialist engineering involved, such as on Thunderbolt in 1938, which was assembled in just six weeks and with which ‘The Captain’ grabbed the World Land Speed Record of 357.50mph at Bonneville Salt Lake Flats, Utah. His last personal record run was in August 1954, when the 54-year-old averaged 121mph over 12 hours in the un-supercharged 1.5 litre MG EX179. Awarded the OBE in 1948, he died in 1979 aged 82.