After the Fleet Air Museum, I headed over to the Beaulieu Motor Museum. To save time, I ate sandwiches while driving. The museum’s located in a nature reserve in the county of Hampshire, and to get there you drive through open plains where wild horses just casually wander along the roadside. Without a rental car, visitors should have difficulty to reach there as the public transportation service is not that great in this area.
Inside, it’s packed with tons of British bikes and cars from the dawn of the auto industry up until around the pre-WWII era. Honestly, it was so deep and detailed that I just skimmed through most of it.
The main highlight for me was the Land Speed Record cars (LSR). They’re housed in an independent hall, and it kicks off with a dramatic video basically saying, “Brits are the ones who’ve always broken speed records!” The film walks you through the history of land speed records—or more like, how absolutely insane British people are when it comes to going fast. They’ve got stuff like the remains of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird, the Sunbeam 1000HP which first broke 200mph, the Golden Arrow, and his son Donald Campbell’s Bluebird CN7, which still holds the record for the fastest wheel-driven car at 403mph. It was honestly super emotional to see all that. After that era, the Americans took over with jet-powered cars, but then Britain made a comeback with Thrust2, and later broke the sound barrier with ThrustSSC. Those two are actually on display in Coventry, so I’m definitely adding that to my to-do list for the next UK trip.
Oh, and about Japanese cars—apparently it used to just be a lone very old Datsun, basically a copy of an old Austin. But for some reason, they recently added a Suzuki Swift right near the entrance. No idea why! As for bikes, there were a bunch of Japanese classics too—like the CB750, RD250 (RZ250), and GSX750R. Super nostalgic and made me really happy to see them.
The last of the engine-powered, wheel-driven record cars was the Bluebird CN7. Its official record is 403mph, but apparently, it actually hit over 450mph unofficially. The tires were surprisingly narrow, with a rounded cross-section—and I couldn’t help but think, Wait, it went that fast on those tires? Totally blew my mindTo the right of the entrance to the car museum, there’s a section that feels like “people’s cars of the world.” But… why Suzuki? Seriously, what’s it doing there?They’ve got an overwhelming number of cars on display, ranging from classic models to modern F1 machines. Unless you go in with a clear focus, there’s no way you’ll be able to see everything. I personally skipped most of the classic cars to save time.This place is really into Chitty Chitty Bang Bang—they’ve got the actual car on display, and there’s even a replica (without the wings) driving around the grounds. They’re also pretty determined to sell you the DVD as a souvenir!There’s this older guy dressed up like a vintage race car driver, adding to the vibe, and above a bunch of cars, there’s a drag racer on display. In the back, you can spot Mikkola’s iconic 555 Quattro.The Porsche 917K from Steve McQueen’s movie Le Mans.They’ve got a solid lineup of racing machines, all the way up to more modern ones. In the back, you can see Jim Clark’s Lotus 49. For kids who grew up in the ’60-70, that classic “cigar-shaped” design is exactly what we imagined when we thought of Formula One.Unsurprisingly, the modern sport bike section is dominated by Japanese bikes. In the back, is that an oil-cooled GSX-R—the one where Executive Director Yokouchi’s fiery passion literally heated up the engine?Ah, the Yamaha RZ250—so nostalgic. It really feels like this is where it all began.Of course, there’s plenty of classic bikes too—mostly British ones around here.Back at the land speed record section, here’s the Sunbeam 1000 on the right, which hit 203.79 mph, and the Golden Arrow on the left, which reached 231.44 mph.Only the Brits would take a crazy idea like “let’s break the steam-powered car speed record!” and actually make it happen. In 2009, they hit 239 kph—mission accomplished! And that’s a speed any regular gas-powered car can do these days, but the Brits threw all their tech into it just to prove a point. Hey, looks like our company was involved too!
I took lots of photos, so check them out in this gallery!
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