John Rhodes Cobb

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John Rhodes Cobb

British motor race–car driver

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Sep 25, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

Born:: Dec. 2, 1899, Esher, Surrey, Eng.

Died:: Sept. 29, 1952, Loch Ness, Inverness, Scot. (aged 52)

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John Rhodes Cobb (born Dec. 2, 1899, Esher, Surrey, Eng.—died Sept. 29, 1952, Loch Ness, Inverness, Scot.) was an automobile and motorboat racer, first to reach a speed of 400 mph on land. On Sept. 16, 1947, at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, U.S., he set world speed records (not broken until 1964) for Class A (unlimited engine size) automobiles: 394.196 mph for one mile and 393.825 mph for one kilometre. Each record was the average of speeds attained in a round trip over a measured mile and kilometre; on the return lap he was timed at 403.135 mph for the mile. Both of his world records surpassed standards that he had set in 1939. While trying to establish a world speed record for motorboats, his jet-propelled craft, travelling at more than 200 mph, disintegrated.

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