Ken Norris took that philosophy to heart and never failed it

Ken Norris took that philosophy to heart and never failed it.David Tremayne. Considerable changes are going on behind the fa?e of the British high street. In his time, he had worked with the true heroes, the real achievers of the game: Donald Campbell, Richard Noble and Andy Green. He was approached by many people, myself included, who wanted advice on their own record projects Norris always gave kind words of support and encouragement.

As he was the best at driving in dead straight lines, Norris used the Jaguar fire tender to mark out lanes on the desert track, which Noble would then follow at 600mph. He would continually squat down to spear the playa with his harpoon-like load- bearing ratiometer to assess the surface’s weight- bearing properties.Norris had a fund of stories about his time in the business, and gave help and advice with total generosity. In his days with Thrust in the Eighties, my wife fondly christened him “Mighty Mouse” for the way in which he sped around. He was also a consultant on Noble’s ThrustSSC project which saw Britain become the first nation to break the sound barrier on land at Black Rock on 15 October 1997.

One of his abiding passions was to see another British water-speed record contender, and he was closely involved initially with Nigel MacKnight’s current Quicksilver project.Ken Norris was of small stature but towering integrity and intellect, and was completely self-effacing. I said that you first had to convince yourself that you are capable, because you have this man’s life in your hands. You’ve got to say, “Can I do it?” And that is always a pretty difficult question.Norris proved a strong manager of Richard Noble’s Thrust2 team in the Black Rock desert in Nevada in 1982, and again in 1983 when they regained the land-speed record for Britain at 633.468mph on 4 October. There were things I could have done, which might have saved Don.