Laurence Brownlie and George Begg break New Zealand land speed record 1969.....

Laurence Brownlie and George Begg are all smiles after setting a new land record in 1969...

Laurence Browlie was born on 18/10/1943 in Balclutha and when he was one years old his father bought the Kelso Garage.  This was where Brownlie's passion came for motors and he became an A Grade mechanic and was determined to be a racing car driver. He bought his first car in 1965, a Daimler SP250.  Brownlie sure did have his ups and downs in the racing world and some bad luck certainly tested his ambition. Browlie lost everything in a crash with Denis Hulme at a Gran Prix in 1965...

---

Driving a 5.9 litre Beggs sports car, Laurence set a new New Zealand record.  
The previous record holder, Maurice Stanton, was first to congratulate Brownlie.
To acheive the record the vehicle must have two runs, over a kilometre within an hour.
Another competitor looking to break the record was North Islander, Don McDonald, driving a Ferrari.  He clocked 144.9 mph and on the second run 155.1 mph.
Brownlie beat this with a first runof 174.4mph and then a second run of 181.6 mph.

The Begg was built by George Begg of Drummond.  He had travelled over to Europe and returned with many parts and ideas from Bruce McLaren.
The engineering and mechanical construction was done by Bryan Taylor of Invercargill.
​

Read more on Laurence brownlie