Tribute and Memories of John “Ackers” Ackroyd

Former SRC Chairman Paul Hannaford writes -

I knew Ackers had been unwell for some time. Over the last 10 years he had been to several Speed Record Club weekends in Coniston with his partner Meryel, always being cheery companions and good for a conversation on many subjects. John would never bring up his career in speed and endurance record breaking – he was too modest – but if you asked him questions, he would talk freely and it was always fascinating and gripping.

In recent years he hadn’t been able to make the trip because of his health, but when the news of his passing this week reached me, it still came as a shock and was received with great sadness.

John’s career was quite remarkable. He is perhaps most famous for designing Thrust 2 of course – in itself a remarkable vehicle and achievement – after initially responding to Richard Noble’s advert, “Wanted – Designer for 650mph car.” That whole story is an amazing tale and if you have read John’s book, “Jet Blast and the Hand of Fate” or any of the books on Thrust 2 you will understand just how amazing a task this was.

But John was not a one trick pony by any measure.

In the 1950’s at Saunders Roe he worked on experimental aircraft the SR.51 and SR.177, each being a combined jet and rocket powered aircraft. More than 60 years later a certain LSR contender is designed to use such propulsion!

In the 1960’s he worked on an early competitor to the Hovercraft, known as The Cushioncraft. He designed and helped build the first production electric car – the Enfield 8000 – way back in 1973. Just read that last one again – a production electric car in 1973! It had a top speed of 40mph and a range of 55miles. Not bad by any measure. Almost 50 years later and the production electric car only now is really taking a hold on the automotive market. Clearly a man with great foresight.

Following the success of Thrust 2 with it’s new Land Speed Record of 633.468mph with Richard Noble behind the wheel in 1983 (John also took a ride in the passenger seat at over 400mph) he turned his talents to Hot Air Balloons, working on designs that achieved a world altitude record with the Stratoquest, the Virgin Atlantic Flyer that achieved the first crossing of the Atlantic being piloted by Per Linstrand and Richard Branson and then following that with the Virgin Otsuka Pacific Flyer, again with Linstrand and Branson but accompanied by Steve Fossett; the first hot air balloon to cross non-stop over the Pacific.

Setting his sights even higher, Ackers also designed a toilet that functioned in the zero-gravity of outer space!

In amongst all that he carried out a full restoration for Ken Norris of Donald Campbell’s original Jetstar, with his long-time friend and Thrust 2 teammate Mike Horne.

Involvement with speed record breaking on land did not end with Thrust 2. Ackers carried out consultancy and some design work on Craig Breedlove’s Formula Shell Spirit of America and also designed the 1,000mph wheels amongst other things for Rosco McGlashan’s rocket powered Aussie Invader 5R. Finally, he also joined Richard “Rocketman” Brown at Bonneville in 1999 with his Gillette Mach 3 Challenger, during Richard’s attempt on the world motorcycle land speed record, offering invaluable advice.

Few, if any designers can have had such a diverse portfolio of highly successful and challenging work on their CV.

In 2018 he was rightly honoured as one of the Isle of Wight “Hidden Heroes,” taking a very deserved place amongst a long and illustrious list of pioneers. Without doubt his achievements deserved even higher recognition on a national level, but sadly that was overlooked. That said, John would have been too modest to consider he might have been so deserving.

He was a kind, polite, generous and quietly spoken gentleman with an excellent sense of humour. He would often greet you with, “Alright Nipper,” a Vectian greeting, well used amongst his fellow Islanders and delivered by him in a broad Vectian accent.

A very personal recollection is from when our Chairman Phil Evans, Mike Jenkins and myself travelled together to Black Rock in 1997 where we assisted with and witnessed the supersonic battle between ThrustSSC with Andy Green and Richard Noble, and the Formula Shell Spirit of America with Craig Breedlove. John was there having carried out work on Craig’s project. One day, the three of us ventured across the desert to Craig’s compound, hoping to get a glimpse inside their workshop. We approached nervously, as they had been having technical issues and we weren’t sure of the mood in the camp, or how busy they were.

The first person we saw was Ackers and immediately our trepidation was put at ease. “Hello lads! Come on in and have a look around!” was our greeting from Ackers. He gave us a full tour, opened up the cockpit, took us on a 360 around the vehicle, explained the issues that they were dealing with at the time, made us feel part of their cause. We appreciated that like you can’t imagine and were always so grateful for that gesture. Over the years I reminded John of that and how much it was appreciated. John just shrugged, “Well that’s alright,” he would say, because that was all part of his good nature. It was just something he would do.

John Ackroyd was not just a Hidden Hero of the Isle of Wight – great that that accolade is – he was a Hidden Hero of Great Britain, except that Great Britain still doesn’t realise it.

Rest in Peace John.

Paul Hannaford – Former Chairman SRC – January 2021