Gentleman Racer Don Harkness

Donald James Harkness was a pioneer in the automotive and aeronautical industries, who got bit by the motorsports bug in 1924 when he imported an Overland chassis from the United States to his native Australia. Harkness, an engineer, extensively modified the Overland and gave it the nickname “Whitey.” Donald and Whitey won over 50 events at the Penrith and Maroubra tracks and at Gerringong’s Seven Mile Beach.

The Daily Guardian offered a £50 trophy for the first person in Australia to break 100 mph over a mile. Harkness built a new car on a Minerva chassis powered by a Hispano Suiza aircraft engine and would set the record of 108 mph at Gerringong in October of 1925. In between land speed record attempts Harkness participated in hill climbs and overland motoring expeditions in the Australian outback. 

His newfound fame attracted the attention of racing driver Norman Leslie ‘Wizard’ Smith and Jack Mostyn who wanted Harkness to develop a new car to break the Australasian one-mile and the world ten-mile records. The car, dubbed the Anzac, was powered by a Rolls Royce aircraft engine on an extensively modified Cadillac chassis. The Anzac would set an official record of 128.571 mph at Gerringong. The car went on to reach 148 mph at Kaitaia Beach, New Zealand, but it was not an official time. 

Harkness & Hillier Pty Ltd.’s next big project was a new land speed car named the “F.H. Stewart Enterprise” after its sponsor Sir Frederick Stewart. Powered by a Napier engine from a Schneider seaplane the car would beat the world record for 10 miles in 1932 with an official speed of 164.084 mph. Harkness walked away from racing after a 1935 accident where he became trapped and almost enveloped in flames. He would continue to be involved in the engineering and design side of motorsports and would remain influential in the Australian automotive industry well into the 1960s. Harkness donated most of his printed and photographic records to Australia’s Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences.