A NEW book reveals the family life of the man who dedicated his life to pushing himself to the limit.

Donald Campbell perished on Coniston Water in 1967 at the helm of Bluebird K7, while trying to break the water speed record.

Forty nine years later, a new book is to be released looking past the bravado of the record breaker, to the complex family man underneath.

Author David De Lara has penned Donald Campbell: 300+ A Speed Odyssey , to be released on November 1.

Mr De Lara, who has written extensively on Campbell, spoke about what drew him to the story of the record breaker.

He said: "I think like many other people it was a subject that interested me."

Mr De Lara said what he learned about Campbell came not just from straightforward interviews, but from the candid moments outside of taped interviews and recordings.

Donald Campbell was born into a speed dynasty. His father, Sir Malcolm Campbell held 13 world speed records during the 1920s and 30s.

As a young boy he would spend endless hours in the workshop of his father, alongside engineer Leo Villa, who would become Donald's "guardian angel".

Donald clearly remembered an occasion when he was aged six in 1927 when he went to Pendine Sands in Wales to watch his father drive the Bluebird, a new car built for speed.

In the 1930s, Donald recalled the fear he felt for his father as he attempted to break the land speed record in the deserts of Utah.

An excerpt from A Speed Odyssey reads: "Dazed, I picked myself up, stumbled along to find Father. ‘Everything all right Dad?’ ‘Fine boy, what on earth have you done to yourself?’ Blood was streaming from cuts on my face, but they didn’t matter. I could have broken a leg at that moment and not noticed it."

Following the death of his father in 1948, Donald set out to begin breaking records on his own the following summer.

Donald sacrificed marriages to what he called "the altar of speed" in the quest to chase his passion for breaking records.

He said: "The dilemma of my first two marriages was not so much any basic incompatibly: Dorothy and Daphne were admirable wives and I was very fond of them, but it was simply that my life as a record breaker got far too much for them to handle."

By 1955 the records began to fall - he set a water speed record in his Bluebird K7 at Ullswater in July, reaching 202mph.

Over the next nine years he would set a further six water speed records.

By the time of his final world speed record attempt at Coniston in January 1967, the picture of Donald was one of a stubborn, determined man.

Robbie Robinson, a member of the Bluebird team said: "Donald had the ability to get everybody to pull together under difficult circumstances. It never occurred to them not to get along with him; maybe because the challenge was greater, the team pulled even harder."

The challenge however was too great; after one successful run down Coniston Water, Campbell began his return, but he never made it. Going at over 300kph, Bluebird somersaulted into the air and crashed back into the lake, killing Campbell.

Mr De Lara said he was keen to explore the man behind the myth, and understand how his family came to see him.

Campbell's daughter, Gina said: "Funnily enough though, I didn’t realise my Dad was ‘famous’ as he had always been famous, so it was just the norm to me then.

"Now I realise what an incredible person, man, father and national and international superstar he was."

Donald Campbell: 300+A Speed Odyssey will be available to buy at the Ruskin Museum in Coniston, and in bookshops and online from Tuesday.

WATCH: Archive footage of Donald Campbell's ill-fated run on Coniston