Campbell was innate within Horley, Surrey, as a boy of Sir Malcolm Campbell. As a result his father's career, he strove to placed speed records on land and water.

Campbell began speed record tries applying his father's old boat Bluebird K4, however fallowing a 156 mph (250 kph) crash destroyed the K4 inside 1951 he developed a recently boat. A Bluebird K7 was the jet-propelled hydroplane type with the Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl jet engine producing 4000 lbf (18 kN) of thrust. Campbell placed septenary globe a river-speed records between 1955 and 1964. A 1st was at Flow of any stream Ullswater on July 23, 1955, where he placed the record of 203 mph (325 kph). A series of increases peaked around December 31 1964 at Dumbleyung Lake, Western Australia when he reached 276.33 mph.

Toward land, resulting a dense crash at Bonneville using the Bluebird CN7 car within 1960, on July 17, 1964, at Lake Eyre, Australithe he set a record of 403.Tenner mph for jet propelled 4-four-wheel vehicles (Class The). He became a foremost human to placed two a lake & land records in the equivalent month. However his land record was short-fugacious, because rule changes intended that Craig Breedlove's Spirit of America presently placed recently records.

3 years late, in January 4, 1967, Campbell was killed while a re-engined Bluebird K7 flipped & disintegrated at the speed within excess of 300 mph in Coniston Water in England. a are causal agents for of a crash has been multifariously attributed to Campbell non waiting to refuel fallowing doing a forevirtually all dog of 297 mph, & hence the boat existence lighter; the waves from either his do; &, most belike, a cut-away from the jet engine. A wreckage of his craft & a body of Campbell were non recovered until May 28, 2001 when diver Bill Smith was inspired to look for a wreck when hearing a Marillion song "Out Of This World" (from either a album Afraid of Sunlight), which was written about Campbell & a Bluebird. A body of Campbell was recovered before long fallowing & was placed to rest inside Coniston graveyard.

Between the two, Donald & his father experienced placed eleven speed records in a water supply & 10 onto land.