Parry Thomas Fatal Crash @ Pendine Sands 1927 (Aftermath)
- 8 months ago
John Godfrey Parry Thomas, universally known as Parry Thomas, had designed, built and driven the car in which he set the Land Speed Record in April of 1926, on the beach at Pendine Sands, South Wales. He had wrested the record Henry Segrave had signed just one month before at Southport, England, in the Sunbeam "Slug" - 153.522 mi/h (245.149 km/h) raising it by about 20 mi/h (32 km/h), 170.624 mi/h (272.458 km/h), at the wheel of his aging Higham Special "Babs".
The "Babs", originally designed by Clive Gallop for Count Louis Zborowski, had a lightweight chassis fitted with a 26.9-litre Packard Liberty V12 aero engine, that after Parry Thomas' modifications (he put four carburettors instead of two, changed the pistons and raised the compression) reached over 500 hp and, with a streamlined body it would be sufficient to approach 200 mi/h (322 km/h).
Nine months later, in February of 1927, Malcolm Campbell bettered Parry Thomas' record at the six-mile beach of Pendine Sands, by less than 4 mi/h (6.4 km/h) - 174.883 mi/h (281.447 km/h), driving his Napier Campbell Bluebird. With the other famous challenger Segrave's Daytona campaign imminent, Parry Thomas decided to come back to Pendine Sands once again, determined to write definitively his name in the Land Speed Record history.
On Thursday 03 March 1927, just after entering the measured mile for another run, the car slid, rose into the air, overturned landing back on its wheels and caught fire. There were no brakes on the front and two sets on the rear neither of which could stop the car very well, it was impossible for Thomas to do any manoeuvre to avoid the impact, rescuers found him still in the cockpit with broken neck. He was the first driver to be killed during a Land Speed Record attempt.
According to eyewitnesses, "a strong smell of burned Ferodo" raised in the place of accident, this suggested transmission trouble immediately prior to the crash since the fan effect of the rotation parts would dispel any strong smells under normal conditions. This has not yet been confirmed.
R.I.P
The "Babs", originally designed by Clive Gallop for Count Louis Zborowski, had a lightweight chassis fitted with a 26.9-litre Packard Liberty V12 aero engine, that after Parry Thomas' modifications (he put four carburettors instead of two, changed the pistons and raised the compression) reached over 500 hp and, with a streamlined body it would be sufficient to approach 200 mi/h (322 km/h).
Nine months later, in February of 1927, Malcolm Campbell bettered Parry Thomas' record at the six-mile beach of Pendine Sands, by less than 4 mi/h (6.4 km/h) - 174.883 mi/h (281.447 km/h), driving his Napier Campbell Bluebird. With the other famous challenger Segrave's Daytona campaign imminent, Parry Thomas decided to come back to Pendine Sands once again, determined to write definitively his name in the Land Speed Record history.
On Thursday 03 March 1927, just after entering the measured mile for another run, the car slid, rose into the air, overturned landing back on its wheels and caught fire. There were no brakes on the front and two sets on the rear neither of which could stop the car very well, it was impossible for Thomas to do any manoeuvre to avoid the impact, rescuers found him still in the cockpit with broken neck. He was the first driver to be killed during a Land Speed Record attempt.
According to eyewitnesses, "a strong smell of burned Ferodo" raised in the place of accident, this suggested transmission trouble immediately prior to the crash since the fan effect of the rotation parts would dispel any strong smells under normal conditions. This has not yet been confirmed.
R.I.P