Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 11 hours ago
An iconic car has returned to Pendine Sands a century after it set the world land speed record.
On April 27, 1926, Welsh driver J.G. Parry-Thomas set a new world land speed record of 169.30 mph in Babs.
To mark the occasion 100 years on, a free event has been held at the west Wales beach on Monday to celebate its unique place in motoring history.
One year after the world record, a second attempt ended in the death of driver JG Parry Thomas when the car rolled over.
Following the inquest, the damaged car was buried in a specially dug hole in the sand dunes at Pendine.
In 1969, Owen Wyn Owen, an engineering lecturer, obtained permission to recover the car and spent 16 years restoring the vehicle.
His son, Geraint Owen, drove Babs along the beach on Monday in front of thousands of enthusiastic pertol heads and spectators that travelled from all over.
After the first of the runs the family of Parry Thomas were given a commemorative glass plaque in from of the iconic car on the beach front.
Alongside the centenary event, the Museum of Land Speed has launched its Project Lab.
This is the next phase in an exciting project to develop a new permanent exhibition space to tell the wider story of Pendine and to make collections more accessible for all.
Transcript
00:01Recreating motor racing history, Babs took to the sands again 100 years after breaking the world land speed record at
00:11Pendine and thousands turned up to see it.
00:14Welsh racing driver John Parry-Thomas became the first person to break the 170mph speed barrier with two laps of
00:23Pendine sands in 1926.
00:26Babs broke the existing record with a top speed of just over 171mph, smashing the record set by Malcolm Campbell
00:37a year earlier.
00:38Parry-Thomas' family members were here today to celebrate the centenary and receive a special award as he was inducted
00:46into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.
00:48Quite emotional really to think that he did this 100 years ago today and lost his life in his second
00:56attempt.
00:57Parry-Thomas tried to reclaim the record but it ended in disaster. He died when Babs rolled at high speed.
01:03After the accident the car was buried in the dunes where it stayed for 42 years before being recovered and
01:11painstakingly restored by Owen Wyn Owen.
01:14Today his son Garaint drove Babs on two laps of the beach.
01:18He had an idea that he would dig the car up and if he got a wheel and a crankshaft
01:22and put them on display in a museum somewhere at least there'd be some record.
01:27All the other of Thomas' cars as large as it disappeared.
01:30So Thomas wasn't on the map and so father didn't do it for any great purpose other than to just
01:35celebrate a Welshman doing good things.
01:37Up close this car is almost deafening when it starts. That's because it has a 27 litre engine. 100 years
01:47ago they were used in aeroplanes.
01:50Today the sight and sound of Babs wowed the crowds once again.
Comments

Recommended