Sporting

Submitted by P. G. Wright(2nd August 2012)

Babs, the car that killed its driver

Babs was the land speed record car built and driven by John Parry-Thomas. It was powered by a 27-litre Liberty aero-engine. Babs began as 'Chitty 4', one of Count Louis Zborowski's series of aero-engined cars named 'Chitty Bang Bang'. Still not fully developed by the time of Zborowski's death in 1924, it was purchased from his estate by J.G. Parry-Thomas for the sum of £125. Babs used exposed chains to connect the engine to the drive wheels, while the high engine cover required him to drive with his head tilted to one side – the right. During a later record attempt at Pendine Sands, Wales on 3 March 1927, the right-hand drive chain broke at a speed of 170 mph, partially decapitating him. Babs was buried where it landed, on the beach at Pendine.

A picture of: Pendine

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Transport, Pendine

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Image ID: 1156647Image size: 1800 x 1350 pixels 

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