![]() Throughout the history of the Land Speed Record there are stories of personal battles, the wish for two individuals to get one over on each other, pushing the boundaries of the record higher and higher. ![]() It now runs regularly in the hands of Owen’s son Geraint. It wasn’t until 1967 that Owen Wyn Owen excavated and restored the car. Blaming the car, Babs was buried, its seats slashed and dials smashed, in the sand. Sadly, just under a year later, Parry-Thomas was killed attempting to reclaim the title from Malcolm Campbell. First he hit 169.29mph on Pendine Sands on 27 th April 1926, before raising that bar to 172.09mph the very next day. Parry-Thomas renamed the car Babs, gave it new carburettors and redesigned pistons and set about breaking records. When Zborowski passed away it was bought by one J.G Parry-Thomas. It had a Liberty aeroplane engine, measuring just 27-litres to produce 450PS (340kW), run through the gearbox and chain-drive scavenged from a pre-war Blitzen Benz. ![]() The bright white and blue machine was originally called “Chitty 4” and owned by Count Louis Zborowski. It’s been a star of the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard on numerous occasions, looking like a teardrop that’s been in the windtunnel. Babs is a car we’re very familiar with at Goodwood.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |