Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Car is called Babs.

Driver was John G Parry Thomas. Did 171 mph to capture land wsr in 1926. Later bested by Malcolm Campbell in Bluebird at nearly 175 mph. Early 1927, Parry Thomas returned to Pendine to claim 'his' record back. Babs rolled at high speed and Parry Thomas was decapitated. His horrified crew buried the car. 69 year later the car was found, and restored in a process that took 16 years (I remember seeing it on, I think, Blue Peter, as a child, as it was excavated).

Babs was one of four cars that inspired Ian Fleming's Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang...it was known as Chitty 4 when built. It had a 27-litre V12 Liberty aero engine, and was the largest-capacity car to race at Brooklands. It had chain drive, and a broken drive chain was (wrongly) blamed for killing Parry Thomas.
Recovered and restored by Owen Wynn Owen. It has to be towed up to 60 mph and bump-started, the gearing is so high.

Thanks Richard, was hoping someone would relate the events.
Some surprising names and facts there.
The museum.. I think that's it in my pic .. actually states the chain as being the cause, when I looked through the window a few years ago. Perhaps the placard is changed now.

I've seen footage of it being buried .. when they were digging it out.

Amazing engineering in those days.

the broken chain is all part of the legend...along with the 'fact' that Parry Thomas couldn't see over the front fairing.
In real fact one of the rear wheels collapsed at over 100 mph and rolled the car. PT's head was the rollcage!

There were a few cars built with the Liberty engine in the 1920s. One used to attend the hillclimb at Prescott...and the owner just drove it up the motorway from Bristol, did his stuff, and drove home again! I had an interesting conversation with him...obviously wealthy, but a very polite and humble man.

He said driving it up the motorway in the rain was incredible...a wall of water on each side from the front wheels.

"I felt like Moses, parting the Red Sea," he said.

Brill

I see the rumoured 'new Suzuki' sports adventure bike HAS been released

https://www.adventurebikerider.com/suzu ... dventures/