Babs Racing Car Returns to Pendine Sands for Centenary of 170mph Record
More than 2,000 people gathered to mark 100 years since JG Parry-Thomas broke the land speed record with his iconic Babs car at Pendine Sands
Quick Look
- The Babs racing car returned to Pendine Sands in Carmarthenshire for its centenary celebration, marking 100 years since Welsh driver JG Parry-Thomas set a world land speed record of 170mph in April 1926.
- More than 2,000 people attended the event, including members of Parry-Thomas's family.
- The 27-litre aero-engined car achieved speeds of 169.30mph and 171.02mph during its record-breaking runs.
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Why It Matters
In the 1920s, Pendine Sands became famous as one of the few places where extremely high speeds could be reached for land speed record attempts. The flat, hard beach provided ideal conditions for the aero-engined racing cars of the era.
A racing car famous for breaking the land speed record has returned to Carmarthenshire to mark its centenary. The car, known as Babs, set a world record on the sands of Pendine 100 years ago with Welsh racing driver JG Parry-Thomas behind the wheel. He reached an average speed of 170mph (273 km/h) in April 1926, smashing records set at Southport by Henry Segrave the previous month and Malcolm Campbell at Pendine in 1925. On Monday, more than 2,000 people turned up to see Babs at Pendine, including several members of Parry-Thomas's family. In the 1920s, Pendine Sands became famous in the World Land Speed record story as one of the few places where such speeds could be reached. Campbell set a previous record there in 1925 when he hit a speed of 150mph (241 km/h), which was superseded by Segrave with 152mph (244 km/h) in March 1926. The following month, Parry-Thomas became the first person to break the 170mph barrier. With two runs of the beach, Babs - a 27-litre, aero-engined car - he broke the existing record with speeds of 169.30mph (271 km/h) and 171.02mph (275 km/h). The record was broken a year later in January 1927 when Campbell clocked in at just under 175 mph (281 km/h). Parry-Thomas attempted to reclaim the record two months later but died after Babs rolled at high speed. His family was presented with an award as he was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame's Roll of Honour. "It's emotional to see the car today, to think that he did this 100 years ago and lost his life in his second attempt a year later. "It's wonderful to see [that] everyone thinks he's the number one race driver for Wales." Emma Parry Clements, his great niece, said stories would be told of her great uncle at family tea times. "It's amazing to see this turnout and him honoured in this way," she said. "It was a part of history but I feel a part of it today standing here." After the accident, the car was buried in the dunes, where it stayed for 42 years before being recovered in 1969 and restored over a 16-year period.
