Babs (land speed record car)

Babs is a vehicle with the 1926 land speed record was set.

The vehicle, a Chitty Bang Bang IV, also called the Higham Special was baptized by his later owner 's name Babs. It is based on a Blitzen- Benz, but was equipped with a 450 hp twelve-cylinder V- engine aircraft with 27 liters of Liberty. The vehicle was originally built by Count Louis Zborowski, but could not be completed until his death in 1924 and was later acquired by the racer and chief engineer of Leyland Motors John Godfrey Parry -Thomas.

Land speed record

Parry -Thomas took an engine conversion before, changed the carburetor kits and built specially developed piston. To achieve improvements in handling and aerodynamics, he changed a few times, the body and the body shape. With the thus modified vehicle he reached on April 28, 1926 in Pendine Sands, a top speed of 273.6 km / h, setting a land speed record for wheel-driven vehicles according to the rules of the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus ( AIACR ) on.

Accident

Beginning of 1927 changed the body style, so that the rear wheels were partially covered one more time. In another record attempt on March 3, 1927 Parry -Thomas lost control of the vehicle, he was killed and Babs was destroyed. The cause of the accident to the health condition of Parry -Thomas is specified, a previously suspected technical failure was excluded in the reconstruction of the vehicle.

Recovery and Reconstruction

After the Higham Special was buried in 1927 on the beach not far from the accident site, Babs was recovered in 1969 by a lecturer at the Technical College of North Wales in Bangor and then built up over a period of about 15 years and restored. Babs is now exhibited in the Museum of Speed ​​in Pendine.