Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Babs, the racing car famous for breaking the land speed record at Pendine in April 1926, will return to the sands tomorrow (Thursday, April 28) to mark her 90th anniversary. Driven by John Parry-Thomas, Babs reached a speed of 170.624 mph - smashing the records set by Malcolm Campbell at Pendine in 1925 and Henry Segrave at Southport in March 1926. Tragically Parry-Thomas was killed the following year attempting to win back the title, taken again by Malcolm Campbell in his Blue Bird Sunbeam in February 1927, and Babs was buried in the dunes. In 1969, the car was exhumed and brought back to life by automobile restorer Owen Wyn Owen, and to the delight of many is displayed each summer at Carmarthenshire County Council’s Museum of Speed at Pendine. Now, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Parry-Thomas’s successful land speed record run of April 1926, Babs’s wheels will take to the sands once again. Spectators can watch her run on the beach at 2.30pm on Thursday before she goes on publi...

BBC News - Lawnmower breaks speed record twice in Carmarthenshire A British lawnmower has cut the world land speed record twice in a weekend, with a new top speed of almost 88 mph. Rider Don Wales took the petrol-driven mower into the record books at Pendine Sands in Carmarthenshire. The previous lawnmower land speed record was 80.792mph (130.022km/h), set in the United States in 2006. See earlier post on Donald Campbell's Sunbeam Bluebird - http://sirgarblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/sunbeam-bluebird-at-pembrey.html

Once the fastest car in the world, the world famous Sunbeam Bluebird car is at Pendine’s Museum of Speed for the next few weeks. Malcolm Campbell broke the World Land Speed record driving this Sunbeam Bluebird on Pendine sands on September 25, 1924, with a speed of 146.16mph. All Campbells’ racing cars were named Bluebird by him, and each one was painted in a distinctive blue. He bought the Sunbeam in 1923 and made several attempts at the land speed record in it before breaking the record in 1924. Campbell also raced in the Sunbeam Bluebird at Pendine in July 1925 but this was the car’s final appearance on the beach. Campbell’s next and last record record-creaking attempt at Pendine in January 1927 was in the next Bluebird. This car also broke the land speed record at 174.2mph. The Sunbeam Bluebird belongs to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu and will be on show at Pendine from now until June 21. Pendine is one of Carmarthenshire County Council’s museums. Museums officer Ann Dorset...