- Babs (Land speed record car)
Infobox Automobile generation
name = 'Babs'
aka=Chitty Bang Bang 4,
Higham Special
production = one-off (1926)
body_style = open-wheel, front-engined racing car.
engine =Liberty L-12 V12aero engine
transmission=final drive by exposed externalchain-drive designer=
J. G. Parry-Thomas ,
originallyClive Gallop
& Count Louis Zborowski
Babs was theland speed record car built and driven by John Parry-Thomas. It was powered by a 27-litre Liberty aero-engineBabs began as 'Chitty 4', one of Count Louis Zborowski's series of
aero-engine d cars named 'Chitty Bang Bang '. As it was built at Zborowski's estate ofHigham Park nearCanterbury , it was also known as the Higham Special. Using a convert|450|hp|abbr=on V12 Liberty aero engine of 27 litres capacity, with a gearbox and chain-drive from a pre-warBlitzen Benz , it was the largest capacity racing car ever to run atBrooklands . Still not fully developed by the time of Zborowski's death in 1924, it was purchased from his estate byJ.G. Parry-Thomas for the sum of £125. [cite web
title=Higham Special
url=http://www.britishmm.co.uk/history.asp?id=442
publisher= [http://www.britishmm.co.uk British Motor Manufacturers] ]Parry-Thomas rechristened the car "Babs" and rebuilt it with four Zenith carburettors and his own design of pistons. [cite web
title=Thomas, John Godfrey Parry (1884–1927)
date=2004
publisher=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press
author=Jo Payne
url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/69166
doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/69166
accessday=9 |accessmonth=Sept |accessyear=2006] In April 1926, Parry-Thomas used the car to win theland speed record at 171.02 mph (273.6 km/h)."Babs", used exposed chains to connect the engine to the drive wheels while the high engine cover required him to drive with his head tilted to one side – the right. During a later record attempt at
Pendine Sands , Wales on3 March ,1927 , the right-hand drive chain broke at a speed of 170 mph, partially decapitating him. "Babs" was buried where it landed, on the beach at Pendine.There is still controversy as to whether Parry-Thomas was literally decapitated, and whether the drive chain was responsible for it. Fact|date=May 2008
After 40 years, the car was excavated and restored to running order over several years by
Owen Wyn Owen . Today it is on display at thePendine Museum of Speed . cite web
title=History of Pendine
url=http://www.sandspeedwales.co.uk/5907.html] cite web
title=Babs being recovered from the sand, showing the missing fatal drive chain
url=http://www.sandspeedwales.co.uk/mediac/400_0/media/BABS~RT.jpg
format=photograph] cite web
title=Remaining drive chain on the left-hand side
url=http://www.sandspeedwales.co.uk/mediac/400_0/media/BABS~Left.jpg
format=photograph]References
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