Land Speed Record
By 1925 Parry-Thomas realised that commercial success required a higher profile than Brooklands could offer, and switched his attention to the Land Speed Record. He acquired the incomplete Higham Special from the estate of the deceased Count Zborowski and rebuilt the car as one of the first dedicated to the record alone rather than circuit competition. The car was powered by a huge 27-litre Liberty V-12 aero-engine. Without Campbell's money and prestige, or Segrave's factory connections, Parry-Thomas was unable to obtain a brand-new Napier Lion, as the other record contenders were planning.
In April 1926 the car, now named Babs, was finally complete. He celebrated by driving the lanes around Brooklands that same evening, despite his lack of headlamps.
A few days later, despite the poor conditions and soft, wet sand, Parry-Thomas took the record at Pendine Sands, Wales, the same six-mile beach that Campbell had used in 1924 and 1925. The following day, 28 April 1926, he raised it to over 170 miles per hour (270 km/h), a record that stood for almost a year.
Read more about this topic: J. G. Parry-Thomas
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