BABS

 

GHOST IN THE MACHINE
BY
BARRY VAN-ASTEN

 

At the Museum of Speed at Pendine Sands I was instantly drawn to the land speed car: Babs; a fascination and a compulsion to touch the car, which of course I could not do because it was surrounded by a protective barrier. But still, there was a force that pulled me towards the car before I knew anything of its history or its driver.

BABS was originally built at Higham Park near Canterbury and its name was ‘Chitty 4’, or the ‘Higham Special’. She was a 27 litre Liberty L-12 aero-engine, 450 brake horsepower, 3-speed transmission racing car and she was owned by the racing driver, Count Louis Zborowski (1895-1924); she was bought by the racing driver, John Godfrey Parry-Thomas (1884-1927) for £125 and he re-designed the car and rebuilt the body work and re-named her Babs. Parry-Thomas, the son of Reverend J. W. Thomas, was born in Wrexham, Wales on 6^th April 1884; he was an engineer and racing driver and would later be known as the first driver to be killed during a land speed record. He was Chief Engineer at Leyland Motors from February 1917 to December 1923 and from 1923 he lived alone with his two Alsatian dogs, Togo and Bess, in a hut named The Hermitage at Brooklands race track. He was a shy and modest man who liked to play cricket and tennis.

 

Babs, of course, is a wonderful creature, stylish and elegant with a streamlined figure that could turn any man’s head, (and perhaps many women would find her quite alluring too), but there is possibly one aero-engined contender in the beauty stakes- the Napier-Railton land speed car.

 

The Napier-Railton

The Napier-Railton land speed car featured in the film, ‘Pandora and the Flying Dutchman’ (1951) which stars James Mason and Ava Gardner; there is a marvellous scene in which Pandora (Gardner) urges land speed racing driver, Stephen Cameron, played wonderfully by Nigel Patrick, to push his car over the cliff, to prove his love for her. The car, the exquisite 1933 Napier-Railton, with its Napier Lion aircraft engine, which won several land speed records at Brooklands (and now resides in the Brooklands Museum) driven by John Cobb (1899-1952), was used in the racing scenes at Pendine Sands for the film. During that scene when that car rolls towards the edge of the cliff, the romantic in me sighs and I yearn passionately – oh Pandora! I want to glide my hands all over her sleek and beautiful body, to caress her magnificent and elegant shape and delight in her gentle curves; to feel the firm arches and subtle rounded lines of her ravishingly sexy presence… If Byron were alive his lips would be all over her… I almost cry with forlorn ecstasy and swoon insensibly, wanting to stroke her perfect form and tremble at her powerful motion – To inhale the sweet intoxicating aroma of … petrol, oil, grease and leather… The terrible things we men do for love! How could the character of Stephen Cameron do such a thing? Because of the immortal glamour of love! I would never have pushed such a beautiful creation over the cliff – I’d sooner push Pandora over! I am of course proved correct for a woman’s beauty is fleeting and Pandora is an utterly fickle young thing who switches her attentions to the Dutchman, and spitefully ruins his portrait of her – I wouldn’t hesitate – ‘over you go Missy!’ But enough of my delicate romantic nature, let’s get back to the car and its driver!

 

On 27^th April 1926, Parry-Thomas broke the current land speed record at Pendine Sands, achieving 168.74 mph; the following day, 28^th April 1926 he broke his own world land speed record and achieved 171.02 mph. Following this, on 4^th February 1927, Malcolm Campbell (1885-1948) broke the record at Pendine Sands with a speed of 174.224 mph. in Blue Bird, another exotic land speed car with similar attributes to Babs but I would say less graceful and not as feminine.

Parry-Thomas, wanting to regain the record, made his attempt at Pendine Sands on 3^rd March 1927. At speeds of over 100 mph. Parry-Thomas lost control of Babs and she rolled over on the sand, killing Parry-Thomas and almost completely decapitating him. He was 42 years old, just one month away from his 43^rd birthday, and the first land speed racing driver to be killed attempting to break the record.

 

Following the inquest, Babs was buried in the sand dunes at Pendine and Parry-Thomas was buried at St. Mary’s churchyard, Byfleet, Surrey, near Brooklands.

 

It is easy to see why Babs attracts such devotion when one has stood beside her, as Parry-Thomas himself still stands beside her in spirit (when not walking the sands he used to race across); protective and proud and still smiling, it was the first thing I sensed when I encountered Babs on display and from that moment I could not take my eyes off her, I was compelled and attracted to her. Fascinating as the other exhibits were, it was Babs that held my attention.

 

Like the Napier-Railton which was pushed over the cliff and the good sense of Stephen Cameron to restore her, Babs was excavated from ‘Bab’s Grave’ and restored by Owen Wyn Owen (1925-2012) in 1967 which took over fifteen years to complete. She had lain in the grave for forty years and like a corpse resurrected she would once again be given life and cast her spell… Babs had her first test runs in the 1970’s.

 

Babs was displayed at Hagley Hall, near Stourbridge for the Midland Motoring Weekend Fayre from 16^th to 18^th June 1984; that same year, she was outside the main ring of the 100 Years Northern Motoring Show in Harrogate, Yorkshire on Sunday 26^th and Monday 27^th August 1984. The following year, she could be seen (with Cobb’s Napier-Railton) at Silverstone, Northamptonshire, for the Motor 100 weekend on 25^th to 27^th May 1985. Two years later she was at the Royal Showground at Stoneleigh for the National Restoration Show (pre 1950 transport) which began on 18^th October 1987.

 

Babs is indeed a beautiful automobile, sleek and powerful and one would certainly not be unfaithful to her. Of course one would be tempted; one would even consider a brief affair with the Napier-Railton which is almost as glamorous as Babs; the Blue Bird which was driven by Sir Malcolm Campbell (1885-1948), originally a Sunbeam in 1923 and Blue Bird II of 1927, a Napier-Campbell with a Napier Lion V engine also comes equally close. One may even consider a flirtation with the Djelmo with its Sunbeam chassis, driven by the Italian racing driver Giulio Foresti (1888-1965) which crashed at Pendine Sands around 150 mph on 26^th November 1927 when Foresti lost control; the car rolled several times but fortunately Foresti was thrown clear and survived with minor injuries – the Djelmo was destroyed and not repaired. But the Djelmo is a less glamorous beast but still with its own attractive qualities. But it was Babs who returned to life to fascinate and haunt the living!

 

Babs can now be seen at the Pendine Museum of Speed and if you are of the sensitive kind you may also encounter Parry-Thomas.