A few articles back I mentioned that Autoblog was fortunate in having a representative, Frank Filipponio, at the 2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Frank has now posted images and comments from Goodwood in his Autoblog report, including mention of the land speed record cars from past and present that were on display during the weekend. One of those cars, nicknamed Babs by its owner Parry Thomas, crashed at 180 mph during a speed attempt at Pendine Sands, Wales, in 1927. Thomas died in the crash and the car was later buried in a large hole on the beach. Prior to the accident Babs, which is more than 20 feet long and is powered by a massive 27-liter Liberty aircraft engine, had set a land speed record of 170 mph. In 1969 Owen Wyn-Owen, an engineering lecturer from Bangor Technical College, arranged, at considerable expense, to have the car unearthed, and then spent 15 years restoring it. Filipponio writes that Babs was fired up at Goodwood and actually participated on the hillclimb in the rain. Oversteer must have been considerable with all that power but certainly the spectators were treated to a rare experience.
[photo credit: Frank Filipponio]