J. G. Parry-Thomas
| John Godfrey Parry-Thomas | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 6 April 1884 Wrexham, Wales |
| Died | 3 March 1927 (aged 42) Pendine Sands |
| Cause of death | Head injury in motor-racing accident (first in pursuit of the Land Speed Record) |
| Resting place | Byfleet, Surrey |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Education | Oswestry School, The City and Guilds College London |
| Occupation | engineer and motor-racing driver |
| Employer | Leyland Motors |
John Godfrey Parry-Thomas (6 April 1884 – 3 March 1927) was a Welsh engineer and motor-racing driver who at one time held the Land Speed Record. He was the first driver to be killed in pursuit of the land speed record.[1]
Parry-Thomas was born in Wrexham, Wales, the son of the curate of Rhosddu. The family moved to nearby Oswestry when he was five years old, and he was educated at Oswestry School. He went on to study engineering at The City and Guilds College in London.
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[edit] Leyland Motors
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Parry-Thomas became chief engineer at Leyland Motors, a company whose main products were commercial vehicles. He filed for and received a number of patents, in the fields of electrical and automotive engineering.[2] After the First World War he and his assistant Reid Railton designed the Leyland Eight luxury motor car, which was intended to compete with Rolls-Royce. His experience of driving this car around Brooklands in 1920 persuaded him to give up his career with Leyland and become a full-time motor-racing driver and engineer.
[edit] Brooklands
In partnership with another engineer, Ken Thomson (motor racing engineer)|Major Ken Thomson from New Zealand, he started Thomas Inventions Development Co. Ltd., based inside the Brooklands circuit itself. After his death, this company became Thomson & Taylor and went on to build such cars as Campbell's Blue Bird. From 1923 he also lived in 'the flying village' there, in a bungalow converted from a First World War hut named The Hermitage. It was an ascetic life, shared only with two Alsatian dogs and his cars, in stark contrast to the hedonism of the Bentley Boys.[3] Parry-Thomas achieved some success on the circuit, winning 38 races in five seasons and setting numerous records.
[edit] Land Speed Record
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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.[3]
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.
[edit] Death
He was killed at Pendine Sands on 3 March 1927 while trying to regain his own world land speed record that had been broken just weeks earlier by Malcolm Campbell on the same beach. He was suffering from influenza and turned down a lucky black cat charm from a little girl, announcing "I will put my faith in my maker!" His Liberty-engined car, Babs, used exposed chains to connect the engine to the drive wheels, and the high engine cover required him to drive with his head tilted to one side – the right. On his final run the right-hand drive chain broke at a speed of 170 mph (270 km/h), causing a fatal head injury.[4][5][6]
Parry-Thomas was buried in St Mary's Churchyard in Byfleet, Surrey, close to the Brooklands Circuit. His car was buried at Pendine Sands close to where he died. Some 40 years later, and not without controversy,[7] it was recovered and over the next 15 years restored by Owen Wyn Owen[8] at the time a member of Bangor University[7]. It is now on display at the Pendine Museum of Speed, Carmarthenshire, and occasionally at Brooklands Museum.
[edit] In popular culture
In 1980 the UK-based pop group The Tea Set released a single entitled "Parry Thomas" on Waldo's records (Waldo's PS 006), which recounted Parry-Thomas's demise.
[edit] References
- ^ Tremayne, David. The Land Speed Record. Shire. p. 9. ISBN 0-7478-0115-0.
- ^ "Parry-Thomas family archive". updated 2008. http://www.parry-thomas.co.uk.
- ^ a b Jennings, Charles (2004). The Fast Set. Little, Brown. ISBN 0316-86190-1.
- ^ "History of Pendine". http://www.sandspeedwales.co.uk/5907.html.
- ^ "Babs being recovered from the sand, showing the missing fatal drive chain" (photograph). http://www.sandspeedwales.co.uk/mediac/400_0/media/BABS~RT.jpg.
- ^ "Remaining drive chain on the left-hand side" (photograph). http://www.sandspeedwales.co.uk/mediac/400_0/media/BABS~Left.jpg.
- ^ a b "The "Babs" controversy". Motor Sport: page 485. June 1968.
- ^ "Parry Thomas and Babs at Pendine Sands". http://www.bluebird-electric.net/parry_thomas.htm.
[edit] External links
- Wales and the History of the World BBC programme with archive footage of 'Babs'.
