Record Breaking Places

Pendine Sands had been well used for racing cars and motorcycles by 1920 with the annual Welsh TT race starting in 1922, but the sands were not used for Land Speed Record attempts till 1924. Malcolm Campbell heard of Pendine and after a visit in early September when he found that the venue seemed ideal to run 'Bluebird', he returned to his workshops to prepare the car for an attempt on 25th September 1924. The weather was not favourable and on his first runs on this beach, Campbell was to discover that there were patches of soft sand which had to be negotiated. At the western end a small stream runs under the sands to the sea and to this day still creates a patch of extremely soft sand which has to be crossed during a run up to the measured mile. Campbell's average over the mile was 146.16mph and he secured his first absolute World Land Speed Record.

The following year, after trials at Skegness and Pendine, Campbell returned to Pendine to make an attempt at being the first to set an official record above 150mph. Newspapers picked up on the event and this time there were big crowds drawn to the little village of Pendine. The sand was again wet in patches, but on 21st July 1925 Campbell set an average of 150.76mph for the flying mile and raised his own World Record. This was the last time this 'Bluebird' was to set a record having achieved a higher figure than the 140mph for which it had been designed.

In 1925, Parry Thomas came to Pendine with his Higham Special called 'Babs' which he had purchased from Count Louis Zborowski. On 19th October 1925, he failed to increase Campbell's record and so returned to Brooklands to add improvements to the car. He came back to Pendine in 1926 and on the 27th April, he successfully set a new Land Speed Record of 169.30mph. The following day, Parry Thomas improved his own record to 171.02mph.

With the 180mph, three miles a minute barrier so close, Campbell pressed on to complete the new 'Bluebird' by the end of 1926 and took the car down to Pendine for trials in January 1927. This car was specifically designed to break the Land Speed Record and great things were expected from it. Unfortunately Campbell experienced gearbox trouble on his first runs on 2nd January and after more trouble with the gearbox and the brakes the following day, the car had to return to his workshops at Povey Cross. Campbell was back by 16th January but the weather was appalling. Despite the very wet sands and a gale blowing, Campbell put up a promising speed of 171.3mph in one direction. Campbell waited for the weather to improve and finally went out again on 4th February. It was at this point that Campbell tried ploughing furrows along the beach to help dry out the sand. His first run was well over 180mph but on his return run he hit a bump which jerked him out of his seat, tearing his goggles away and blinding him with the water and sand spray. He was forced to take a hand off the wheel to clear his eyes but managed to maintain control of 'Bluebird'. The resulting average speed over the two runs was less than the magic 180mph but was a new record at 174.88mph and a third absolute mile record for Campbell.

Early in March 1927, Thomas took his car 'Babs' back to Pendine to try and beat Campbell's new record. Unfortunately on a run on 3rd March, he had a fatal accident when his car crashed and he was killed by the flailing drive chain which had been broken by a spoke from the rear wheel after it had collapsed at high speed. Parry Thomas was buried at St Mary's Byfleet near to his home at Brooklands and 'Babs' was buried in the dunes at Pendine. The latter was subsequently dug up in 1969 and restored to full running order by Owen Wyn Owen. Campbell was deeply affected by the loss of his friend and rival and in fact never raced at Pendine again.

Segrave raised the Land Speed Record above 200mph later in March at Daytona Beach, USA and Pendine became too short a venue for attempts at the ultimate record. However in November 1927 Jules Foresti took 'Djelmo' owned by the Egyptian millionaire Prince Djellalledin out on the sands to make an attempt at Campbell's British record. At 150mph Foresti was thrown out of the car during an enormous skid but amazingly he survived suffering only a dislocated shoulder.

The beach at Pendine continued to be used for a variety of record attempts for both four wheel and two wheel machines although they were primarily British Class records. In 1932, George Eyston raced an MG called 'Magic Midget' and set a new world record for small cars at 118mph. Eyston was a familiar figure at Pendine during the 1930's and carried out test with a giant 12 cylinder car called 'Flying Spray' shortly before the Second World War. In 1962, Eyston returned to Pendine and unveiled the following plaque at the Beach Hotel to commemorate the world land speed records established on the beach.

(picture: Anthony Edwards)

In 1933, Amy Johnson and her husband Jim Mollison unexpected landed their aeroplane 'Seafarer' on the sands one summer evening. They were on their way to try to set a new record for crossing the Atlantic but had to land due to unfavourable weather over the mid-Atlantic. They stayed for several days at Pendine, which was having gloriously hot weather, and their presence drew large crowds. They finally left one morning but 'Seafarer' crashed in the sea short of their destination. Luckily neither was badly injured.

After the war in the 1950's, Bob Berry made repeated attempts to become the fastest man on two vehicles with streamlined motorcycles such as 'Moby Dick' but, despite speeds sometimes in excess of 150mph, all were unsuccessful. In the 1970's, Barry Bowles in 'Blonde Bombshell' used the sands; in the 1980's Alex Mcfadden drove 'Penetrator' and in the 1990's Richard 'Rocketman' Brown used the sands for tests in 'Maximum Impulse' (later the 'Gillette Mach 3') rocket bike.

In 1998 another chapter of the Campbell story at Pendine commenced when Don Wales the grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell came to the sands with 'Bluebird BE97/1" and set a new British record on 19th September at 71.69mph. In June 2000, Don Wales and Team returned to Pendine to improve the outright British record for Electric Vehicles to 128.87mph in 'Bluebird Electric 2000' and returned two months later to raise it further to 137.15mph.

Today the majority of the beach and the land to the north are Ministry of Defence Property and use of the beach is prohibited at certain times during the week. At weekends however it is made available for members of the public and for a small fee a vehicle can be taken onto the sands although the speed limit is now set at 10mph.

(picture: Anthony Edwards)

Situated at the west end of the beach in the village of Pendine and on the sea front is The Beach Hotel. This can be seen on the left of the above photograph above the access ramp to the beach. The hotel was first used by record attempt teams back in the 1920's by Campbell's 'Bluebird' Team and by mechanics for Parry-Thomas. It was subsequently used by numerous other racing teams throughout the century most recently by the Bluebird Team during their trials and record attempts in 1998 and 2000.

In the centre of the photograph can be seen The Museum of Speed at Pendine opened in 1966 and this has a detailed history of record breaking on Pendine Sands as well as a display of vehicles which are periodically changed. In the past these have included Malcolm Campbell's 1924 'Bluebird' and during the summer months Parry Thomas's 'Babs'.