Pendine Sands

Pendine Sands (Welsh: Traeth Pentywyn) is a 7-mile (11 km) beach on the shores of Carmarthen Bay on the south coast of Wales.

[1] The firm, flat surface of the beach created a race track that was straighter and smoother than many major roads of the time.

[2] In the 1920s it became clear that roads and race tracks were no longer adequate venues for attempts on the world land speed record.

On 25 September 1924 he set a world land speed record of 146.16 mph (235.22 km/h) on Pendine Sands in his Sunbeam 350HP car Blue Bird.

There is an untrue urban myth that the exposed drive chain broke and partially decapitated him; Babs went out of control and rolled over.

[5] In 1933, Amy Johnson and her husband, Jim Mollison, took off from Pendine Sands in a de Havilland Dragon Rapide, G-ACCV "Seafarer", to fly non-stop to New York.

[6] In June 2000, Donald Charles "Don" Wales,[7] grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell and a nephew of Donald Campbell, set the UK electric land speed record at Pendine Sands in Blue Bird Electric 2, achieving a speed of 137 mph (220 km/h).

[9] The beach is still owned by the Ministry of Defence; prominent signs warn of the dangers of unexploded munitions and public access is restricted.

[13] The car could be seen on display at the Museum of Speed in Pendine village during the summer months, prior to demolition of the building for redevelopment.

[20] The preparations for the record attempt were documented in Episode 1 of a Channel 4 series called Speed with Guy Martin, first broadcast in the UK in December 2013.

This would also require the fabrication of two full-length exhaust pipes, a new seat and upholstery, and the re-manufacture of a slightly dropped nose cone and rear wheel spats.