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.

Pendine Sands (September 2008)
Welsh TT races Trophy, originally awarded for races on Pendine Sands, later (circa 1950) for races held on the hard roads of Mynydd Epynt
Campbell at Pendine in 1927
Babs in the former Pendine Museum of Speed [ 11 ]
Sunbeam 350HP at Pendine Sands in Wales on the 90th anniversary of Sir Malcolm Campbell's land speed record