Unusual 10x8 inch (250x200mm) black and white photo reprinted from a 1926 original of the famous land speed record car BABS. Seen here with the famous John Cobb at the wheel instead of it's usual driver , J G Parry Thomas.
The venue is Brooklands track where it actually raced several times in 1926 before Thomas drove the car to two land speed records. Thomas took the car with it's Liberty V12 WW1 aero engine to Pendine sands in his native Wales (where BBC TOP GEAR often films today ) in 1926 and recorded a the highest speed of over 170mph.
In 1927 he was killed trying to go even faster when the car rolled over in the soft sand and fatally injured him. The car was then famously buried in the dunes and not recovered untill it was dug up in 1969 when there was still found to be air pressure in some of the tyres! Today it's been restored and appears in demonstration runs at events like Goodwood Festival Of Speed.
Cobb took the lap record at Brooklands with the Napier Railton at a speed which will never be beaten as the track ceased to operate in 1939 and bits of it are now covered in houses and car parks... He went on to take several land speed records, becoming the first man to drive at 400mph in 1947. He was killed in 1953 when his speed record boat CRUSADER crashed on Loch Ness during a record attempt.
