Unusual 10x7 inch (250x175mm) photo reprinted from a 1926 original of the famous land speed record car BABS.
Seen here with it's driver, J G Parry Thomas, and crew in the paddock at Brooklands track in England, being tested without the hood/bonnet and nose panels.
This reveals the massive 27 litre V12 Liberty aero engine that powered the car and also shows the chain drive and the way the chassis is braced like a bridge!
Thomas drove the car to two land speed records at Pendine sands in his native Wales in 1926, the highest speed being 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 ressure in some of the tyres! Today it's been restored and appears in demonstration runs at events like Goodwood Festival Of Speed.
This shot shows the early version of the car not long after Thomas aquired it from the estate of Count Zborowski (creatore or Chitty Bang Bang) who had built it for racing at Brooklands but was killed racing a Mercedes in 1924. Later the car was given slimmer and more sleek bodywork.
It's not the sharpest or clearest of photos but you need to bear in mind the rarity of the image.Not many shots of the car with the hood-off exist
