HIS LAST RIDE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18942, 5 March 1927, Page 15

HIS LAST RIDE.

INTREPID I'ARRY THOMAS. RACING CAR FATALITY. f ■ " sr iik* 4«s9ciATtoir--ropm<iHT.) I&TKiET "StS"' Suncs.) LONDON, March 3. Half an hour alter Parry Thomas, the .vorld's foremost racing motorist, stcp-IK-d unconcernedly into his famour car, 'Tsab>." at Pendine Sands, against his doctor's orders, owing to his suffering from influenza, in an endeavour to wrect the speed championship from Cutnpbcll, he was lying dead, and his car, the product of hh own engineering genius, was u tangled mass of debris. Tho disaster occurred on his fourth attempt. 11c had changed his plugs and travelled one way and vaa about to enter the official mile on tho way back, having uttained a speed of 170 miles an hour, when the driving chain of the back wheels snapped, stripped tho cogs, locked tho wheels, and wrapped itself around them. At the terrific speed tho car skidded violently, ami pieces of mechanism wero hurled 100 yards. Than the machine somersaulted twice and again skidded, almost broadside on, and the rvur «heel bounded liko a rocket towards tho sea. Tho chain unwound and broke through the mudguard. With staggering force it struck Thomas on the neck, tearing off (ho scalp from neck to forehead and virtually decapitating him. Death must hare been instantaneous. The car came to a stop man than half a mile from the soene of tin* accident and turned on its aid* in . a crumpled heap and burst into Violent flames. Pieces of tho car body and portions of tho mechanism and windscreen were pounded into an inextricable tangle. . 'iliomas was lying entangled, and before ho could bo extricated his lege had to be broken. There was a heart-rending eoene when ono of Thomas's mechanics rushed towards the starting point erring like • child and shouting: "Oh I My God, her is dead. Parry tnomas is dead!" Parry Thomas's last epic appearance at Orooklands was in October when ho broke three records. Ho was obviously a sick thin when ho went to his death. - "Do you have a mascot P'' he was asked just before he stepped into his car. . "No, I do not trust in false grids," • he replied. )r At that moment a mechahra' arrived . with a |)lack cat, presented by a lady motorist, which ho tied to the car. 'V After the accident he was literally unwrapped from Babs. It was a 400 horse-power car and developed ojer r GOO horse-power. It had twelve cyfin. ders and four carburettors • and did > roughly 2000 revolutions. Since Campbell took the .world'* speed record a month ago, PAHy Thomas had changed the shape, of ,thi car and fitted it with a new radiator. Malcolm Campbell eaid: "A stouthearted fellow has gone. You take>ybtt* life in your hands in attempts tit this kind." Malcolm Campbell, in. the racer "Bluebird," smashed the world * Bpefed record at Pendine Sands on Februai-y 4th, with a mean averaso speedin excess of 174 miles hourly. .The timee were:—One kilometre in 12.791 taebonds, or 174.843 miles an hour:' mile in 20.663 seconds, tir 174.224mi1t)i on hour. . , Campbell's achievement wis * nsfe nificent triumph for British,' inbtorinb Tho "Bluebird" is British entirely* whereas Parry Thomas's car. fa-wKifib the previous record JTO ah Arriericitn engine. - When: he fitjlined, Campbell had almost to m lifted ■ from tho car. The sure blew off his goggles. He sftfd thii as thp flag-posts flashed by frsty just a blur. Parry Thomas had previously lished a record, on April SSHh, 1096, by travelling, in "Babs," at it ipeedtf 170.624 miles anhoar. ' This Wfs ilsflt i' on Pendine Sands.