SPEED KING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 25 May 1926, Page 9

SPEED KING.

PERFORMANCE AT BROOKLANDS. BY CABLE— PRESS ASSOCIATION COBYEIGHT. Received 1.25 p.m. to-day. a LONDON, May 24. Brooklands was the centre ‘of an enormous holiday throng, where Parry Thomas and “Babs” provided a sensa_ tion by roaring round the track at 160 miles per hour. The l course was only' built lor a maximum speed of 120 miles, and onlookers held their breath as “Babs” dashed round the curve at such a tremendous pace that she missed plunging over the edge of the slope by inches only. When the monster car had finished the phenomenal performance she was surrounded by great crowds, the majority of whom were the new type of speedgirl, only found at Brooldands, attired in what might be termed extraordinary streamline costumes and hats, which were elegant representations of the favourite racing helmets. The chattering about gears, differentials, and accelerators was faster than “Babs” travelled. Parry Thomas, driving a composite car equipped with a 400-h.p. engine and an American aero engine developing 800-h.p., beat the world’s record on° the Pendine Sands, Carmarthenshire, traversing a mile both ways at the rate of 169 miles per hour, reaching 172 miles per hour with the wind.