Pendine Sands is a 7 mile long beach on the shores of Carmarthen Bay on the south coast of Wales.

From the early 1900s the sands were used as a venue for car and motor cycle races and speed trials

The first person to use Pendine Sands for a world land speed record attempt was Malcolm Campbell. On September 25, 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.


Four other record breaking runs were made on Pendine Sands between 1924 and 1927; two more by Campbell, and two by Welshman J.G. Parry-Thomas in his car Babs. The 150 mph barrier was decisively broken, and Campbell raised the record to 174.22 mph (280.38 km/h) in February 1927 with his second Blue Bird.

On March 3, 1927 J.G. Parry-Thomas attempted to beat Campbell's record. On his final run at about 170 mph (280 km/h) the exposed drive chain broke and partially decapitated him, Babs went out of control and rolled over.

The first time that I was allowed to drive a car was when my father allowed me to drive his Singer SM1500 on this famous beach

No records were broken only a love affair with speed started