Babs (Chitty Bang Bang)
Race Car manufacturer of United Kingdom From 1921 to 1927.
Babs Chitty Bang Bang and Higham Special vehicles used for racing and that set a land speed records in the 1920s .
History
Chitty Bang Bang is the name of a series of racing cars of Count Louis Zborowski .Zborowski built the race cars on his property Higham Park near Canterbury, Kent, on the basis of Mercedes - chassis with Maybach - Mercedes or aircraft engines. The Chitty Bang Bang name gave inspiration for the later Movie.
Louis Zborowski was born the son of racing driver Eliot Zborowoski and Margaret Laura Astor Carey , daughter of William Backhouse Astor . After the death of his father, he moved with his mother to the estate Higham Park in Bridge (Kent) .When his mother died, he was 16 years old and was considered the fourth richest youth under the age of 21, with a fortune of £ 11 million and land in the United States, including several blocks on Fifth Avenue in New York.
He was one of the patrons of the car brand Aston Martin . Zborowski took off in 1921 at several races in part and won among others the Penya Rhin Grand Prix in 1922 and 1923 respectively in an Aston Martin and the Spanish Grand Prix in 1923 in a Miller 122 second place. In 1923 he took part in the Indy 500 with a Bugatti . In 1924, he died at the age of 29 at the Grand Prix of Italy in Monza .
Zborowski built four race cars in Higham Park together with Clive Gallop . The first vehicle was the "Chitty Bang Bang" The car was powered by a 23-liter Maybach engine. A second vehicle, also called "Chitty Bang Bang", had an 18.8 litre Benz Bz IV engine. The third vehicle was based on a Mercedes 28/95 hp and had a 15-liter Mercedes engine and was referred to as the "White Mercedes". The fourth vehicle had a 27-liter Liberty engine and was called " Higham Special ". In April 1926 JG Parry-Thomas set a new speed record in Pendine Sands with this vehicle.
The vehicle, originally called Chitty Bang Bang IV and also called Higham Special, was baptized by its later owner in the name of Bab. It is based on a Blitzen-Benz, but was equipped with a 450 hp twelve-cylinder V- plane engine with 27 litre displacements of the Liberty L-12 type. The vehicle was originally constructed by Count Louis Zborowski , but could not be completed until his death in 1924 and was later acquired by the racing driver and chief engineer of Leyland Motors J.G. Parry-Thomas .
Parry-Thomas made an engine conversion, changed the carburettors systems and built specially developed pistons. To achieve improvements in handling characteristics and aerodynamics, he changed the bodywork and body shape a few times. With the so modified vehicle he reached on April 28, 1926 in Pendine Sands a top speed of 273.6 km / h and set a land speed record for wheeled vehicles according to the rules of the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR). In early 1927, the body shape was changed again, so that the rear wheels were partially disguised. In another record attempt on March 3, 1927 Parry-Thomas lost control of the vehicle, he had a fatal accident and Babs was destroyed. As the cause of the accident, the health condition of Parry Thomas is stated, a previously suspected technical defect was excluded during the reconstruction of the vehicle.
After the Higham Special was buried on the beach near the accident site in 1927, Babs was rescued in 1969 by a lecturer from the Technical College of North Wales in Bangor and then rebuilt and restored over a period of about 15 years. Babs is on display today at the Museum of Speed in Pendine
Chitty I
The first model had a Mercedes chassis and a 23-liter six-cylinder Maybach engine. The power transmission was by chain and the top speed of the four-seater was at a race in Brooklands at 162.14 km / h. After a conversion to two-seater the car reached a top speed of about 190 km / h, but crashed and was destroyed. The vehicle was rebuilt and then sold to Arthur Conan Doyle. Later it came into the possession of his sons.
Chitty II
The Chitty II was built on a Zborowski self-engineered chassis and was powered by a Mercedes 18.8-liter six-cylinder in-line engine with 220 hp. The body came from the local bodybuilding company Bligh Bros. The car was run several races until it was sold to the Crawford Car Aviation Museum in Cleveland. Today it is part of a private collection.
Chitty III
The Chitty III was rebuilt on a Mercedes chassis. However, this was modified and powered by a performance up to 180 hp Mercedes six-cylinder engine. The car reached a maximum speed of 181.34 km / h in Brooklands. In January 1922, Zborowski, his wife Vi, his friend and mechanic Clive Gallop and Pixi Marix and several other mechanics took part in a Sahar crossing with the Chitty III . The vehicle remained first owned by Zborowski and was later moved to Stuttgart, because Zborowski wanted to join a racing team of Mercedes.
Chitty IV
The Higham Special was based on the Blitzen-Benz, but was equipped with a 450-horsepower twelve-cylinder V-engine with 27 litres of Liberty. The vehicle could not be completed until the death of Zborowski in 1924 and was later acquired by the racing driver and chief engineer of Leyland Motors, JG Parry-Thomas.
Parry-Thomas christened the vehicle " Babs ", made some changes and modifications, setting 1926 in Pendine Sands a land speed record of 273.6 km / h. Destroyed and later rebuilt, the vehicle is today exhibited at the Museum of Speed in Pendine.
