Pendine Sands - Amateur Hot Rod Races

[Russell Larcombe]

This is the big one! For years it has been discussed about taking hot rods to Pendine Sands, but until now it has not been a reality. The Vintage Hot Rod Association will be hosting the First Annual Hot Rod Races at Pendine Sands on Saturday, 7th September 2013.

Pendine Sands is a seven mile long, arrow straight beach in South West Wales and was the go to place in the 1920’s for land speed record attempts. Back then it drew big names such as Malcolm Campbell driving Bluebird, along with Parry Thomas piloting Babs, both hitting speeds in excess 170 miles per hour. It was following a terrible accident in 1927 when Thomas was decapitated that racing at Pendine Sands was called to a halt. For a little history lesson we recommend you take a look at the film in our video section,

Click for the video

This is a chance for us here in the UK to at last have a go at what the US has taken for granted for many years, although ironically, those heroes of a bygone time were doing it here on Pendine Sands way before the hot rodders found their way to Muroc, El Mirage and Bonneville.

Since it was exhumed, Babs has undergone a full restoration and we have invited the current owner to run as part of the event, fingers crossed he accepts our invite. We have also put out the call to a number of vintage dry lake race cars and we’re hoping that their owners might just bring those over too. However the main event is traditional hot rods being timed flat out in such a historic and important place. There’s also the Museum of Speed just a stones throw from where the action is taking place, as well as a Racer’s Party taking place on the Saturday night in the grounds of the museum, where we can all tell tales of how next year we will all be so much faster!