In Memory of
John Godfrey Parry-Thomas 1884 - 1927 Land speed record holder 1926
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J ohn Godfrey Parry-Thomas was my great uncle who died in a tragic accident in 1927. He was the son of a vicar and born in Wrexham in April 1884. The family moved to nearby Oswestry when he was five years old and he was educated at Oswestry School where he is said to have raffled his sixpence-a-week pocket money at a penny a chance to as many takers as he could find.
John was fascinated with engineering and
studied electrical engineering at the City & Guilds Engineering
College in London in 1902. There he first struck a friendship with Ken Thomson, who
would become his assistant at Brooklands (Thomson later went on to head ‘Thomson
& Taylor’ and work extensively with Sir Malcolm Campbell in the later
development of Blue Bird). By 1908 he had designed an infinite-ratio electrical transmission (now viewed to
be 70 years ahead of it’s time!) and a partnership with Leyland saw it used in a
London bus, railcars and a tramcar. Parry-Thomas was also much in demand on government
advisory boards during WWI.
After numerous jobs he became
the chief Engineer at Leyland Motors.
Leyland Motors investigated the possibility of building a massive luxury car.
In 1917, he and his assistant, Reid Railton,
started to design the Leyland Eight luxury motor car which was intended to
compete with Rolls-Royce. Aiming to make a perfect vehicle, the Leyland Eight
was both magnificent and extremely expensive; in 1921 the car was available to
the public at a cost of £2,700 for a five seater tourer. The imposing motorcar, the Leyland Eight, was dubbed the 'Lion of Olympia' when shown at the 1920 Motor show in London. The cars were expensive and only eight were built. John Parry-Thomas tested each Leyland Eight to 100 mph before delivery at a time when the WLSR was only 124mph!
Altogether, 14 cars
were made, including 2 for the Maharajah of Patiala and one for Michael Collins,
the Irish revolutionary leader. The cars were all fitted with different bodies
and it was a Leyland Eight that Parry-Thomas used in his early competitions in
1922. Despite the considerable reservations of the Leyland directors, Parry-Thomas raced one of the Leylands at Brooklands. Racing became important to him, and he resigned
from Leyland to become a professional motor-racing driver. The split was friendly and Parry
Thomas was given several chassis and a quantity of spares.
He went to live in a cottage in the grounds of Brooklands circuit. The racing world at this time had many famous characters
including Count Zborowski who later died at Monza in 1924. Parry-Thomas was able to buy a potential record breaking car, the Higham Special from
Zorowski's estate. It was fitted with a 27,059 cc Liberty aero engine, Benz gearbox and featured a chain final drive. |
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Thomas special No1 |
Thomas special No2
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My great uncle christened the car 'Babs' and after carrying out considerable amount of work took it to Pendine for a crack at the landspeed record.
This was in October 1925 but the weather precluded any chance of a record breaking run.
To cap it all Henry Seagrave posted a speed of 152.33 mph. In April 1926 Babs was transported back to Pendine at Shell-Mex's
expense for another attempt. After a couple of warm-up runs Parry-Thomas achieved a speed of 169.30. A day later he pushed the record
over the 170 mph mark. Campbell was among those who sportingly congratulated Parry-Thomas and, in the nature of the challenge, he
prepared his own car for another attempt on the record. In January 1927 he achieved a top speed of 174.883 mph. |
Campbell sportingly congratulating my great uncle Parry-Thomas. |
1926 was undoubtedly his greatest year - as well as numerous race wins he twice
broke the mile & Km WLSR then went on to break another 8 speed records in
October. 12 successful record attempts in 5 months. He even found time to offer
some friendly advice to his friend Sir Malcolm Campbell in February 1927,
concerning a gearbox problem in the new 'Blue Bird'. |
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J G Parry-Thomas driving `Babs` down the slipway to Pendine Sands on the 3rd March 1927 (Parry-Thomas Family Private Archive) |
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As the competition for the record increased Parry-Thomas wanted another crack at it; he knew Henry Seagrave was to attempt a run for 200 mph, in Florida.
He arrived back in Pendine, unwell with 'Flu', in March 1927 and with the assistance of Shell and Dunlop staff began
to prepare the car for a run on the beach. After the usual start and warm up procedures had been followed
great uncle set off up the beach on a timed run. The car skidded, turned over and over and then slewed round to face the sea. The scene for those first to arrive was not pretty,
Parry-Thomas was still in the car, he had a deep cuts to his neck, †partially decapitated and burned. The car was on fire and in order to retrieve the body from the blazing wreck
two of Parry-Thomas's crew had the unpleasant task of breaking the legs of the corpse
before the fire prevented them reaching it. The coroner's verdict was accidental death and Parry-Thomas was buried at Saint Mary's, Byfleet, Surrey. The car was buried in a big hole
on the beach and that could have been the end of the story.
† A popular myth which is untrue is that he was fully decapitated in the crash. J G Parry-Thomas was buried at Saint Mary's Churchyard, Byfleet
Surrey, England
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Daily Mirror front page from Friday 4th March 1927, with the head line Mr Parry-Thomas Killed (Parry-Thomas Family Private Archive) |
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Babs being buried on Pindine Sands March 1927. |
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F or the next bit of the story we jump 42 years in time and enter another Welshman, Owen Wyn-Owen an engineering lecturer form Bangor Technical Collage. Owen Wyn-Owen
had restored several cars and was keen on the idea of digging up Babs from the sand with a view to a complete restoration. This was easier said than done simply because some of the locals didn't
want the car resurrected while others did , and the army who had arrived during World War II were not too keen on the idea as the point where Babs was buried
was now surrounded by buildings. Perseverance paid off and in 1969 the car was excavated and so began a 15 years of work to make Babs run again. After his death, it was found that John was also in the middle of designing a boat to attack the World Water Speed Record. Rather ironically, also on his
drawing board were the plans to convert Babs from chain to shaft drive. |
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Babs being dug up in March 1969. |
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John Godfrey Parry-Thomas was truly an understated genius as a driver and an engineer below are a few of his huge number of inventions that were patented between 1910 and 1926 these are in PDF format.
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The Leyland Eight By Hugh Tours |
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The two-door open model, with Parry-Thomas at the wheel (Photo: Leyland Motors Ltd.) |
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T
he design of the Leyland Eight was the result of
what might be described as an engineer's dream. In
1917, John Godfrey Parry-Thomas, then Chief
Engineer of Leyland Motors Ltd., was requested by
the directors to design a perfect motor-car and not
to worry about cost. As if this was not enough to
gladden the heart of any designer—and Parry-Thomas
was certainly not just 'any designer' as his employers
well knew—he had as his assistant a young man who
was to become famous as a designer in his turn. This
was Reid Railton, known to his fellows in the Leyland
works by the soubriquet of 'Oozalong', who shared
digs in Preston with Thomas with whom he was on
the most friendly terms, despite, as he has said him-
self, the always clearly defined relationship of master
and man. This young assistant was to become well
known in the years after his master's death for the
successful Railton Terraplane car, developed from the
Hudson Straight Eight, and more particularly for the
design of John Cobb's World's Land Speed Record
car. The credit for the development of the Brooklands
Riley, so often mistakenly given to Parry-Thomas,
was also due to Reid Railton. Looking back on those
early days he has frankly admitted†
that Thomas
taught him how to think and was thus responsible
for what he unassumingly describes as 'such ability
as I have as an engineer'. With reference to the Leyland
Eight, it is Railton's opinion that 'it positively bristled
with novel and logical solutions of problems which
were then facing all motor-car designers. Some of
these solutions, unheard of at the time, are commonplace today.
Torsion springs, anti - roll bars, vacuum-
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assisted brakes, for instance, all originated on the
Leyland Eight.' The car was, therefore, by no means
a short-lived curiosity. It was a demonstration of
advanced ideas, none of which were proved, in the
long run, to be faulty.
The Leyland was first shown to the public at the
1920 Motor Show and was hailed by the Press, after
their own fashion, as the 'Lion of Olympia'. It was
certainly a sensation. It was the first British touring
car to have an eight-cylinder-in-line engine. The price
of the chassis alone was £2,500 and at a time, be it
remembered, when the pound was worth something.
The engine had a cubic capacity of 6,967 c.c. (89 x
140 mm.) when the car first made its appearance, but
this was later increased to 7,266 c.c. (89 x 146 mm.)
giving a Treasury Rating of 40 h.p. With one Zenith
carburettor 60 b.h.p. was developed at l,000r.p.m.
and 110 b.h.p. at 2,200 r.p.m., maximum output being
145 b.h.p. Later models had either one or two
Smith carburettors. In the experimental stages a three-
sectioned cylinder head was tried but this was dis-
carded in favour of a normal detachable one all in
one piece. The combustion chambers were hemi-
spherical and each contained two inclined tulip valves
which were operated by a single overhead camshaft.
Each cam was common to one inlet and one exhaust
valve. A leaf spring closed each pair of valves, the
rockers being girder-like in construction and drilled
for lightness. The springs themselves were not fixed
in the centre but were on a rocking base, so that the
opening inlet valve tended to pull the exhaust valve
tighter shut, and vice versa. The triple eccentric cam-
shaft drive was worked by connecting rods of drilled H section, the
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† These remarks of Reid Railton are taken from his appreciation of J. G. Parry-Thomas in Parry-Thomas, Designer-Driver by Hugh Tours, B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1959. | |
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eccentric at the top being held in a
casing pivoted at one side, so that heat expansion
would not affect the working of the gear. This was a
point that W. 0. Bentley found troublesome when
designing his 6 ½-litre model, and resorted to compli-
cated spring-loaded connecting rods to combat the
expansion. The camshaft drive was connected to the
camshaft itself by means of an Oldham coupling
which permitted sufficient movement for the pivoted
top eccentric and in addition there was a bolted-up
coupling which allowed for micro-adjustment of the
timing. Rather unexpectedly the camshaft drive was
at the rear of the engine while the front end of the
camshaft drove the water pump.
The scuttle carried three reservoirs, one for petrol
which was fed by an Autovac from the main tank at
the rear, one for gear oil which fed the gearbox by
gravity, and the third was an oil tank connected with
the automatic chassis lubrication system, operated by
The first Leyland Eight engine to be built having the 3-section cylinder head which was discarded in favour of a normal one-piece one. The three scuttle-mounted tanks are labelled 'petrol', 'engine oil' and 'gear oil'. (Photo: Leyland Motors Ltd.) |
small plunger pumps actuated by the rear quarter
elliptic springs. A single-plate clutch connected the
engine to the four-speed gearbox which was mounted
on leather at each end and spigoted at the rear to
prevent excessive movement. A starter-motor was
built into the gearbox in order to enable it to cope
with such a large engine, a practice that was not
uncommon at the time. The latter end of the propeller
shaft carried the differential which in turn drove
splayed axle-shafts by means of twin bevels. (A spiral
bevel axle was quoted in 1921.) The rear springs were
unusual in that their first action was to twist a torsion
bar after which the leaves themselves came into
operation, a method which necessitated the heavy
circular fixing on the inboard end of the rear springs
visible on both the touring and racing versions of the
Leyland. The front springs were semi-elliptic and, like
the rear ones, had no shackles, each axle being held
in place by stout radius rods.
The brakes were vacuum-servo operated by a system evolved by Thomas, the patent of which he is reputed to have sold subsequently to Dewandre, but in the event of failure of the servo they could be worked by mechanical means. The steering gear incorporated two gearboxes and allowed the shaft to run down the driver's side of the scuttle and keep itself out of the engine compartment altogether. The top box permitted any angle of rake for the steering wheel. The production cylinder head showing the leaf valve springs. (Photo: Leyland Motors Ltd.) |
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William Body in his book, The History of Brook-
lands Motor Course, mentions three unusual items
included in the specification. They were a suction
governor to control the speed of the cooling fan, a
suction-operated ignition switch which cut the coil
circuit when the engine stopped, and a starter that
functioned when the gear lever was placed in a certain
position; the last idea being used on the DS.19 and
Pallas models of the Citroën.
The Leyland's lighting and starting was by Smith, but in 1923 there is mention of a Brolt starter. The disc wheels were fitted with 895 x 135 mm. tyres. Thomas's attitude to the design of the car can be seen from a letter which he wrote to The Autocar in 1921 when the Leyland Eight had been mentioned in an argument about the world's best car: 'I note in the Correspondence of The Autocar of 4th June,' he wrote, 'that a large number of car owners and others are expressing their views as to which is the world's best car. One of them asks, "Where does the Leyland Eight come in?" 'As the designer of the Leyland Eight, I may say it never has been, and never will be, the makers' wish that any discussion such as this should take place, it being their intention to produce the most perfect car it is possible to design and manufacture. It may, however, interest you to know that the only car which we consider worth while having as a sparring partner to the Leyland Eight is the Rolls- Royce. The Leyland Eight is not, and will not be until next year, in the hands of the public, and of the cars that are in the hands of the public, in the writer's opinion, there is not one which can hold a candle to the Rolls-Royce. 'If the matter were thoroughly gone into, it would probably be found that the originator of the whole of this question has brought up the matter out of "pique". I do not, of course, know who started the correspondence.' J. G. Parry-Thomas, Chief Engineer,
By the time the 1921 Motor Show had come round,
the chassis price had been lowered to £1,875 and a
five-seater tourer was quoted at £2,700.
Altogether about eighteen Leyland Eight cars were
made. The model shown at the 1920 Motor Show was
an open Leyland Motors Ltd. |
The Leyland Eight crankshaft (Photo: Leyland Motor Ltd.) Offside view of the short chassis Leyland Eight. The rear-spring operated chassis lubricating plunger can be seen. (Photo: Leyland Motor Ltd.) four-seater with a detachable hood. The
square-shaped radiator was relieved by rounded
edges, and a great number of fine louvres made the
detachable bonnet-sides look most impressive. The
headlamp shells were given a squarish shape to match
the radiator, although the lamp glasses were round.
The side lamps were similarly treated. Enormous, and
rather ugly, conical hub caps were fitted and the car
carried two spare wheels.
Three lengths of chassis were available, a short one for the open sporting
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The short `speed model` chassis used for the open cars (Photo: Leyland Motor Ltd.)
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models and longer ones for the
more sedate body work. It would be difficult to say
now to whom all the cars were sold. Two were
bought by the Maharajah of Patiala and, as no
maintenance manuals were produced, Reid Railton
had to travel to India with the cars in order to explain
their working and upkeep to the Maharajah's garage
staff. These two cars, according to Leylands, were sold
to scrap dealers in the 1930s. Another was sold to
Michael Collins and was used in Ireland during the
troubles when, in an ambush in August 1921, it
received through the windscreen the bullet that killed
its owner. Several Englishmen sufficiently enthusiastic
and well-heeled also bought Leyland Eights.
Stand 317 at the Olympia Motor Show of 1922
was, so to speak, the last public appearance of these
fine cars. Two examples were exhibited, a special
saloon by Vanden Plas and a five-seater coupe by
Windover.
Two of the short chassis became racing cars. By the end of 1921, with much
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(Photo: Leyland Motor Ltd.) difficulty and a great deal of
persuasion, Thomas had jockeyed the Leyland
directors into agreeing that he might enter a Leyland
Eight for the Easter Monday Meeting at Brooklands
the following year. They were obviously not keen on
the project, but they felt that they were playing safe
by insisting that the car, a two-seater 'Speed Model',
should run in full touring trim. In their opinion a
demonstration of reliability and quiet running would
be quite enough and a speed of 90 m.p.h. or so should
be sufficient to impress the spectators. What the
directors thought when they eventually learnt that
on arrival at the track their Chief Engineer had
stripped off all unnecessary accessories, might have
made interesting reading but for the fact that by the
time they were aware that their instructions had not
been carried out, Thomas and the Leyland were
already attracting favourable comment. A letter to
The Autocar, written in July 1922, makes it clear what
cars Thomas was using:
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A Leyland with a saloon body, possible the `special saloon by `Vanden Plas` shown in 1922, although the circular rear window suggests
Messrs, Maythorn.(Photo: Leyland Motor Ltd.) | |
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The two-door open model showing a fitted starting handle. One of the first cars to be built showing an early form of trade plate. An alloy body is fitted for test purposes. The 1920 Show model with special coachwork. |
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J. G. Parry-Thomas making adjustments to the Leyland at
Brooklands in August 1923 while Capt.J E. P. Howey looks on.
The Windover five-seater coupé exhibited at the Motor Show of
1922.(Photo: Leyland Motors Ltd.)Hoime Moss Hill Climb 'I notice that you have described the car driven
by myself as a two-seater. As a matter of fact, it
was a four-seater touring car, being the original
car built in 1920. 'The car you referred to was the two-seater speed model which has recently been performing at Brooklands. Unfortunately, at the time of this hill-climb, that car was being fitted with a new body, and was therefore not available.' J. G. Parry-Thomas. |
The new body which was fitted to the Brooklands
ar had a bluntly streamlined nose behind the large
tandard radiator while the tail tapered to a sharp
point. In this guise the Leyland ran in races and
competitions until 1924, a sister car being constructed
in 1923 for Capt. J. E. P. Howey.
It was during the winter of 1922 that Thomas
severed his connection with Leylands. It was a per-
fectly amicable arrangement and the directors of the
firm were particularly kind and understanding. Their
case was quite simply that Thomas could spend his
time racing at Brooklands or as their Chief Engineer
but obviously not both. He was not in two minds as
to what he wanted to do and so he was allowed to
take several complete chassis and any spare parts
that he needed and settle into the bungalow and
garages actually inside the track at Brooklands where
he was to live for the remaining years of his life. The
gift of the Leyland Eight chassis was an extremely
generous gesture even though it had been decided to
discontinue production. A slump in trade was not in
the least favourable to the sale of a very expensive
motor car and the Leyland shareholders held strong
views about the projects for which their money was
being used. Thus, one might say that as the ex-Chief
Engineer started on his upward course of popular
success, his Leyland masterpiece came to a standstill,
the exception being his own car and to a lesser extent
that bought by Capt. Howey. These cars did anything
but stand still.
In his first season at Brooklands, Thomas's Leyland
was placed no less than fourteen times, 4 firsts, 7
seconds and 3 thirds. This result was considerably
improved upon in 1923 when the Brooklands placings
were 8 firsts, 4 seconds and 1 third.
The famous Leyland-Thomas No. 1, which with
Thomas at the wheel was to become a legend of
Brooklands Track, was built from the previous racing
car during the winter of 1923. A much lower body was
fitted, having, it was claimed, a head resistance
reduced by 40 per cent; a long pointed tail now ended
much nearer to the ground. Behind an oval opening
in the streamlined cowl nestled a new circular radiator,
while under the bonnet the straight-eight engine had
undergone considerable modification. A redesigned
crankshaft permitted the raising of the compression-
ratio to 7-5 to 1 and dealt with the 200 b.h.p. now
obtainable at 2,800 r.p.m. To produce this power
four Zenith carburettors were fitted while the exhaust
and inlet ports and the camshaft were redesigned. The
car was painted white with the chassis, underparts and
the six-stud flat disc wheels in pale blue. It was to become
one of the most successful cars ever to be seen at Brooklands.
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The Leyland Eight with its first racing body. Mrs George Duller at the wheel in September 1923.
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The Parry-Thomas family would like it to be known that we do not auction any Parry-Thomas or Babs material, of any kind on any internet auction web sites. We feel that any individual taking a profit from such sales should donate it to
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Website © Parry-Thomas Family 1995 - 2010
Email: postmasterATparry-thomas.co.uk [Replacing the AT with @] |