Museum of Land Speed, Pendine
This museum, opened in 2023, showcases the stories of people who dared to perform incredible feats on the 11km (seven-mile) Pendine Sands. They include aviatrix Amy Johnson, who took off from the beach with her husband Jim Mollison on a flight across the Atlantic to New York in 1933.
Many attempts to take the British and world land speed records have been made on the sands, as the museum explains. Zef Eisenberg, businessman and ultra-speed racer, broke records here for the fastest speeds on both two wheels and four. He achieved 322kph (201.5mph) on the sands in 2018 but died two years later during a record attempt at an airfield near York.
Objects you can view here include the tail of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s ‘Blue Bird’ Sunbeam, in which he broke the world land speed record in 1925 by reaching 240kph (150mph) on Pendine Sands. The photos, courtesy of the CofGâr Collection, show Sir Malcolm surrounded by a crowd at the beach, and the tail section and other objects in the museum.
For just a few weeks each year (follow the link below for details) you can also see ‘Babs’ on display here, the car in which Wrexham-born engineer and professional racing driver John Godfrey Parry-Thomas broke the world record at Pendine in 1926 by attaining 272.5kph (169.3mph). His attempt to regain the world record at Pendine in March 1927 ended in tragedy when the car overturned, killing him instantly. The car’s wreckage was buried at the beach. In 1969 'Babs' was exhumed at the instigation of Bangor engineering lecturer Owen Wyn-Owen. He restored the car to working order.
The museum aims to inspire the next generation of designers and engineers with its family-friendly interactive exhibitions. Displays encourage visitors to get hands-on to discover the science of the sands and learn the skills behind the speed.
There’s also an exhibition – complete with a real missile – on the hidden history of the Ministry of Defence facility that sits next to the museum behind the sand dunes.
The museum was built to Passivhaus sustainable design principles and runs with low energy costs. It was created as part of the Pendine Tourism Attractor Project, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government.
With thanks to the CofGâr Collection
Postcode: SA33 4NY View Location Map
Museum of Land Speed website – for opening times and other information
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