Vintage Hot Rod Associations, an annual event at Pendine Sands located in Carmarthenshire West Wales. Where they turn up in the most amazing vehicles and blast down the beach over a timed distance reaching speeds up to 120mph!

Thes Hot Rods aren’t the fastest things out the gate, but once they are cranked up I love  going for the panning shot everything this year I walked up to where they are nearly doing 100mph allowing for me to change the shutter speed to 1/60th which gave me much better-hit rate than previous years I was down at 1/30th!

All these images have been taken by and are available to purchase.

Equipment

Nikon D7500 and Sigma lens 

With its long beach and its land speed record-breaking history, where the likes of the legendary Malcolm Campbell and Bluebird ran here, John  Parry Thomas came with his car Babs with its 27 litre Liberty aeroplane engine, which returned to run down the beach again just a few years ago.

So, having the sound of raw V8’s blaring out is truly music to my ears. The whole event takes us back to a different time and is well supported by entrants from the UK and around the world.  A date in my dairy that I will not miss!

To find out more about the VHRA click here

Pendine Beach in Wales has a rich history of speed records dating back to the 1920s. It was here that Sir Malcolm Campbell set the world land speed record in 1924 with his Bluebird car, reaching a speed of 174.88 mph.

In the 1930s, Campbell returned to Pendine Beach to break his own record, reaching a speed of 246.09 mph in his Bluebird car. This record stood for over a decade until it was broken by John Cobb in 1947 with a speed of 394.19 mph.

In the 1950s and 60s, Pendine Beach became a popular location for speed record attempts, with drivers from all over the world coming to test their cars on the long, flat stretch of sand.

In recent years, Pendine Beach has seen a resurgence in interest for speed records, with various groups and individuals attempting to break the existing records. While the beach is no longer officially recognized for speed record attempts, it remains a popular location for enthusiasts and a testament to the rich history of speed on Welsh soil.

Parry’s car, also known as the Parry-Thomas, was a car built by Welsh engineer, John Parry-Thomas, in the 1920s. It was designed to break the land speed record and was powered by a Liberty aero engine.

In 1926, Parry-Thomas attempted to break the land speed record at Pendine Beach in Wales, reaching a speed of 170.6 mph. However, his attempt was unsuccessful and the record was not recognized by the governing body at the time.

Despite this setback, Parry-Thomas continued to work on the car and made several more attempts at the land speed record at Pendine Beach in the following years. In 1927, he finally broke the record with a speed of 171.02 mph, making him the first person to officially hold the land speed record on Pendine Beach.

Unfortunately, Parry-Thomas was killed in an accident while attempting to break the land speed record in his car in March of 1927. The car was later restored and is now on display at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, England.