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Chitty Bang Bang was the informal name of a number of celebrated British racing cars, built and raced by Count Louis Zborowski and his engineer Clive Gallop in the 1920s, which inspired the book Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang .
The cars were built in Canterbury, Kent in the workshop of Bligh Brothers coachbuilders, and stored at Higham Park, Zborowski's country house at Bridge near Canterbury. The cars were so loud that Canterbury reportedly passed a by-law prohibiting them from entering within the city walls. The origin of the name "Chitty Bang Bang" is disputed, but may have been inspired by aeronautical engineer Letitia Chitty, the sound of an idling aeroplane engine or from a salacious World War I song. [1]
Chitty 1 | |
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Overview | |
Production | 1921 |
Body and chassis | |
Body style | Open-wheel car |
Layout | Front Engine, RWD |
Powertrain | |
Engine | 23,096 cubic centimetres (1,409.4 cu in) Maybach Mb.IVa I6 |
Power output | 245 brake horsepower (183 kW) @ 3,000 rpm 850 newton-metres (630 lbf⋅ft) @ 2,100 rpm |
Transmission | 3-speed manual |
Dimensions | |
Curb weight | 2,200.0 kilograms (4,850.2 lb) |
Chitty 1 was a chain-driven customised Mercedes chassis powered by a 23-litre 6-cylinder Maybach Mb.IVa aero engine. [1] [2] It won two races at its debut at Brooklands in 1921, coming second to another Zborowski car in a sprint race at the same event. Chitty 1 was fitted with four seats and a crude, oversized exhaust pipe, in order to mislead the handicappers and spectators. Its top speed on the day was 100.75 miles per hour (162.14 km/h).
For its next outing, Chitty 1 was refitted as a two-seater with a cowled radiator and a properly plumbed exhaust. It attained nearly 120 mph (190 km/h) on one occasion, and had its race handicap consistently reappraised. It subsequently crashed, removing three fingers from a timing official. The car was rebuilt and passed into the ownership of the sons of Arthur Conan Doyle, [1] but was quickly retired as a racing car, and was later bought for spare parts by John Morris, the Maybach engine being offered to Bill Boddy, editor of Motor Sport magazine.
Chitty 2 | |
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Overview | |
Production | 1922 |
Designer | Bligh Brothers |
Body and chassis | |
Body style | Open-wheel car |
Layout | Front Engine, RWD |
Powertrain | |
Engine | 18,825 cubic centimetres (1,148.8 cu in) Benz Bz.IV I6 |
Power output | 228 brake horsepower (170 kW) @ 1,400 rpm 1,104 newton-metres (814 lbf⋅ft) |
Transmission | 3-speed manual |
Dimensions | |
Curb weight | 1,640 kilograms (3,620 lb) |
Chitty 2 had a shorter wheelbase, an 18.8-litre Benz Bz.IV aero engine, and the coachwork was carried out by Bligh Brothers of Canterbury, England. It was never as successful as its predecessor, but took part in several road races, including a Sahara Desert expedition in 1922. It later became the property of the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. Chitty 2 was part of Bob Bahre's private collection until his death in April 2020.
Chitty 3 | |
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Overview | |
Production | 1924 |
Body and chassis | |
Body style | Open-wheel car |
Layout | Front engine, RWD |
Powertrain | |
Engine | 18,825 cubic centimetres (1,148.8 cu in) Benz Bz.IV I6 |
Power output | 180 brake horsepower (130 kW) 1,000 newton-metres (740 lbf⋅ft) |
Transmission | 3-speed manual |
Dimensions | |
Curb weight | 1,555 kilograms (3,428 lb) |
Chitty 3 was based on a modified Mercedes chassis with a 160 hp (120 kW) Mercedes single-overhead-camshaft six-cylinder aero engine, tuned to produce 180 hp (130 kW). The car recorded a lap of Brooklands at 112.68 mph (181.34 km/h). Louis Zborowski later used it as his personal transport, and drove it to Stuttgart when he negotiated to join the Mercedes racing team. [3]
Chitty 4 | |
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Overview | |
Also called | Babs (land speed record car), Higham Special |
Production | 1926 |
Designer | J. G. Parry-Thomas, originally Clive Gallop & Count Louis Zborowski |
Body and chassis | |
Body style | Open-wheel car |
Layout | Front Engine, RWD |
Powertrain | |
Engine | 27,020 cubic centimetres (1,649 cu in) Liberty L-12 V12 |
Power output | 450 brake horsepower (340 kW) 2,000 newton-metres (1,500 lbf⋅ft) |
Transmission | 3-speed manual |
Dimensions | |
Curb weight | 1,483 kilograms (3,269 lb) |
Chitty 4, also known as the Higham Special, had the largest engine of Louis Zborowski's cars, powered by a 450 hp (340 kW) V12 Liberty aero engine of 27 litres capacity, with a gearbox and chain-drive from a pre-war Blitzen Benz. Still not fully developed by the time of Zborowski's death in November 1924, it was purchased from his estate by J. G. Parry-Thomas for the sum of £125, equal to £9,005 today.
Parry-Thomas renamed the car Babs and rebuilt it with four Zenith carburettors and pistons of his own design. [4] In April 1926, Parry-Thomas used the car to set the land speed record at 171.02 mph (273.6 km/h). He was killed in the vehicle in a later attempt on 3 March 1927.
The largest-capacity racing car ever to run at Brooklands, Babs was buried at Pendine Sands in Wales, but was recovered and restored in 1967, and remains on display at the Pendine Museum of Speed during the summer, and at Brooklands Museum during the winter.
Brabus GmbH is a German high-performance automotive aftermarket tuning company founded in 1977 in Bottrop. Brabus specialises mainly in Mercedes-Benz, Maybach and Smart vehicles. They have also modified other vehicles including Porsche.
John Godfrey Parry-Thomas was a Welsh engineer and motor-racing driver who at one time held the land speed record. He was the first driver to be killed in pursuit of the land speed record.
The Mercedes-Benz C111 was a series of experimental automobiles produced by Daimler-Benz in the 1960s and 1970s. The company was experimenting with new engine technologies, including Wankel engines, diesel engines, and turbochargers, and used the basic C111 platform as a testbed. Other experimental features included multi-link rear suspension, gull-wing doors and a luxurious interior with leather trim and air conditioning.
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The Bentley 3 Litre was a car chassis manufactured by Bentley. The company's first, it was developed from 1919 and made available to customers' coachbuilders from 1921 to 1929. The Bentley was very much larger than the 1368 cc Bugattis that dominated racing at the time, but double the size of engine and strength compensated for the extra weight. The 4000 lb (1800 kg) car won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924, with drivers John Duff and Frank Clement, and again in 1927, this time in Super Sports form, with drivers S. C. H. "Sammy" Davis and Dudley Benjafield. Its weight, size, and speed prompted Ettore Bugatti to call it "the fastest lorry in the world", which was regarded as a compliment. Built in 3 main variants, Blue label, Red Label Speed models all carrying a 5-year warranty, and the coveted and rare Green Label 100 mph cars, which only carried a 12-month warranty reflecting the high state of tune.
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The Sunbeam 350HP is an aero-engined car built by the Sunbeam company in 1920, the first of several land speed record-breaking cars with aircraft engines.
Patrixbourne is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne, in the Canterbury district in Kent, England. It is 3 miles (5 km) south-east of Canterbury. It is mostly taken up by agricultural hills and along with almost contiguous Bekesbourne. In 1931 the parish had a population of 245.
Louis Vorow Zborowski was a British racing driver and automobile engineer, best known for creating a series of aero-engined racing cars known as the "Chitty-Bang-Bangs", which provided the inspiration for Ian Fleming's children's story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and culminated in the "Higham Special" which, much modified in the hands of John Godfrey Parry Thomas, broke the World Land Speed Record 18 months after the death of its creator.
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Ernest Arthur Douglas Eldridge was a British racing driver who broke the world land speed record in 1924. His was the last land speed record set on an open road.
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Babs was the land speed record car built and driven by John Parry-Thomas. It was powered by a 27-litre Liberty L-12 aero-engine.
Thomson & Taylor were a motor-racing engineering and car-building firm, based within the Brooklands race track. They were active between the wars and built several of the famous land speed record breaking cars of the day.
Colonel Reginald Clive Gallop was a British engineer, racing driver and First World War pilot. He was one of the team which developed their first engine for Bentley Motors.
Higham Park is a Grade II* listed neoclassical style house and gardens, located at Bridge, Kent, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Canterbury.
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Bligh Bros. or Bligh Brothers of Canterbury was a British coachbuilder initially producing carriage and, in the 20th century, bodies for automobiles. Amongst the most famous creations by Bligh Brothers are the unique race cars known as Chitty Bang Bang, which inspired the book Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang by author Ian Fleming and the later film adaptation, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.