James Field's J.G.Parry-Thomas & Babs At Pendine 1926 B

A painting by my late father, James Field. He was an artist and illustrator with a passion for history. Below is the accompanying text he wrote at the time: 

These two paintings show John Godfrey Parry-Thomas breaking the Land Speed Record over two days in April 1926. On the first day Tuesday 27th he raised the record to 168.074 mph for the mile (169.238 for the kilometre) but went out again on the Wednesday to raise the speeds to 170.624 mph for the mile (171.09 for the kilometre). Believing ‘Babs’ could achieve more, Parry-Thomas returned the next year having made several improvements, most notably to the bodywork.
With rumours of Segrave's 1000hp Sunbeam about to break the 200mph record, Parry-Thomas made a hurried attempt to improve his own record in March 1927. It was to be a fatal decision; still suffering the effects of 'flu and travelling at full speed the car crashed and Parry-Thomas was killed instantly. This is all people tend to know about Parry-Thomas; what is generally forgotten is that he was an outstanding engineer, successful racing driver, and broke many driving records. As an engineer he designed aero engines in the First World War, a transmission gear years ahead of its time, and as Chief Engineer for Leyland was responsible for the Leyland Eight. He not only successfully designed, built and raced his own cars but drove equally well with those owned by others. As well as winning many races he broke numerous records including well over thirty World records.

Original Painting Info:
MEDIUM: Acrylic on canvas board