Chitty Bang Bang#Chitty 4
{{Short description|Racing cars}}
{{About|the real-world racing cars|the fictional car|Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (disambiguation)}}
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{{more citations needed|date=December 2019}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=December 2019}}
}}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.
Chitty 1
{{Infobox car
| name = Chitty 1
| image = Count Zborowski With Chitty Bang Bang 1 At Brooklands.jpg
| caption = Count Zborowski with Chitty 1 at Brooklands
| engine = {{convert|23096|cc}} Maybach Mb.IVa I6
| production = 1921
| body_style = Open-wheel car
| layout = Front Engine, RWD
| powerout = {{convert|245|bhp}} @ 3,000 rpm
{{convert|850|N.m}} @ 2,100 rpm
| transmission = 3-speed manual
| weight = {{convert|2200.0|kg}}
}}
Chitty 1 was a chain-driven customised Mercedes chassis powered by a 23-litre 6-cylinder Maybach Mb.IVa aero engine.{{cite magazine|last=Simanaitis|first=Dennis|title=Tech Tidbits|magazine=Road & Track|date=8 August 2011|volume=63|issue=2|url=http://www.roadandtrack.com/column/what-would-bond-james-bond-drive|page=107|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310165425/http://www.roadandtrack.com/column/what-would-bond-james-bond-drive|archive-date=March 10, 2012|url-status=live}}{{cite episode|series=The Talk of Gasoline Alley|series-link=Donald Davidson (historian)|station=WFNI|airdate=May 8, 2015}} 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 {{convert|120|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on}} 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, 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
{{Infobox car
| name = Chitty 2
| production = 1922
| designer = Bligh Brothers
| body_style = Open-wheel car
| layout = Front Engine, RWD
| engine = {{convert|18825|cc}} Benz Bz.IV I6
| transmission = 3-speed manual
| powerout = {{convert|228|bhp}} @ 1,400 rpm
{{convert|1104|N.m}}
| weight = {{convert|1640|kg}}
}}
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
{{Infobox car
| name = Chitty 3
| engine = {{convert|18825|cc}} Benz Bz.IV I6
| powerout = {{convert|180|bhp}}
{{convert|1000|N.m}}
| weight = {{convert|1555|kg}}
| production = 1924
| body_style = Open-wheel car
| layout = Front engine, RWD
| transmission = 3-speed manual
}}
Chitty 3 was based on a modified Mercedes chassis with a {{convert|160|hp|abbr=on}} Mercedes single-overhead-camshaft six-cylinder aero engine, tuned to produce {{convert|180|hp|abbr=on}}. The car recorded a lap of Brooklands at {{convert |112.68|mi/h|km/h|2|abbr=on}}. Louis Zborowski later used it as his personal transport, and drove it to Stuttgart when he negotiated to join the Mercedes racing team.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/motoring/2005/1130/2211000105MOT30HISTORY.html |work=Irish Times |title=Motoring History |date=2005-11-30 |access-date=2009-03-08 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126103204/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/motoring/2005/1130/2211000105MOT30HISTORY.html |archive-date=2013-01-26 |url-status=dead}}
Chitty 4
{{Main| Babs (land speed record car)}}{{Infobox automobile
| image = Parry Thomas and Babs, Pendine, April 1926 (Our Generation, 1938).jpg
| name = Chitty 4
| aka = Babs (land speed record car),
Higham Special
| production = 1926
| body_style = Open-wheel car
| engine = {{convert|27020|cc}} Liberty L-12 V12
| transmission = 3-speed manual
| designer = J. G. Parry-Thomas,
originally Clive Gallop
& Count Louis Zborowski
| layout = Front Engine, RWD
| weight = {{convert|1483|kg}}
| powerout = {{convert|450|bhp}}
{{convert|2000|N.m}}
}}Chitty 4, also known as the Higham Special, had the largest engine of Louis Zborowski's cars, powered by a {{convert |450|hp|abbr=on}} 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 £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|125|1925}}}} today.
Parry-Thomas renamed the car Babs and rebuilt it with four Zenith carburettors and pistons of his own design.{{cite ODNB|first=Jo |last=Payne |contribution=Thomas, John Godfrey Parry (1884–1927) |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/69166 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/69166 |access-date=9 Sep 2006}}. 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.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Citation|url=http://www.higham-park.co.uk/fx010010.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704111925/http://www.higham-park.co.uk/fx010010.htm |archive-date=2008-07-04|access-date=2015-12-27|url-status=usurped |title=Photo of Chitty 1 in its final form |publisher=Higham Park |place=UK}}.
- {{Citation|url=http://www.britishmm.co.uk/history.asp?id=221 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616190745/http://www.britishmm.co.uk/history.asp?id=221 |archive-date=2011-06-16|access-date=2015-12-27|url-status=dead |publisher=British Motor Manufacturers |title=Chitty Bang Bang |place=UK}}.
- {{Citation|url=http://www.britishmm.co.uk/history.asp?id=442 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207160821/http://www.britishmm.co.uk/history.asp?id=442 |archive-date=2012-02-07|access-date=2015-12-27|url-status=dead |publisher=British Motor Manufacturers |title=Higham Special |place=UK}}.