Land speed record car back at beach,100 years on

A car which set the world land speed record in 1926 has completed the same course on which it reached 152mph (245km/h) a century ago.

Sir Henry Segrave broke the record on Ainsdale Beach in Southport on 16 March 1926. It remains the last time it was set by a conventional circuit racing car rather than a vehicle specifically designed to become the fastest in the world.

The original Sunbeam Tiger was driven along the sands by Wing Cdr Andy Green - who holds the current world land speed record - as part of a three-day event celebrating the centenary of the 1926 record.

The Tiger, also known as "Ladybird", remains the smallest-capacity internal combustion-engine car to hold the land speed record.

Sir Henry O'Neal de Hane Segrave, a Baltimore-born British national, already had a successful motor-racing career under his belt when he turned his attention to breaking the land speed record.

The car that allowed him to set the first of his three world records was Sunbeam's Ladybird, later known as Tiger, designed by engineer Louis Coatalen.

This compact, supercharged V12 car would be the last holder of the ultimate speed record in its class.

Only a year after his success at Southport, Segrave became the first driver to smash the 200mph barrier when he did so at Daytona Beach in the United States.

Coatalen's twin engine Sunbeam is now a part of the National Motor Museum collection in Beaulieu, Hampshire.

Before he set off for Tiger's centenary run, Green explained why he was happy to drive at 30mph rather than 152mph.

"It gives me more time to enjoy the experience of following Henry Segrave's footsteps 100 years to the day," he told BBC Radio Merseyside.

Green currently holds the world land speed record - he clocked 763mph in 1997.

The Segrave 100 Southport Celebration event was organised by Aintree Circuit Club.

Chairman Mike Ashcroft said as well as celebrating Sir Henry's achievement, it was a great opportunity to remember the area's motor racing history "which has almost been forgotten about".

"It is celebrating part of Southport's motor sport history which goes back to 1903 - the Southport speed trials on the promenade with all leading drivers of the day.

He added: "Then you had beach racing on the beach - it rivalled Brooklands in the 1930s with 50,000 people here."

Brooklands boasted the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit, constructed at Weybridge in Surrey in 1907, and staged Britain's first grand prix in 1926.

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