Exhibition marks 1909 car rally

There was a series of events for motorcycles, steam cars and the various engine categories

In pictures: 1909 Pendine rally

The 100th anniversary of the first international motor rally to be staged in the UK is being marked at the Welsh Museum of Speed.

In July 1909 over 40 cars along with motorbikes and thousands of spectators descended on Pendine sands.

With the national speed limit just 20mph at the time and cars still a rare sight on the roads people were hoping to see speeds in excess of 60mph.

The Carmarthenshire beach has seen the world speed record broken five times.

Lyn Hughes, a volunteer archivist at the museum, said: "Stage coaches had been replaced by trains but as far as personal transport was concerned it was still very much a horse drawn age.

It was rather like a day at Ascot Lyn Hughes

"It was very unusual to see a motor car so to see 40 of them arriving here with motorcycles was probably the greatest excitement Pendine had ever seen.

"This was organised by the Motor Union which later became the RAC.

"It was an early sort of tourist board idea to bring people into Wales from the continent, from England and elsewhere to show them the countryside in a way which they would not have been able to see it before this new thing - the motor car."

Mr Hughes said although it started off a bit misty it turned into a glorious July's summer day.

"There were thousands of people here. Paris and London fashions. It was rather like a day at Ascot," he added.

"There was a whole series of events for motorcycles, for steam cars and then for all the various engine categories."

The car in which John Parry-Thomas was killed is on show at the museum

But Mr Hughes said the crowds hoping to see the vehicles hit top speed were left disappointed.

"They had actually chosen the wrong time of year to hold an event here," he explained.

"When the sand is wet with the tide going out it's as hard as iron, but given a very hot period of summer it can turn very powdery.

"The sand was so soft they did not get up to the kind of speeds people wanted to see."

But within two decades Pendine did see the world land speed record broken five times.

Between 1924 and 1927 Malcolm Campbell and John Parry-Thomas outdid each other before the latter was killed while travelling at over 170mph on the beach in his car Babs.

That vehicle is the main draw for visitors to the museum each summer.