1978: DRIVEN by OBSSESSION with SPEED | The Blonde Bombshell | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- Barry Bowles is obsessed by speed. An eccentric English amateur driven by passion, he is determined to break the Land Speed Record.
The beach at the Welsh village of Pendine is six miles long - plenty of room to get up to a great speed. And it’s there that Barry is bringing the Blonde Bombshell, his rocket engine-powered vehicle.
But without big money or a big organisation behind him, is he taking his life in his hands? And what is he prepared to sacrifice along the way?
Clip taken from The Blonde Bombshell, originally broadcast on BBC One, Friday 18 August, 1978.
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The man did not afraid to die, but when the reporter told him that his wife might leave him, he hesitated a little bit and his face turned sad after. What a brave and lovely man !
So I think this is a love story.
BBC documentaries were really something back in the day.
It's impressive considering it's over 4 decades old
I'm thankful I grew up on these... although I was 3 when this one came out
I will take one man of action over 100 men of words!
This was fantastic.
What became of Brave Barry?
I leave truly inspired. 🏆🇬🇧⚒️🏆
His wife left him for the pool guy
I remember watching this back in the day. What a long time ago that was and wonder what happened to him. Although foolhardy, that was the end of an era where regular everyday people could still attempt such crazy stuff without the need for huge backing and sophisticated tech.
"I'm going to quit on top" this dude kicks ass🤘🏼
I remember being impressed with this guy's determination, but then I met someone who claimed to know him and was told in no uncertain terms that he was well known at Santa Pod for refusing to listen to any advice that he didn't want to hear.
Never seen this before now but I took one look at that car and thought that is doomed to failure! No aero, open cockpit, no safety cell, open wheels, no aero testing, etc, etc ,etc. So he could never have known where the centre of pressure was, or where possible aero instability was. Just a crazy project.
Skinny tyres, no aero, built in a back yard, what could go wrong? Who cares! The reason it flipped was because of his massive balls that he had to carry around with him which altered the weight distribution of the car!
That blue Austin Princess at 0:31 🤌✨️
And the Wartburg at 0:37!
@@jimsimpson1006 Eastern European car in the UK in 1978...madness.
@@jimsimpson1006 Yes, hardly the "just an ordinary guy from Watford" transport, is it?
it appears again at 11:36
@@naysmith5272 British Leyland's second finest hour, after the Allegro. 🤌✨️
Sound bloke, great film.
I was there, on the Saturday i think, my sister was a journalist on the Western Mail and Echo and took me and a mate down to Pendine in my mums Austin Maxi to cover the story, we didnt see the car run due to the technical problems but as a bonus as a 13 year old kid I was allowed to drive the Maxi down the beach lol!
Wow... thanks for sharing this ! It's both truly amazing and hilariously absurd that they felt confident it would all go smoothly once that vehicle/dragster reached even 100 mph... No aero, tiny wheels barely six feet apart on sand, propelled by a jet engine 😂 This reminds me of a Canadian daredevil of the same era that built a comedy-spec, jet-propelled '70s American barge/car to jump/clear the Saint Lawrence river - from Canada over to the US - and it was all documented in a film called 'The Devil At Your Heels' (uploaded onto YT !) I highly suggest it for anyone that was entertained by this BBC short !
I think it was a rocket engine the way they were handling that fuel not sure what it was but normally rocket fuel that dangerous will have extremely toxic exhaust as well.
Gonna look up that film now thanks for the tip.
@@thedave7760 The 'HTP' they refer to is high test peroxide (very high purity hydrogen peroxide). When passed over a silver or platinum catalyst it decomposes into an awful lot of steam. The same rocket fuel as powered Sammy Miller to his 1/4 mile record (3.22 second 1/4 mile at 402 mph) at Santa Pod in 1984, which still stands. French drag bike racer Eric Teboul raced a peroxide rocket powered bike until he retired a few years ago. I never saw Sammy Miller's rocket car, but I'm very glad I got to see Eric Teboul run at Santa Pod a couple of times. Insane.
@@richardjones38 Ah yes of course. That was the same thing they used to power the early rocket belts, jet packs.
Very reliable and no toxic exhaust.
Had the same thoughts too! Almost a mirror image of Ken Carters naive ambition.
I remember dragster racing on The World of Sport.
And speedway from White City Stadium!
Well he certainly had Bowles!
Jesus. Bernard stuck it to our Barry at the end.
Not long after this Sammy Miller, got things sorted out, and even managed to help out Ken Carter with his project. If it was now, I dare say Barry and Sammy would have got together through the inter net and things would have been different.... However the wet sand at Pendine would still have been a problem with build up and balance problems on the tyres and wheels.
One of the other problems was the open rear tires were to wide for purpose and the aero round that area would be doing all sorts of nasty stuff at those speeds.
True Brit .....
Really lucky escape, not even hurt.
Fascinating look at the good old days..I hope he found balance in the end and considered his family while at the same time chasing his dream, although I suspect that might be wishfull thinking.
10:51 the face of a man realising they've just lost allot of money
Could not find a wiki page on Barry or his car. How did he do after all of this?
There's not a lot of information but after digging around some posts from 2008 on some forums, it seems some people who had contact with him in the following years said that he had to give up and sell off everything after mounting debts and not being able to secure sponsorship. One guy even recalls Barry coming to the factory that provided the Peroxide fuel, needing some flex hoses and not being able to muster up £10 for the hardware. Quite a disheartening story, but he followed his dream which is the most important. Unfortunately it seems he went into recluse afterwards. A 2nd chassis was apparently in the works but apparently it may have been confiscated to pay off debt.
The vulnerability on display in the interview at the end...
Felt like a group intervention for an Alcoholic
those mag wheels though.
Fascinating story ,what happened to him ,his attempts and did he lose his family?
Are you hoping for the worst?
@@smhorse I think that reply says more about you assuming the worst of people.
@@thebadgamer1967 : well, they do say it takes one to know one.
@@smhorse have a nice day it's been delightful
I don't remember this at all.
Whatever became of Barry Bowles?
What was that car in his drive, a Simca?
Wartburg I think
Wartburg 353
Wartburg estate.
Warthog ...2 stroke
wartburg knight estate
man wants to be the fastest in the world hasa 2 stoke Wartburg estate in the drive and dives a Wedge😄
🇬🇧👍🏁✌️
You know she took the kids and left him..... 🤣🤣🤣
Go fund me send 10 pence a week ..😅
a feckin stamp was 7p in '78 - she must have had the same maths teacher as poor old Barry LOL.
The fact that he didn't even account for sand getting into the wheels shows you just how amateurish this attempt was.
Donald Campbell's Bluebird CN7 team (the most technically advanced LSR car ever built, with the team led by Leo Villa, the most experienced speed record mechanic there has ever been or ever will be) failed to predict salt build-up throwing their wheels out of balance on the Utah Salt Flats, causing a very similar crash.
20/20 Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
but was that car climate neutral??🙃
Like most things back then, that wasn't really a concern.
Well, it was zero emissions: the fuel (Hydrrogen Peroxide) breaks down into water and oxygen when you 'fire' it in a rocket engine, so it's about as clean as you can get.
He was wearing cotton underpants so he’s good.