Motorised shed to make speed record attempt at Pendine Sands

A souped-up motorised shed and a motorbike will aim to break a world record on a Welsh beach this weekend.

The Fastest Shed will hope to smash its own 80mph (129km/h) record for the fastest shed at a land speed event at Pendine Sands in Carmarthenshire.

Superbike racer Zef Eisenberg will also attempt to break the land-speed record - and the 200mph barrier - on sand on his supercharged Suzuki Hayabusa bike.

Owner Kevin Nicks said his was the only road legal motorised shed in the world.

The 53-year-old gardener from Oxfordshire has spent more than £13,000 creating his bespoke shed on wheels, which now boasts a turbo-charged 400 brake horsepower engine that is more powerful than many sports cars.


Media captionThe souped-up shed that can do 80mph
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He first had the idea of creating a shed on wheels in 2015 when his old Volkswagen Passat lay broken on his drive - and he thought: "Let's see if I can do something a little different."

The father-of-one initially spent £5,000 and 12 months making his home-made shed roadworthy so he can "take his daughter to school and pop to the shops".

"I did everything, build the shed, connected the engine, build the chassis," said Mr Nicks, who lives in the same village as motoring broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson.

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Image caption
Kevin Nicks created the Fastest Shed from his old Volkswagen Passat
"The only thing I didn't do was felt the roof! I then thought, I wonder how fast it could go?

"I entered a few speed events and basically floored it. I hit 80mph to break the record, including the Guinness record. But it blew up so it needed some work."

Now two years and 20,000 miles later, Kevin has splashed out an estimated £8,000 on revamping the shed with a finely-tuned Audi RS4 engine.

"I've spent all winter doing it up and putting in a new engine and suspension, it's so quick off the mark.

"But goodness knows how fast it will go And clearly aerodynamics is my biggest opposition to overcome if I want to go fast."

Image copyrightCENTAURUS
Image caption
Pendine Sands is synonymous with land speed attempts since Sir Malcolm Campbell broke the record in Blue Bird in the 1920s
He will begin his record bid on Saturday at Pendine, a beach which has become synonymous with land speed attempts since Sir Malcolm Campbell broke the record in the legendary Blue Bird in the 1920s.

He will be joined by a host of karts, three-wheelers and the most powerful street legal motorbikes as they hope to break the current UK record of 194.5mph (313km/h).

"Pendine Sands is a notoriously difficult race track," said Eisenberg, who will attempt to break the record.

"Competitors have no idea what the surface is like until the tide goes out.

Image copyrightCENTAURUS
Image caption
Zef Eisenberg survived a 230mph crash breaking the land speed record for a turbine bike 18 months ago
"It's not just the high-end engineering that makes breaking records on Pendine Sands difficult. As Pendine is a Ministry of Defence test fire site, you'll often end up encountering unexploded ordinances alongside giant washed-up jellyfish."

Eisenberg, from Guernsey, almost died after breaking the land speed record for a turbine bike 18 months ago as he crashed at 230mph (370km/h) and was in hospital for three months.

"No one in history, car or bike has ever exceeded 200mph on the sand at Pendine," he added.

"It's the holy grail of speed, where the best speed racers in the world have tried."

source:www.bbc.com