08-02-2021, 10:13 AM
LMB - Leslie Mark Ballamy opened a garage in Streatham in the late '20s, moving to various sites over the next few years. In 1932 he devised a swing-axle IFS and which he applied initially to the Austin Seven. In 1934, based on a '28 Chummy, he built a Special -" Ellembee " which proved a very potent machine often being taken to 7000 rpm in second gear... and on a standard crank. In a JCC High-Speed Trial at Brooklands he averaged over 72 mph. coming off the Railway Banking on two wheels. Detecting that the steering felt soggy, on returning to the paddock and jacking up the front, both wheels fell off, the kingpins having snapped. The car was later written off whilst being driven by a friend who sadly died in the accident.