Louis Vorow Zborowski (20 February 1895 – 19 October 1924) was a British

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

and automobile engineer, best known for creating a series of aero-engined racing cars known as the "Chitty-Bang-Bangs", which provided the inspiration for

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

's children's story, ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' and culminated in the "Higham Special" which, much modified in the hands of John Godfrey Parry Thomas, broke the World Land Speed Record 18 months after the death of its creator.

Background

Zborowski was born in 1895 in London to American parents, who had moved to England nine years earlier. His father, Elliott Zborowski, was also a racing driver, and died in a racing crash, in 1903 at La Turbie Hillclimb in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionheiress, born Margaret Laura Astor Carey, a granddaughter of William Backhouse Astor Sr. and Margaret Rebecca Armstrong of the prominent

Astor family The Astor family achieved prominence in business sector, business, Socialite, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With Germans, German roots, some of their ancestry goes back to th ...

. She had been Madame de Stuers before her divorce and marriage in 1892 to Elliott Zborowski. On arriving in England, Elliott had styled himself with the title "Count" and was known generally as "Count Zborowski", although there is no firm evidence that he had any legitimate claim to any such title. Following Elliott's death, Louis assumed his father's fictitious title.

Early life

After the death of Zborowski's father in 1903, in 1910 his mother bought the Higham Park estate at

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

near

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

in Kent. Paying £17,500 to the executors of the estate of London banker William Gay, the sale included a farm, and twelve houses. Mrs. Zborowski immediately commissioned a £50,000 refurbishment of the house from the architect Joseph Sawyer. Upon her death in 1911, 16-year-old Zborowski became the fourth richest under-21-year-old in the world, with cash of £11 million and real estate in the United States, including of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and several blocks on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

, New York.

Early driving career

Zborowski's career as an amateur racing driver encompassed a wide experience of marques and events. He was an early patron of

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

, and raced for them at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

and in the

1922 French Grand Prix The 1922 French Grand Prix (formally the XVI French Grand Prix, Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France) was a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix motor race held at Strasbourg on 15 July 1922. The race was run over 60 laps of the 13.38km circui ...

. In 1921 Zborowski was to drive one of the 1921 Grand Prix Sunbeams representing Britain at

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

but this did not transpire and instead he raced the car at the International Shelsley Walsh - England’s foremost Speed Hill-Climb.

Car designs

Count Zborowski With Chitty Bang Bang 1 At Brooklands

Zborowski designed and built four of his own racing cars in the stables at Higham Park and workshops in Canterbury, assisted by his engineer and co-driver Captain Clive Gallop, who was later racing engineer to the " Bentley Boys". While Gallop provided technical expertise for the chassis and mechanical elements, Zborowski turned to Bligh Brothers of Canterbury (a century-old local coachbuilding firm) to provide the bespoke coach work for these projects. He eventually acquired this business outright in order to retain a personal staff of coachbuilders. The first car was powered by a 23,093 cc six-cylinder Maybach aero engine and called " Chitty Bang Bang". A second " Chitty Bang Bang" was powered by 18,825 cc Benz aero engine. A third car was based on a Mercedes 28/95, but fitted with a 14,778 cc 6-cylinder Mercedes aero engine and was referred to as the White Mercedes. These cars achieved some success at Brooklands. Another car, also built at Higham Park with a huge 27-litre American

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

aero engine, was called the "Higham Special". After Zborowski's death the "Higham Special" was purchased by J.G. Parry-Thomas to make bids on the

land speed record The land speed record (LSR) or absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. By a 1964 agreement between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de M ...

. Designer/driver Thomas improved the car and christened her " Babs". In April 1926 J.G. Parry-Thomas successfully took the Land Speed Record at over 170 mph at Pendine Sands. Thomas' second attempt at the same location in 1927 turned out fatal. At over 100 mph the car overturned and caught fire, killing the driver. " Babs" has been restored and can be seen either at the Pendine Sands museum of speed in the summer months or in the Brooklands Museum during other months of the year. In January 1922 Zborowski, his wife Vi, Clive Gallop and Pixi Marix together with a couple of mechanics took Chitty Bang Bang 2 and the White Mercedes across the Mediterranean for a drive into the Sahara Desert, in the tracks of

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

's Kégresse-track-equipped expedition.

Later career and death

In the 1923

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

Zborowski drove a

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French automotive industry, manufacturer of high performance vehicle, high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German Empire, German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the ...

. He drove in the 1923

Italian Grand Prix The Italian Grand Prix () is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, motor racing Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been held since 1921 ...

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

in a car designed by American engineer Harry Miller, the single-seat "American Miller 122". Zborowski joined the Mercedes team in 1924. He died in one of their cars while competing at the 1924 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, after his car skidded on a curve and turned over twice.

Legacy

Zborowski was a railway enthusiast and a gauge railway circuit, the Higham Railway, was built around his estate in Kent. This line was part of the inspiration behind the joint decision by Zborowski and his racing friend Captain J. E. P. Howey to construct a long-distance passenger-carrying railway line in the same gauge. Many locations were investigated, but this eventually led to the founding of the long Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent, which remains a popular tourist attraction and means of local transport. Zborowski ordered a steam locomotive from Bassett-Lowke, which ran on the Higham Railway in 1924. The locomotive was purchased by the Fairbourne Railway in Wales following the Zborowski's death and named "Count Louis" in his honour. (Zborowski's father had claimed the title of count.) The locomotive remained at the Fairbourne until 1988. Zborowski also ordered the first locomotives for the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway from Davey Paxman & Co. of

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. The order (and the project) was continued by Capt Howey alone, following Zborowski's death. The children's book by

, ''

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' is a 1968 children's film, children's Musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Ken Hughes and produced by Albert R. Broccoli. It stars Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Gert Fröbe, Anna Quayle, ...

'', and the subsequent

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

, were inspired by the romance of Zborowski's exploits. Fleming had watched Zborowski race at

as a school boy, and later visited Higham Park (then known as Highland Court) as a friend of its later owner, Walter Whigham the chairman of Robert Fleming & Co.

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in comm ...

founded by Ian's grandfather. In the third book, Zborowski is a major character, where his relationship to Chitty is explored and his future deadly crash is alluded to. To mark the centenary of his death, Aston Martin in conjunction with Aston Martin Heritage Trust, arranged for apprentices at the firm to repaint the railings on Zborowski's family grave in British Racing Green. On the anniversary of the date itself (19 October 2024) the first two Aston Martin Grand Prix cars were presented in the graveyard (Zborowski had funded and raced both) and a service of remembrance was held.

Motorsports career results

Indianapolis 500 results

References

External links

*
Indy 500 stats for Zborowski

Profile at "Historic Racing"

Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway

Louis Zborowski at Brooklands

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zborowski, Louis 1895 births 1924 deaths English racing drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Brooklands people Indianapolis 500 drivers Astor family Livingston family English people of Polish descent People from Bridge, Kent Sport deaths in Italy Aston Martin Racing drivers Grand Prix drivers People from Mayfair Racing drivers from London 20th-century English sportsmen