A motorised shed has broken a land speed record after its owner hit 100mph driving along a Welsh beach.
Kevin Nicks, the owner of the “fastest shed”, said he was delighted to break his previous record of 80mph (129km/h) while participating in a land speed event at Pendine Sands in Carmarthenshire on Saturday.
"It couldn't have gone better, I'm so happy," he told the BBC.
Over the years, the 53-year-old gardener has spent more than £13,000 creating his motorised shed, which he claims is the world’s only road legal motorised shed.
Though he initially created the shed in 2015 from his broken down Volkswagen Passat with the goal of simply driving around the local area, he soon became interested in pushing it to its limits.
Mr Nicks has made previous attempts to break the 100mph barrier, and a recent upgrade has finally allowed him to do it.
"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,” he said.
He credits the addition of an Audi RS4 engine with the “magical moment” when he broke the record at Pendrine.
"I've spent all winter doing it up and putting in a new engine and suspension, it's so quick off the mark,” said Mr Nicks.
"I had no idea how fast it would go – and it went well. It felt comfortable at 100mph, I was pleased."
The shed’s top speed on the Pendrine track was 101mph (160 km/h).
The firm, flat surface of the beach in south Wales has been used in attempted land speed record attempts for decades.
Legendary past records that have been broken there include Sir Malcolm Campbell hitting 146.16mph (235.22km/h) in 1924.
Though Mr Nicks’ attempt was unusual, he is not the first to attempt to break land speed records in a shed.
Before his “fastest shed “ arrived on the scene, the record for fastest speed attained by a motorised shed belonged to television presented Edd China, who managed to reach 58mph in 2011.
Since the shed’s creation, Mr Nicks has driven it 20,000 miles (32,187km) for charity, including a trip from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
He has raced the shed at tracks around the country, attempting to break records everywhere from the Santa Pod to the Jurby drag strip on the Isle of Man.
Mr Nicks told The Independent his next challenge will be to attempt to beat his current record at an event in Elvington near York that will take place this coming weekend on tarmac.
