An Oxfordshire man who set the land speed record for towing a caravan has died at the age of 69.

Eric Prue, of Bicester, died last week after a debilitating condition which he had fought for many months.

Mr Prue got involved with caravan rallying in the 1970s when he realised how unroadworthy the vehicles were.

Having revolutionised caravan design by creating a new more streamlined, aerodynamic shape Mr Prue earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records by setting the world speed record for towing a caravan on October 14, 1980, reaching 124.91mph The daredevil towed his own Alpha 14 caravan behind a Le Mans Aston Martin V8 saloon at RAF Elvington in North Yorkshire.

His friend and business partner Don Viney, who helped Mr Prue with the design, said: "Before this all caravans were like boxes, but he soon realised that they had no aerodynamics, which meant they fell over easily. Eric's concept laid the foundations for all modern caravans and he set the land speed record to show how safe the design was."

"It was revolutionary at that time and although it did not catch on straight away, quite a few manufacturers started to follow suit."

To further illustrate how safe and more efficient the new design was, Mr Prue also drove from Dover to St Raphael in the south of France in less than 24 hours.

Mr Viney added: "His concept vision would have saved a lot of accidents over the years.

"I once stood in the caravan doing 90mph on the ring road in Oxford. It was so stable it was unbelievable."