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Bentley Blower No. 1 (Chassis No. HB3402)
is a racing car developed from the Bentley 4½
Litre by Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin to win the
Le Mans twenty four hour race. The car came second in
the 1930 French Grand Prix, and held the Brooklands
circuit speed record at 137.96 miles per hour (222.03
km/h), from 1931 to 1934.
Background
In 1921 Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin turned to motor
racing, competing a few races at Brooklands. Business
and family pressure then forced him to retire from the
tracks until 1927 when he entered a three litre Bentley
for a six hour race. For 1928 he acquired a 4½
litre car and after some good results decided to return
to motor racing, very much against his family's wishes.
Soon Birkin was one of the Bentley Boys, described as
"the greatest Briton of his time" by W.O.
Bentley. In 1928 Birkin entered the Le Mans race again,
leading the first twenty laps until a jammed wheel forced
him to drop back, finishing fifth. He won the race in
1929, racing the "Speed Six" as co-driver
to Woolf Barnato.
Base car
If W.O. Bentley wanted a more powerful car he developed
a bigger model, and the Speed Six was a huge car. Ettore
Bugatti once referred to the Bentley as "the world's
fastest lorry" ("Le camion plus vite du monde").
In 1928, Birkin had come to the conclusion that the
future lay in getting more power from a lighter model
by fitting a supercharger to the 4½ litre Bentley,
refusing to adhere strictly to "W.O."'s assertion
that increasing displacement is always preferable to
forced induction. "W.O." believed that: "To
supercharge a Bentley engine was to pervert its design
and corrupt its performance."
When Bentley Motors refused to create the supercharged
model, Birkin determined to develop it himself.
Development
Birkin set-up his own engineering works for the purpose
of developing the car at Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.
With financial backing from Dorothy Paget, a wealthy
horse racing enthusiast financing the project after
his own money had run out, and technical help from Clive
Gallop, Birkin engaged supercharger specialist Amherst
Villiers. Mercedes-Benz had been using compressors for
a few years.
To be power developed, the 4½ Litre Bentley engine
had a distinct advantage. A single overhead camshaft
actuated four valves per cylinder, inclined at 30 degrees,
a technically advanced design at a time where most cars
used only two valves per cylinder. Secondly the cars
tanks - radiator, oil and petrol - had filler caps that
did not unscrew but were easily removed with one stroke
of a lever. This saved time during stops.
"W.O." refused to allow the engine to be modified
to incorporate the compressor. The huge Roots-type supercharger
("blower") was hence added in front of the
radiator, driven straight from the crankshaft. This
gave the Blower Bentley a unique and easily recognisable
profile, and exacerbating its understeer. A guard protected
the two carburetters located at the compressor intake.
Similar protection was used (both in the 4½ Litre
and the Blower) for the fuel tank at the rear, because
a flying stone punctured the 3 Litre of Frank Clement
and John Duff during the first 24 Hours of Le Mans,
possibly depriving them of victory. The crankshaft,
pistons and lubrication system were special to the Blower
engine.
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Star of the era: The 1929 Bentley hit a fantastic
137mph in 1931 - and is still going strong in 2012
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True classic: The same Bentley being raced
by Sir Henry 'Tiger Tim' Birkin in the early 1930s
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Production
The original No.1 had a taut canvas top stretched over
a lightweight Weymann aluminium frame, housing a two-seat
body. This presented a very light but still resistant
to wind structure. It was officially presented in 1929
at the British International Motor Show at Olympia,
London.
No.1 first appeared at the Essex six hour race at Brooklands
on 29 June 1929. However, the car initially proved to
be very unreliable. "W.O." had never accepted
the blower Bentley, but with effective company owner
and financial backer Barnato's support, Birkin persuaded
"W.O." to produce the fifty supercharged cars
necessary for the model to be accepted for Le Mans.
Racing
While the naturally aspirated 4½ Litre was noted
for its good reliability, the supercharged models were
generally not.
1929 - Birkin entered No.1 in a 500 miles (800
km) endurance race at Brooklands in 1929. However, during
the race its lightweight fabric two-seater body caught
fire due to a cracked exhaust. Earning itself the nickname
the 'Brooklands Battleship, as after putting the fire
out Birkin kept racing. Paget resultantly paid for No.1
to be re-bodied with a single aluminium shell by Reid
Railton, and painted in their racing red colour.
1930 Le Mans - The cars were too late for Le
Mans in 1929, hence Birkin's co-driving of the Speed
Six, and only two of the cars reached the start line
in 1930. After an epic duel between Dudley Benjafield
and Birkin's privately entered blower Bentleys, and
Rudolf Caracciola's Mercedes SSK, all three retired
leaving the victory to the Bentley works team Speed
Six of Barnato and Glen Kidston. Birkin's courage and
fearless driving, in particular his selflessly harrying
Caracciola into submission, are regarded as embodying
the true spirit of the Vintage Racing era.
1930 French Grand Prix - For 1930, motor sports
enthusiast Eugène Azemar, who was involved with
the Tourist Board in Saint-Gaudens in southern France,
succeeded in persuading the Automobile Club du Midi
to arrange a Grand Prix race in the region. Laying out
a triangular, Le Mans-type track, the circuit became
known as the Circuit de Morlaas.
Hopig to run the race to the International Formula,
when the response was poor the event was postponed and
changed to a Formula Libre event instead. The new date
meant that the Italian teams were unable to attend,
leaving it to be mostly an internal French affair with
sixteen Bugattis, two Peugeots and a Delage among the
twenty five starters. Among the top Bugatti drivers
were Louis Chiron, Marcel Lehoux, Count Stanislaw Czaykowski,
Jean-Pierre Wimille, Philippe Étancelin and William
Grover-Williams. No.1 was stripped down to racing trim,
with headlights and mudguards removed.
The race distance was twenty five laps of the 15.8 kilometres
(9.8 mi) track, making a total of 396 kilometres (246
mi). Guy Bouriat took an early lead, followed by Williams,
Zanelli, Czaikowski and Étancelin, with Birkin
as first non-Bugatti driver, in sixth place. Williams
in a works Bugatti then became the next leader. Czaikowski
fell back through the field and Bouriat in the other
works Bugatti made a pitstop giving over the car to
Chiron. Then Williams also had to make a stop for a
new wheel. That all made way for Étancelin to
advance and he was followed by Birkin, the track with
its long straights suiting the supercharged Bentley
perfectly.
At one-third distance Chiron led, followed by Étancelin,
Williams and Birkin. Birkin's fourth place became a
third as Williams got engine troubles but then Zanelli,
who had made an early stop, came rushing through the
field pushing Birkin back to fourth. At lap ten "Sabipa"
crashed and was thrown out of his Bugatti, Birkin only
avoiding the injured driver by the slightest of margins.
After eleven laps Chiron encountered problems with oil
pressure and Étancelin took over the lead. Soon
Chiron was also passed by Zanelli and Birkin. The Bentley
driver used the horn to warn the Bugatti to move over,
surely a unique occurrence in Grand Prix racing! With
seven laps to go Zanelli made another pitstop and Birkin
was up into second place. While Étancelin, with
a 2.5 minute lead, nursed his Bugatti Type 35 home to
take victory, Zanelli had not given up and was catching
Birkin fast. At the flag the margin was down to fourteen
seconds, but it was enough for Birkin and No.1 to make
Grand Prix history.
1931 - Bentley Motors withdrew from racing in
1930, and closed down the following year; they were
then purchased by Rolls-Royce Limited, who did not authorise
racing for a few years. Dorothy Paget withdrew her support
for Birkin's racing team in October 1930, but continued
to support Birkin's in No. 1.
In 1930, the Daily Herald offered a trophy for the fastest
driver at an event at Brooklands. The first year, Birkin
and Don Kaye competed in opposing Blower tourers, with
Kaye winning with a speed of 137.58 miles per hour (221.41
km/h). In 1932, Tim Birkin won driving his red Blower
"Monoposto," clocking 137.96 mph (222.03 km/h).
The track record stood for two years, before being beaten
by John Cobb driving the 24 litre Napier-Railton.
Birkins death
Birkin kept his motor workshop going for two years after
the withdrawal of Paget's financial support in 1930,
by entering into a partnership with Mike Couper. The
partnership developed a business specialising in tuning
high performance cars, but closed down together with
the works in 1932.
On 7 May 1933 Birkin started the Tripoli Grand Prix
in a new 3 L Maserati 8C owned by fellow driver Bernard
Rubin, finishing third. During his pit stop Birkin burnt
his arm badly against the hot exhaust pipe while picking
up a cigarette lighter. There are different opinions
of what then happened. The traditional view is that
the wound turned septic, whilst others say Birkin suffered
from a malaria attack. It was probably a combination
of both that proved fatal, and Birkin died at Countess
Carnavon Nursing Home, London on 22 June 1933.
Post-Birkin's death
In light of his penniless estate, the family sold off
most of his non-core assets, including No.1. In the
1970s, the car was bought by noted watchmaker and vintage
car collector George Daniels.
Present
George Daniels died in November 2011.
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George Daniels |
The late George Daniels' Birkin Blower Bentley leaves
his funeral service at Kirk Christ church in Lezayre
on Novenber 16, 2011. |
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This distingusihed car is now up for
auction by Bonhams at the Goodwood Festival of Speed
on June 29, 2012.
2012
Experts estimate the classic Bentley could fetch up
to £5million - making it the most expensive British-built
car ever sold publicly. It would smash the £3.5million
paid in 2007 for a 1904 Rolls-Royce, with inflation
adjustments making it around £4 million today.
About George Daniels
George Daniels CBE, DSc, FBHI, FSA (1926-2011) was one
of the few modern watchmakers who could conceive, design
and hand-make a complete watch from blank sheet of paper
to finished, ticking, utterly supreme timepiece. As
a specialist watchmaker, during his lifetime he created
fewer than 100 pocket watches and wristwatches, each
of which would typically involve 2,500 hours of work.
His love of engineering also led to his abiding interest
in fine motor cars and he accumulated an impressive
collection over the years. In 2010 he was awarded the
CBE, and he is the only watchmaker ever to receive the
honor of 'Master Watchmaker, for services to Horology'.
The jewel in the crown of the George Daniels Collection
is the ex-Sir Henry 'Tim' Birkin 1929-32 Bentley 4½-Liter
Supercharged Single-Seater which set the Brooklands
Outer Circuit Lap Record at more than 137mph in 1931.
Daniels once wrote that, "For all its inconvenience
it is a most exhilarating car to drive both on the road
and track."
George Daniels was a huge fan of the legendary 'Bentley
Boy' and 'tween-wars boy's hero 'Tim' Birkin, and enthusiastic
bidding is also expected for another Birkin car, the
1932 Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Long Chassis Touring Spider.
It formed part of the 1932 Le Mans Team Car entries
with Birkin sharing driving duties with his great friend
Earl Howe for the endurance race.
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