Article: Driving the Ex-Birkin Blower-4½ Single-Seater Bentley (Page 7 of 8)
Extract from: Motor Sport, by William Boddy, October 1973

 

 

Having assimilated all this, and found the starter button I was shown the little switch for an electric fan which I was to use if the water temperature got. to 90° C (it has a warning light) and told that of the two brass levers on the steering-wheel boss, one is inoperative and the other is the advance-and-retard which, once pushed up, could be ignored.

 

The body, although a single-seater, is off-set, so there is quite a lot of space on one's left. Here there is the electrical panel, with ignition switches, a boxed Smiths speedometer with mileometer, a hand-grip, and spare goggles hanging-up, etc. Behind the red bucket seat the bulkhead is in the original blue paint, with a Brooklands admission label and a carefully preserved Scrutineer's ticket mounted on it. Even now I have not exhausted the list, because the cockpit floor presents a battery master switch, a brake-adjuster knob, a long plug spanner, and a Firemaster Fury fire-extinguisher.

 

Rusty has made few concessions to road motoring, apart from the obvious items among those mentioned above and the front brake axle, and the brakes are still cable operated. Somewhat over-awed, I pressed out the clutch, which has very little movement and feels solid, pressed the starter button, eased in 1st gear with the outside gear-lever and prepared to go motoring! Being conscious that I was privileged to be driving a one-off, very valuable and quite irreplaceable car, and not wishing to write off both the Bentley and the Corniche in one big shunt, I drove very sedately.

 

There was no need for this, however, apart from caution, because the brakes work exceptionally well, the equal of today's hydraulic brakes, so that one is never conscious that there is nearly two tons of motor car to control from speeds which are deceptively fast, and it steers easily and rides very comfortably. That is one aspect of the single-seater. Do not imagine that it is in any way dull! Depress the central accelerator and things happen. The acceleration is exceptionally good, the response far better than that from most big-engined vintage sports cars, even in top gear, in which I satisfied myself that 3,200 r.p.m. comes up very easily indeed, without need to wait for special conditions or occasions, the Bentley running straight as an arrow.

 

The long polished brake-lever, outboard of the stubby gear-lever, is easy to reach and just about as effective as using the pedal. To lock its ratchet you pull it back and with the other hand reach down and depress a small catch. The gear-change, once it is realised that only a touch of throttle is needed when double-declutching from top into 3rd, the clutch-stop very effective, is quite easy to accomplish, while the upward change from 2nd into 3rd is one of the most satisfying I have experienced—I found I would snatch my way into second at the approach of a traffic roundabout simply for the sheer pleasure of going back into third! The lever then moves just as nicely into top, but the movement is deceptively short.

 

Looking ahead over the exciting bonnet, I was not really aware of the length of tail behind me; but in traffic it is reassuring to know that it does not overhang the chassis and that a n/s rear-view mirror gives a reasonable view behind. The typical tangy note from the Brooklands exhaust system on the n/s, the other fascinating noises as the needle of the blower gauge swept towards "12", and the great waves of heat which soon engulfed me, the cockpit Side against which the silencer nestles like an oven, added to the excitement of this memorable drive. No wonder passers by look with clearly-expressed interest at one's swift passage! Traffic was heavy on the hot August day but the Bentley intended for Brooklands proved entirely manageable. The steering does not kick, so that a hand can be nonchalantly lifted to drop or raise one's goggles and there is truly nothing much to do other than change gear and get on with it. I had been instructed either to open or shut the throttle and not to trail it as part throttle soots the plugs. So, on these congested roads it was mostly a case of bursts of exhilarating acceleration, accompanied by the roar of the engine and crackle of the exhaust, or slowing under the influence of the brakes with their big, deeply ribbed drums. . . . Towards the end of the run, when a traffic jam brought me to rest, the heat did rise towards 90° and I duly switched-in the fan. Otherwise, no drama. But it was very satisfying and I am indebted to the Bentley's owner for the experience. I have now tried two of the Brooklands lap-record cars, as the Hon. Patrick Lindsay allowed me to briefly sample the Napier-Railton at Silverstone. . . .

 

After we had gone to lunch in the Corniche, we chatted about the history and the resuscitation of this historic racing car. It is an enormous tribute to Russ-Turner how much of it is still original. The one-piece body was found in a field and re-painted, deliberately leaving its battle scars on the panels. Incidentally, it bears the original maker's plate. As I have said, Caffyns saved the original radiator cowl, but the bonnet was beyond repair. The No. 1 engine is still in the car, with the prototype Villiers blower and the original twin 2-in. SUs. Even the aero-screen Birkin looked through is there, although Rusty says sadly that he does not know how much longer the strip of oak on which it is mounted will stay put.

 

The Bentley is now on 7.00 x. 17 Dunlops and although Russ-Turner has the original very heavy nose-piece of the 2.56-to-1 axle, he now uses a Speed Six axle with a 3.0-to-1 ratio. This gives 30 m.p.h. per 1,000 r.p.m. in top gear. At Brooklands Birkin could rely on a theoretical 139.12 m.p.h. at 4,000 r.p.m. (off the bankings he probably saw 4,200 = 145 m.p.h.). When he races the car Rusty keeps to a maximum of 3,500 r.p.m. and tries not to spin it in the wet (it once came within inches of damaging itself on the Maggots sleepers at Silverstone in an uncontrollable gyration due to a burst o/s rear tyre). To be competitive it would need to be geared 26 m.p.h. per 1,000 but, even so, it can clock around 82 sec. for the Silverstone Club circuit.

 

 

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