"Bentley Motors Parade Lap before the race at Le Mans 2019"

Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, August 2015

Mille Miglia, May 2015

Read article 'British Speed in Italy: Bentley marks anniversary with Mille Miglia Run'.

Mille Miglia, May 2015

1930 Bentley 4½ Litre Supercharged
Charlesworth Richard - Grundhoff Stefan

Classic Drives: 1929 & 1930 Blower Bentleys
June 7, 2012 - By Ian Adcock (Photos by Nick Dimbleby/Bentley)

The Mille Miglia is, arguably, the greatest classic car event in the motoring calendar: two and a half days and 1000 miles through some of Italy's most stunning scenery, including visits to Verona, Padua, the Republic of San Marino, Rome, Sienna, Bologna and Modena before returning to the start/finish line at Brescia.

It is also uniquely Italian.

No other nation has a love affair with cars like the Italians. Men, women, young and old throng the roads hoping to catch a glimpse of the contestants and their machinery and when that is a pair of Blower Bentleys dating back more than 80 years they are drawn to them like moths to a flame. I've never had my photograph taken so often or, bizarrely, signed so many autographs as I did during this year's event.

Bentley being Bentley didn't ferry their precious Blowers down on a truck, we drove them the near 1000 miles from the UK to Brescia. Both cars easily held their own at a steady 80-90 mph on motorways across France and into Switzerland before crossing into Italy.

Following them in a W-12 Continental GT coupe I was surprised that even in the confines of the air-conditioned cabin, and trailing them by 100 yards, how their distinctive exhaust notes could be heard: the 1929 Team car, No. 9, with its fishtail exhaust a deeper, bassier note than the 1930 car with its standard exhaust.

Famously, W.O. Bentley disapproved of the Amherst Villiers supercharged engines that Tim Birkin used in the Dorothy Paget sponsored cars, believing that the route to extra power lay through increased capacity rather than forced induction. He did, however, relent on the condition that Birkin would follow team orders in the 1930 Le Mans race.

Bentley's biggest rivals for that year's event were the fearsomely quick Mercedes-Benz SSKs. Also supercharged the difference was that the driver's switched the blower on and off like an afterburner, whereas the Bentley's was permanently engaged. Birkin set off as the hare, setting a searing pace which would gradually grind the SSK's into submission. Number 9 lasted for 18 hours before it too failed, leaving the way open for Barnato and Kidston to claim Bentley's sixth victory and fifth as a works team.

GH6951 is one of 50 road cars built to satisfy homologation rules of the time riding on a 130-in. chassis. This one is, in fact, the 17th built with a standard Vanden Plas touring coachwork. It was also Bentley Motor's London showroom demonstrator before it was sold into private ownership in 1931. Bentley acquired the car at the Festival of Speed for £414,000 ($646,000) and have completely restored it, including a new fabric body and rebuilt the ash frame where needed.

Weighing in at some 3858 lb. it's a hefty car to be powered by only 175 bhp at 3500 rpm with 9-psi boost, yet it will still reach three figures (just about), if pushed and given a long enough time to get there.

Number 9, the Birkin team car, was probably the most valuable car on the event. Although Bentley refuses to disclose how much they paid the late Victor Gauntlett for it in 2000 it was likely to be well north of seven figures. It differs visually from the homologation cars with a chassis that's 12.5 in. shorter, narrower bodywork and cycle style wings. A stronger crank allows boost to be upped to 10 psi increasing power to 240 bhp at 4200 rpm. That's sufficient for a 120-ish top speed, enough for Birkin to set a new Le Mans lap record in 1930 of a remarkable, for then, 89.696 mph.

As valuable as these cars are, I was instructed by Andrew Day, president of the Bentley Drivers Club, and later echoed by head of Bentley's Heritage Collection, Richard Charlesworth, to treat the cars firmly and with respect. Being gentle just doesn't work with vast drum brakes and non-synchro gear boxes: as with the 8-Litre I drove last year you need to double de-clutch on the way up the gearbox and down, but this time with a hefty boot on the throttle to bringup the revs. Try to ease the right-hand located lever through the ratios just results in gears clashing like some angry mechanical beast chewing on them.

The most challenging change on both cars was 2nd to 3rd, in both directions, but because the engines rev so slowly and have such a wide spread of torque they will pull away in 3rd gear from as low as 1000 rpm, although it can be like a steam train grinding its way up a long gradient. Once momentum is gained, both cars were surprisingly easy to pilot, the Birkin car the nimbler, if that word can be used with cars this big and heavy.

Both cars force you to re-evaluate your driving style, demanding that you read the road ahead and plan your manoeuvres. Late braking and turn-ins are a strict no-no, as they would simply understeer into oblivion; brake well in advance in a straight line and be prepared to muscle that large diameter, thin rimmed steering wheel through the corners.

Electrical gremlins, centred around modern fuel pumps, blighted both cars during the event, more so the Birkin car, so much so that Charlesworth and I were the last to officially finish this year's event. The final indignity being a blown fuse within sight of the finishing ramp in Brescia, by which time our support crew had long gone. Fortunately we managed to jury-rig a spare fuse and Old Number 9 limped over the line at nearly 2 a.m. on the Sunday morning.

Little wonder then that the first I knew of the magnitude 6.0 earthquake that hit the region in the early hours of that morning was when I went for breakfast and saw images on the local television news.

Bentley at the Mille Miglia, May 2012

In Abu Dhabi at the Bentley Customer Drive Show.

Canary Wharf Expo, June 2010

This car is in the list of 'participants' at the Schloss Bensberg Concours 2009, Germany — September 25-26, 2009.

Goodwood Revival Meeting on September 21, 2008.

Watch video here.

This car is the 17th of 50 road-going Blower Bentleys. Completed in August 1930 and sporting a Vanden Plas four-seat tourer body, it was Bentley's official demonstration car in London. Bought back by Bentley at the 1997 Goodwood Festival of Speed, it was restored at Elmdown Engineering in 2000.

As we blast along hedge-lined roads near Bentley's factory (where the car now resides) in Crewe, England, our pilot is Ulrich Eichhorn, Bentley's head of engineering. The 4398-cc four-cylinder roars as Eichhorn shouts over the wind and engine noise, pointing out tht car's unique traits. One of these is the "normal" pedal placement, with the gas pedal to the far right. Most Blowers had the gas pedal mounted between the clutch and brake pedals.

Depending on revs and boost settings, the engine delivers about 180 hp. The Amherst Villiers-designed supercharger is located in front of the imposing radiator. Full boost arrives at 3900 rpm, and the big Bentley easily maintains a steady 80 mph.

The ride is more comfortable than you'd imagine. The 117.5-inch whcelbase soaks up most bumps and transmits only the occasional jolt to the cabin. Eichhorn powers the car through sweeping turns, the 21-inch Dunlop tires chirp, and the worm-and-roller steering keeps the huge green hood stretching before us pointed in the right direction. "Can you imagine driving this car at Le Mans for 24 hours?" yells Eichhorn, before punching the gas pedal again.

Bentley 4½ Litre in "Clarkson: Shoot-Out", Documentary, 2003

Photographs were taken during 2001 Mille Miglia race.

"My name is Mike Griffith and I found this newsletter very interesting as I had attended last years' Mille Miglia in Brescia and much to my surprise and excitement, saw my late Father's Blower Bentley GH 6951 entered into the event with another one. He and his good friend Bill Hardy shared ownership of it back in 1945/6/7 until we emigrated to then Southern Rhodesia. Thereafter, it remained in the sole ownership of Bill until he died and was sold at auction through his estate to Eddie Sharr the newspaper man. He later sold it again at auction to the current owners who took it to the 2012 Milli Miglia.

The last time I remember being in it was with Bill taking my Father and me for a spin along the Hogs back in Surrey in 1984 when Father came over to visit me. I remember Bill telling me that they found it in an orchard and from memory, gave the owner at the time £140 for it. Not bad for something that is probably priceless today!!

Father raced it mostly up Hill Climb events and I have rather a nice shot of him at Prescott in 1946 which hangs in my office at home. I've seen it at the Goodwood Revival before and I know that Crewe take it to global events from time to time. Out of interest, I've been meaning to contact Crewe for some time as I have a few other old pictures (above) from back in the 40s.

I trust you may find this interesting and please keep me in the loop with your news letters which I find most interesting."

Read article 'Blown Away' here.

"This car appears, driven by Jack Lambert (in his first film appearance), the the 1931 film "A Honeymoon Adventure". This is available on DVD as Disc 2 of The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection Volume 9.

Jack Lambert plays the chauffeur to Benita Hume. There's some rather hairy cornering, and I think that the car clips a wall. It gets stolen by Harold Huth at Craigenlarich (the real Crianlarich) station, where Huth pursues the train that Benita has got onto, heading back to Glasgow.

There's even a splendid broadside skid into another station.

The car certainly wasn't mollycoddled in this film!"

1930: Tim Birkin persuades the Hon. Dorothy Paget to finance the manufacture of a 4½ Litre supercharged Bentley. The Blower Bentley has a supercharger driven off the crankshaft.

The first 25 production Supercharged 4½ Litre cars where Chassis Nos. SM3901-SM3925, all with "smooth-case" blowers. The next 25 were Chassis Nos. MS3926-MS3950 and had "rib-case" blowers.

Production Blower Bentleys had handbrake handles made from rectangular stainless steel, whereas the five 4½ litre race cars for Tim Birkin had the "H" section handle, but were drilled for lightness.