"1929 Bentley Blower" - 1930 Le Mans - Birkin & Chassagne

"1929 Bentley Blower" - 1930 Le Mans - Birkin & ChassagneAs raced by Sir Henry (Tim) Birkin and Jean Chassagne in the 24 Hours of Le Mans at Circuit de la Sarthe on the 21st and 22nd of June 1930 1: 18 scale model, over 24 cms 9 inches long Each model hand built and assembled by a small team of craftsmen Made using the finest quality materials Over 800 hours to develop the model Precisely engineered parts: castings, photo etchings and CNC machined metal components Built using original CAD designs developed

The Fastest Car of its Day

No other pre-war Bentley had an impact like the supercharged 4 ½ litre ‘Blower’ Bentley. While it never won an endurance race, the Blower Bentley was the outright fastest race car of the day, born from a philosophy devised by Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin, notable racing driver and Bentley Boy, to extract more speed from the racing Bentleys of the day using a supercharger. Birkin then persuaded Bentley Chairman Woolf Barnato to sanction production of 55 supercharged 4 ½ litre Bentleys, with five allocated for competition.

Today, the Blower Bentley is the most iconic pre-war Bentley and is coveted by collectors globally. For many, the 4 ½ litre is to automobiles what the Supermarine Spitfire is to aircraft, as much an icon as it is an engineering marvel. Examples are regularly auctioned for millions, whilst an example sold in 2012 fetched over $7,000,000. Counted amongst its fans was the author Ian Fleming, who later decided that his famous fictional secret agent James Bond would drive a supercharged 4 ½ litre Bentley in the novels Casino Royale, Live and Let Die and Moonraker.

The ‘Blower’ is born

The Blower engine started life as the naturally aspirated 4 ½ litre engine, designed by WO Bentley himself. Like Bentley’s three litre before it, the 4 ½ litre brought together the latest individual engine technologies of the time – a single overhead camshaft, twin-spark ignition, four valves per cylinder and, of course, Bentley’s now legendary aluminium pistons. The racing version of WO’s 4 ½ litre engine developed approximately 130 bhp, but Birkin wanted more. WO’s focus was always on reliability and refinement ahead of absolute power, so his solution to finding more power was always to increase engine capacity. Birkin had a different plan: to supercharge the 4 ½, an idea that WO thought ‘corrupted’ his design, and he refused to allow any modifications to the engine itself.

With funding from his wealthy financier Dorothy Paget, and the technical skills of Clive Gallop, Birkin commissioned supercharger specialist Amherst Villiers to create a supercharger for the 4 ½ litre. The Roots-type supercharger – colloquially known as a blower – was fitted ahead of the engine and radiator and driven directly from the crankshaft. Internal modifications to the engine included a new, stronger crankshaft, reinforced connecting rods, and a modified oil system.

Record Breaking

In racing tune, Birkin’s new supercharged 4 ½ litre engine was mighty, outputting around 240 bhp. The ‘Blower Bentleys’ were therefore extremely fast but, as WO predicted, also somewhat fragile. Over the 12 races that the Blowers contested, a victory was never secured, but the Blowers played their part in Bentley history, including helping to secure victory for a naturally-aspirated Bentley Speed Six at Le Mans in 1930.

Though the cars were ultimately not for winning races, they were ones for breaking records and setting fastest laps, flying round the tracks of England and France. In 1930, the No. 9 Bentley Blower, driven by D.J. Benjafield and Eddie Hall, came 2nd in the BRDC 500 mile event, averaging 112.12 mph, and being awarded the coveted Brooklands 120 mph badge. Tim Birkin also set a lap record at Circuit de la Sarthe driving the No. 9 in 1930.

The Bentley Boys

Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin

Dressed in a blue and white spotted silk scarf around his neck and sporting a neatly trimmed moustache, Sir Henry was every inch the British sporting hero. An ex-fighter pilot and baronet, he was driven by a passion for speed and famously persuaded the wealthy heiress Dorothy Paget to finance a team of 4 ½ litre Bentleys, known as the ‘Blowers’. Ultimately too fragile for endurance racing, the ‘Blowers’ were unbeatable in sprints with Birkin at the wheel, culminating in a speed record at Brooklands of 137.96mph in 1932. Birkin also celebrated two outright victories at Le Mans: his first in 1929 with Woolf Barnato behind the wheel of a Bentley Speed Six, and his second with Earl Howe piloting a Alfa Romeo 8C in 1931.

Jean Chassagne

Involved in automotive, aviation, and motorboat racing since 1906, Chassagne began as a riding mechanic before taking the wheel himself. At 47, he joined the ‘Bentley Boys,’ and any doubts about “Old Chassagne” being past his prime were swiftly dispelled at the 1929 Le Mans. There, the Frenchman ran three miles while carrying two pit jacks to retrieve his Bentley, which had suffered a rim collapse and had been abandoned at Arnage by teammate Birkin. His heroic effort secured a fifth-place finish for the duo and highlighted why he was held in the highest regard and affection by his peers. Meticulous, resilient, and amiable, Chassagne possessed a delicate driving touch to complement his loyal and unpretentious nature.

24 Hours of Le Mans, 21st and 22nd of June 1930

In the hands of Sir “Tim” Birkin and Jean Chassagne, the No. 9 was involved in an epic duel with the Mercedes-Benz SSK piloted by Rudolf Caracciola and Christian Werner. The SSK started strongly in the bright sunshine but, by the fourth lap, Birkin was on Caracciola’s tail at the Pontlieue curves. Accelerating to 195 km/h, he passed the Mercedes as they braked heavily for the Mulsanne corner, continuing on to set a new lap record of 6 minutes 48 seconds. On the next lap, however, the tread came off a rear tyre and forced him to pit for a rapid wheel change. Birkin quickly rejoined the race and caught up with the Mercedes again, but as he passed Caracciola on the Mulsanne Straight, the other tyre failed. Despite dropping two wheels off the road, he completed the pass, only for the tyre to blow at Arnage, prompting another pit stop. By nightfall, after five separate tyre failures, Birkin and Chassagne were running seventh. However, their pressure on the Mercedes soon became clear, the SSK retiring at the halfway point with a flat battery after a wire had come loose on its dynamo. The second half of the race devolved into a routine procession, with early morning mist and rain dampening the excitement. Just before midday, four hours from the end of the race, the Blower broke a conrod and had to retire, leaving the victory to the Bentley works team Speed Six of Woolf Barnato and Glen Kidston. Birkin’s fearless driving, especially his selfless harrying of Caracciola, is still celebrated as the embodiment of the Vintage Racing era, and is often credited as the key to Bentley’s success at the 1930 Le Mans.

In 2019, Bentley revealed that the 1929 supercharged 4 ½ litre “Blower” would become the subject of the world’s first continuation of a pre-war race car, with 12 new models to be built to the exact specifications of the originals, one for each race the original Team Blowers competed in. These cars were individually handcrafted by Bentley’s bespoking and coachwork division Mulliner, blending traditional craftsmanship skills with the latest digital technology. Bentley’s own Blower, chassis number HB 3403, served as the template; it was disassembled and individual components were catalogued and meticulously scanned in 3D to create a complete digital model. Twelve sets of parts were then created using original 1920s moulds and tooling jigs, and an array of traditional hand tools alongside the latest manufacturing technology, before Bentley’s skilled heritage technicians assembled the new Blowers. Identical mechanically, aesthetically and spiritually wherever possible to the original, the cars included minimal hidden modifications to pass modern safety tests. Like the original Blowers, the Continuation Series models were designed for racing and passed a rigorous inspection programme to qualify for an Historic Technical Passport, allowing them to compete at FIA-sanctioned events for historic vehicles. In 2023, Car Zero, the prototype continuation model, participated in the Le Mans Classic, marking the first Blower entry at Circuit de la Sarthe in 21 years.

This fine 1:18 scale model is a perfect replica of the No. 9 Bentley 4½ litre which competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 21 and 22 June 1930. It has been handcrafted and finished in our workshops with the co-operation and assistance of the manufacturer regarding original finishes, materials, archive imagery and drawings. The use of original CAD and supremely accurate digital scanning of the original car has allowed us to perfectly recreate every detail at scale. Furthermore, the prototype model has undergone detailed scrutiny by the manufacturer’s engineering and design teams to ensure complete accuracy of representation.

Note: This is a 'Kerbside' model and does not feature any moving parts.