1929 Bentley Blower 1930 Le Mans Birkin/Chassagne in 1:18 scale
This is the 1929 Bentley Blower 1930 Le Mans Birkin/Chassagne in 1:18 scale by Amalgam.
The Bentley Blower is, for many, the iconic racing Bentley of the pre-war years. Ironically, the 4 ½ Litre Supercharged was the least successful of all the Cricklewood Bentleys in competition – and founder W.O. Bentley bitterly opposed its development. By 1928, it had become clear that the 4 ½ Litre was reaching the end of its development and that competitors were closing the gap fast on Bentley’s racing supremacy. W.O. Bentley believed the solution was simple: increase the engine capacity. However, Sir Henry (Tim) Birkin, one of the Bentley Boys, preferred the supercharging alternative, one that W.O. saw as ‘perverting the engine’s design and corrupt its performance’. Birkin convinced Bentley Chairman Woolf Barnato to overrule W.O. and approve the project. Only 55 of the 720 Bentley 4½ litres ever produced between 1927 and 1931 were Blowers, but this still complied with the minimum production run for competition racing. Funded by the wealthy heiress, the Hon. Dorothy Paget, Birkin put together a racing team of four remodelled "prototypes" (three road cars for Le Mans and Blower No.1, his original) and assembled a fifth car from spare parts. Birkin's blower Bentleys were too late for Le Mans in 1929 and only two of the cars reached the start line in 1930. Neither car reached the finish line, but it is widely considered that the Dudley Benjafield and Birkin privately entered Bentley Blowers’ relentless pursuit of the Rudolf Caracciola's Mercedes SSK paved the way for the victory to the Bentley works team Speed Six of Barnato and Glen Kidston. Despite this, many consider the Blower’s finest hour to have come in the 1930 French Grand Prix at Pau. Amid a field of Bugatti Grand Prix cars, Birkin wrestled the huge Bentley to a heroic second place in what was almost certainly the heaviest car ever entered in a grand prix, at over two tonnes.
The Bentley Blower is, for many, the iconic racing Bentley of the pre-war years. Ironically, the 4 ½ Litre Supercharged was the least successful of all the Cricklewood Bentleys in competition – and founder W.O. Bentley bitterly opposed its development. By 1928, it had become clear that the 4 ½ Litre was reaching the end of its development and that competitors were closing the gap fast on Bentley’s racing supremacy. W.O. Bentley believed the solution was simple: increase the engine capacity. However, Sir Henry (Tim) Birkin, one of the Bentley Boys, preferred the supercharging alternative, one that W.O. saw as ‘perverting the engine’s design and corrupt its performance’. Birkin convinced Bentley Chairman Woolf Barnato to overrule W.O. and approve the project. Only 55 of the 720 Bentley 4½ litres ever produced between 1927 and 1931 were Blowers, but this still complied with the minimum production run for competition racing. Funded by the wealthy heiress, the Hon. Dorothy Paget, Birkin put together a racing team of four remodelled "prototypes" (three road cars for Le Mans and Blower No.1, his original) and assembled a fifth car from spare parts. Birkin's blower Bentleys were too late for Le Mans in 1929 and only two of the cars reached the start line in 1930. Neither car reached the finish line, but it is widely considered that the Dudley Benjafield and Birkin privately entered Bentley Blowers’ relentless pursuit of the Rudolf Caracciola's Mercedes SSK paved the way for the victory to the Bentley works team Speed Six of Barnato and Glen Kidston. Despite this, many consider the Blower’s finest hour to have come in the 1930 French Grand Prix at Pau. Amid a field of Bugatti Grand Prix cars, Birkin wrestled the huge Bentley to a heroic second place in what was almost certainly the heaviest car ever entered in a grand prix, at over two tonnes.
- As 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
- Thousands of precisely engineered parts: castings, photo-etchings and CNC machined metal components
- Built using original CAD designs developed from a scan of an original car
- Original drawings, archive photographs and material specifications supplied by Bentley Motors
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