The ‘Birkin Blower’, one of the most famous racing Bentleys of all time, will take to the Experience & Demonstration Track at Flywheel as part of the 100 Years of Le Mans category on 17-18 June.
Preserved and maintained by the factory and arguably the crowning car of the heritage fleet, ‘UU 5872’ set Bentley on course for Le Mans victory against the might and money of Mercedes in 1930.
Supercharging wasn’t necessarily the course founder WO Bentley wanted to follow, but without it his firm’s history in the world’s greatest race in the world would have been greatly reduced.
Instead it was championed by Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin, who through his benefactor Dorothy Paget tasked Amherst Villiers to give his 4½ Litre a bit more power.
The Blower is remarkably original and the basis of the Continuation cars that have followed. Yet its actual Le Mans record is one of failure – both its own race and, most crucially, that of the race-favourite Mercedes-Benz of Rudi Carracciola.
It’s failure actually denied Birkin a Le Mans hat-trick, having won as a Bentley Boy with Woolf Barnato in 1929 and Earl Howe’s privateer Alfa Romeo in 1931.
Bentley has owned the ‘Blower’ since 2000 and has in recent years reduced its outings to help preserve it. To see it on track at a site that would have been its contemporary, should be unmissable.
Flywheel is returns to Bicester Heritage after a five-year absence and will celebrate the history of our home, from military vehicles and planes, including the Bristol Blenheim, to automotive stars.