Goodwood Festival of Speed: Vintage Bentley sells for £5 million

Goodwood Festival of Speed: Vintage Bentley sells for £5 million

At the beginning of March I blogged about an upcoming automobile auction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in which an historic 1929 Bentley 4½-litre "Blower" built and raced by my personal hero Sir Henry 'Tim' Birkin was expected to become the most expensive Bentley ever sold.  Well I can report that not only did it succeed, at £5,000,000, in smashing the previous record of £2,800,000 paid for the 1929 Speed Six Bentley "Old Number 2", but it also becomes the most expensive British car sold at auction.  I hope whoever bought it values it for more than just the money he paid for it and that it can be kept in Britain and shown for generations to come.

All images courtesy of Supercars.net

Bonhams have produced a wonderful video of the Bentley, found at the top of this post, that perfectly captures the majesty of this magnificent race car and the heroism of the man who created and drove it to record speeds.  It is all the more welcome since so little footage exists of 'Tim' Birkin himself.  His autobiography Full Throttle is, as I have said before and will say again, well worth hunting down.

The sale of this significant racer at the world-renowned Goodwood Festival of Speed marks a high point in the British motor racing schedule - with the Grand Prix at Silverstone pending and of course the Revival back at Goodwood in September.  The latter I hope one day to be able to attend - the ultimate Mecca for a vintage motoring enthusiast!

I'm given to wonder what 'Tim' Birkin would have made of today's motor racing scene.  He was vociferously scathing about Brooklands, a fact which he devotes a large portion of his autobiography to, but only due to unswerving patriotism.  (The chapters he devotes to England's racing woes of the time is a masterclass in apologetic criticism).  We look at [what's left of] Brooklands today relishing and marvelling at what went on there 80+ years ago but as Birkin makes clear by the early 1930s it was no longer suitable for the cars that were raced on it.  Birkin deplored the lack of a more modern track (so I think he would be pleased with the proliferation of race circuits today - a legacy of the Second World War, many of them evolving from disused airfields) and, as the Thirties progressed, a British car with which to race - Bentley having withdrawn from all forms of motorsport upon their acquisition by Rolls-Royce in 1931.  His own career reached a nadir in 1931 when he was forced to drive an Alfa Romeo in order to win at Le Mans, an achievement made all the more bitter when he received a congratulatory telegram from Mussolini claiming it "a win for Italy".

I think 'Tim' would have been happy, if a little bemused, to see his beloved "Brooklands Battleship" still running and still creating such a thrill today, at such an incredible price.  It is truly a piece of British history and if it helps to keep the marque Bentley, and 'Tim' Birkin's fantastic achievements, in the public's consciousness (or at least this member of the public's consciousness!) then it is worth every penny.

1929 Bentley 4½ Litre Supercharged set to be the most expensive Bentley ever

Image courtesy of Supercars.net

1929 Bentley 4½ Litre Supercharged set to be the most expensive Bentley ever

One of the cars driven by a true hero of mine (and not just as a racing driver) is due to go to auction at Goodwood during the Festival Of Speed in June, according to these reports.

source

Sir Henry 'Tim' Birkin was one of the famous "Bentley Boys" who drove during the golden age of motor racing and which included such daredevil sophisticates as South African diamond magnate 'Woolf' Barnato, record-breaking aviator Glen Kidston and pearl-collector Bernard Rubin among many others.  The life stories of all these men would fill many books, but it is Birkin on whom I shall focus the attention of this post.

Twice winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, first in 1929 and again in 1931, Birkin's name has remained inexorably linked to Bentley Motors.  His racing escapades are the stuff of legend and if you can track down his autobiography Full Throttle I heartily recommend you read it.

A 1948 edition, the spread otherwise identical to my '34 edition

(I was fortunate enough about 10 years ago to obtain a 1950s reprint through an inter-library loan from Maidstone, Kent, after first reading about Birkin in an article from Autocar.  So enthralled was I that I wrote to the journalist asking if he would point me in the direction of a bookshop that might have a copy to buy - it being rare and out of print for many years.  Imagine my surprise when the very next week he used his Autocar column to plead for a copy for me!  A splendid old boy who lived literally around the corner from me responded saying that I could have his 1934 fourth edition for free and I spent a lovely hour chatting with him about the early years of motorsport and his hobby of marshalling at GPs in the '50s where he saw the likes of Fangio and Moss race.  I will always fondly remember the wonderful concatenation of events that led to my coming in to possession of that book!).  Full Throttle was also made into a 60-minute drama for the B.B.C. in 1995, with Rowan Atkinson as Birkin.  To the best of my knowledge it has never been repeated and although available on DVD is, like the book, almost impossible to track down.  I was extremely fortunate to record the original broadcast and then later transfer it to disc.  

Birkin raced extensively for Bentley at such tracks as Le Mans, Ulster and Brooklands, which is where in 1932 he set a lap record of 137mph in Monoposto - the very car that will be auctioned later this year.  Fiercely patriotic (a fact that readily comes across in his autobiography) Birkin was always keen to push to the limit of his cars and beyond.  W.O. Bentley himself noted that there was "nobody before or since who could tear up a piece of machinery so swiftly and completely as Tim."  However Bentley would go on to say that "he [Tim] was a magnificent driver, absolutely without fear and with an iron determination who - while there was anything left of his car - continued to drive it flat out and with only one end in view."

Birkin (left) with Woolf Barnato
source

Outside of racing Birkin was every inch the playboy, living in a Mayfair flat in an area that became known as "Bentley Corner" due to the high density of Bentley drivers living locally.  W.O. Bentley recalled that "he [Tim] lived equally furiously off the track, his fondness for the dramatic and unexpected having surprising and often excruciatingly funny results.  Life was never dull with Tim around, if only because of the abundance and wide variety of his girlfriends."  (Birkin was married once between 1921 and 1927, and had two daughters).  Birkin himself was very self-deprecating and wrote little about himself in his autobiography, stating that "I have very seldom spoken in public; it bores me as much as my audience, I cannot remember what I was going to say, and when I can, forget how to say it; nor is my confusion aided by a stammer.  If this information disappoints my younger readers, if they had pictured me as tall and broad and clear-cut, barking out instructions in a voice like a knife, I am heartily sorry; I am quite small, and I do stammer."  As befitted a man of his social stature, though, he dressed well as can be seen in the few contemporary photographs that exist of him out of overalls.

His characteristic polka dot tie has become known as the "Birkin Spot" and Bentley, keen to cash in on its heritage, continues to offer accessories in this style.  The silk cravat and bow tie, not to mention flying helmet and goggles, are still available from the Bentley Collection but at prices only the likes of Tim could afford.  Of course, if you can stretch to a Bentley and want the authentic Winged B emblem on your clothing then you're probably not going to baulk at the cost but if your steed is more lawnmower than Bentley Blower I can point you to some more affordable equivalents that would still allow you to satisfy the inner Bentley Boy (or Girl).

Spotted silk bow tie, £16 from Darcy Clothing (Navy/White currently unavailable)

The Bentley bow may boast a Petersham adjuster and foulard silk but for my money the examples at Darcy Clothing are the equal of it, and for almost half the price!

John Comfort Classic Polka Dot silk cravat, £20 from Country Clothing

Likewise the official Bentley cravat may have top-quality folded silk and the exclusive Birkin Spot, but this John Comfort Classic from Country Clothing is a decent alternative.

Spotted silk scarf, £24 from Darcy Clothing

In one of his few notes about clothing, Birkin states "I cling to idiosyncrasies of dress, and should not like to drive without my blue and white scarf, or the crash helmet with my old St. Christopher in it, that I have had since 1927."  So it's surprising to see that the Bentley Collection [currently] doesn't include a polka dot scarf.  Luckily, Darcy Clothing does.

Leather flying/driving helmet £56, goggles £54 from Darcy Clothing

Finally, no racing driver would be complete without helmet and goggles.  While you are undoubtedly paying for the brand provenance with those in the Bentley Collection, the ones available at Darcy Clothing look to be no poor relation even at less than half the price.

Will 1929 ‘Birkin’ Bentley Fetch $6 Million at Auction?

Tim Birkin in the single-seat Blower Bentley, Brooklands 1932

As it happens it was the 4½-litre Supercharged Bentley that created something of a rift between Bentley and Birkin.  W.O. was entirely against supercharging his engines, being of the opinion that "to supercharge a Bentley engine was to pervert its design and corrupt its performance" and that it "was against all my engineering principles."  Birkin remained convinced that it was the better way to obtain more power from an engine (as opposed to Bentley's preference which was to increase the displacement).  Birkin struck out on his own and, with racehorse owner and philanthropist Dorothy Paget, co-financed the building of five "Blower" Bentleys before convincing Woolf Barnato (who was by that time Chairman and de facto owner of Bentley Motors) to build a run of 50 in order for the model to be eligible for Le Mans.  Going up against German driver Rudolf Carraciola in the supercharged 7-litre Mercedes SSK the 1930 event has gone down in the annals of racing history as an epic race, with Birkin in one of two Blowers harrying the Mercedes until it retired - at the cost of both his cars - allowing the remaining Speed Six Bentleys to win.

1929-'32 Bentley Poised To Become Most Expensive Bentley Sold at Auction

Image courtesy of Supercars.net

Despite W.O. Bentley's scathing opinion and the fact that it never won a race due to its mechanical fragility, the racing pedigree surrounding this model has led to it becoming the most sought-after and valuable Bentley in the history of the company, of which this particular example may soon become the most expensive ever sold.

Months Before Auction, a 1929 Bentley Strikes an Aristocratic Pose in Midtown

Image couresy of Supercars.net

Like many of his contemporaries, 'Tim' Birkin lived fast and died young.  By 1933 Bentley had been taken over by Rolls-Royce and no longer raced.  Birkin, already practically bankrupt from funding the Blower, was forced to race for Alfa Romeo and later Maserati.  It was while driving the latter at the Tripoli Grand Prix in 1933 that, in a moment of absentmindedness he reached for his cigarette lighter and burnt his arm on the open side exhaust of his car, thinking that he was still in his beloved Bentley.  He played the injury down, to such an extent that it turned septic.  This combined with a flare-up of malaria, which he had first contracted during the First World War when he served with the RFC (RAF) in the Middle East, left him seriously ill and he died in London on the 22nd June 1933 aged thirty-seven.

The Legacy of Sir Tim Birkin.  Taken at Brooklands in 2007 by yours truly

Thankfully the exploits and achievements of Tim and his colleagues are still remembered to this day, thanks in no small part to the continued existence of the cars they drove.  It will be worth every penny of whatever this Bentley ends up going for if it helps to propagate the thrilling escapades of Sir Henry 'Tim' Birkin.

Flying on four wheels - the best of the classic aero-engined monsters

Bespoke Bentley that rewrites the rules of giant cars

Image from The Daily Telegraph

Inspired by the above article and with the feeling that I ought to blog about something really masculine to counterbalance recent posts featuring women's fashion I thought I'd gather together some of my favourite examples of "giant cars" - vehicles old (and new) that are powered by aeroplane engines.

1909 "Blitzen Benz"

The 1909 Blitzen Benz was not actually powered by an aeroplane engine, but rather a development of Mercedes' grand prix engine at the time.  The aim was to build a car that could exceed 200km/h (124mph), for no other reason than to see if it could be done, one supposes.  The standard in-line 4-cylinder 150hp racing engine (and remember, this is 1909, over 100 years ago!) was found to be unequal to the task, however, so Mercedes did the usual thing when an engine was not powerful enough for the job - they increased the displacement.  To 21½-litres.  That's right - twenty-one point five litres.  Power jumped to 200hp at 1,600rpm  (a modern Ford Focus 1.6 develops its full 180bhp at 5,700rpm) and on the 9th November 1909 at the Brooklands race circuit, a Blitzen Benz set a new record of 202km/h (126mph) over 1km.  Then two years later at Daytona Beach another one was clocked at 228km/h (141mph) over 1 mile, a record that stood for 8 years.  A total of six Blitzen Benzes were built with many of them surviving to this day and one can be seen at the Mercedes Benz World museum at Brooklands in Surrey. 



1924 Fiat Mefistofele

Another monster that began life as a grand prix car, this time a 1908 Fiat with an original displacement of 18 litres, which you'd think would be big enough as it is.  When that engine exploded in 1922 (quite spectacularly, according to contemporary reports) the car passed into the ownership of one Ernest Eldridge.  He promptly replaced the shattered 18-litre engine with an in-line 6-cylinder Fiat aeroplane engine of 21.7-litres capacity, more normally found in airships and heavy bombers.  This was then modified further, resulting in power increasing from an already heady 260hp to a scarcely believable 320hp, again at the ridiculously low rpm of 1,800.  Despite weighing 2 tons and with no front brakes, Mefistofele hit 146mph on the 12th July 1926 taking the world speed record at the time.  Fiat bought Mefistofele from the descendants of Eldridge in the late 1980s and it is now in their Turin museum, with occasional guest appearances elsewhere.



1921-1927 Chitty Bang Bang

A series of four cars that inspired the well-known story of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, all owned by a Count Louis Zborowski.  The exact source of the car's name is unknown, it was either an onomatopoeic appellation taken from the noise of the car's engine or it was based on a bawdy First World War song.

Regardless of how the name came about, Chitty Bang Bang began life in 1921 as a Mercedes-based race car fitted with a 23-litre Maybach in-line 6-cylinder aeroplane engine.  In this configuration it eventually achieved a top speed of 120mph (190km/h).  The second Chitty was slightly smaller both in length and engine size, making do with an 18.8-litre Benz aero engine; the third incarnation was similarly equipped and lapped Brooklands at 112mph.

The fourth car to bear the name went all-out with a 27-litre V12 Liberty aero engine of 450hp and a gearbox and chain-drive taken from one of the Blitzen Benzes.  After Zborowski's death this car was bought by Welsh racing driver and land speed record holder John Godfrey "J.G." Parry-Thomas who renamed it "Babs" and on the 28th April 1926 used it to take the world land speed record at Pendine Sands in Wales with a speed of over 170mph (270km/h).  A year later on the 3rd March 1927, after the record was broken again by Malcolm Campbell, Parry-Thomas attempted to reclaim the title but was killed in the attempt.  The car was wrecked and later buried in the sand.  It remained there for almost 40 years before eventually being recovered and restored (not without difficulty considering the terrible condition it was in) during the 1960s/70s; it is now shared between the Pendine Museum of Speed and Brooklands.



1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Merlin

Starting out as a standard 1931 Phantom II this particular example was modified to accept a 27-litre V12 Rolls-Royce Merlin engine (of Spitfire fame) some time in the 1970s.  Restored in the 2000s it recently sold at auction for $410,000 (£263,500).  With an estimated 1,100hp on tap performance was described as "unbelievable" and on one occasion this 1931 Rolls-Royce was able to out-accelerate a 1958 grand prix car!

1933 Napier-Railton and 1968 Napier-Bentley

The 1933 Napier-Railton was built especially for racing driver John Cobb by renowned automotive engineer Reid Railton (what a name!); both men would later work together on the land-speed record-beating Railton Special.

The Napier-Railton had a 23.9-litre W12 Napier Lion aeroplane engine and put out more than 500hp.  At the Brooklands track in 1935 Cobb set a lap record of 143mph (231km/h), a mark that stands to this day.  Theoretically capable of a maximum speed of 168mph, the Napier-Railton has been in the possession of the Brooklands Museum since 1997.

The Napier-Bentley was built as an homage to the Napier-Railton in 1968, originally based on a Sunbeam but later rebuilt using a Bentley chassis.  It uses the same engine as the Railton and so has practically the same performance but is in private hands, although it makes frequent appearances at Brooklands and elsewhere.  (I have been lucky enough to see both in action at the Brooklands Centenary celebrations back in 2007 - or was it 1937?).



1953 Swandean Special

Built by a man called Michael Wilcock of Worthing in Surrey out of two army Daimler scout cars and a 27-litre V12 Merlin engine bought from a scrapheap for £50, this took part in several time trials up and down the country, once being clocked at 150mph - in third gear!  Fitted with a supercharger it reputedly made 1,600hp at 3,000rpm.  Later made its way through several American collectors before being restored to pristine condition in time for the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

2010 Packard-Bentley "Mavis"

Obviously not satisfied with owning the aforementioned 24-litre Napier-Bentley, automotive enthusiast Chris Williams has since built a successor to that car and one that fully deserves the title of "monster".  Again, not really an aeroplane engine, but rather a variant of a Packard V12 42-litre engine in marine form taken from a Second World War PT boat.  With fifteen hundred brake horsepower and 2,000lb ft (2,700Nm) of torque, nothing can come close to this imposing beast.  It's a wonder the 1930 Bentley 8-litre chassis can handle it, even with all the modifications it has had to have.  You might want to turn the volume down (or up, if you're so inclined) a bit for this one, it's LOUD! 



1925 BMW "Brutus" Experimentalfahrzeug

Well, perhaps almost nothing can touch "Mavis" (oo-er missus!).  Meet Brutus.  Wouldn't they make a lovely couple?(!).

After its defeat in 1918 and the signing of the Versailles Treaty a year later Germany was not allowed to produce armed aircraft, which meant a lot of surplus aero engines lying about.  Nothing was mentioned in the treaty about cars (except of the armoured variety) however, so BMW took one of its redundant V12s and plonked it on to a 1908 American-LaFrance racing chassis.  With 46-litres and 12-cylinders the result is 740hp and the ability to do 60mph at 800rpm (about where your car idles).



I was going to include the bespoke aero-engined land speed record cars like the Railton Special, the Golden Arrow and Malcolm Campbell's various Blue Birds but I think I've gone on for far too long, so I'll save them for another time.  As it is I've got an urge to don some white overalls, leather hat and goggles and tinker about with some big-engined cars.  Vroom-vroom!

Bentley Mulsanne picture gallery

Bentley Mulsanne picture gallery

As a long-time fan of Bentley motor cars, I was greatly looking forward to seeing the new Arnage replacement when it was due to be unveiled at Pebble Beach, California back in August. So, when I first clapped eyes on it, I was... ambivalent. I desperately wanted to like it but, like many people I'm sure, I found the front end at first rather... challenging, shall we say.

However, I'm pleased to say that in my particular case has been very much a "grower" inasmuch as the more I see it the more I like it. In particular I can appreciate more what they have tried to do with the styling; those round headlights mounted in the wings, either side of the large honeycomb grille, the hint of a bustle-back in the boot lid - they have created a visual link to the classic Bentleys of the '20s and early '30s. It just took me a little while to see it and I now feel that Bentley have successfully married a forward-looking, advanced design with a nod to their illustrious past. More pictures, in a higher resolution, can be found here.

Bentley unveils world's most luxurious charity bus

Bentley renovates London Routemaster double-decker bus for St Luke hospice

Bentleys are amongst my favourite make of motor car, and I've always had a soft spot for Routemaster buses too. So what better than a Bentley Routemaster, of sorts? What is even more delightful is that it is all for charity, so plenty of well-deserving people will benefit too. St Lukes does sterling work without a doubt, and it comes as no surprise to me that a company of Bentley's pedigree and ethos should be involved in such a venture. The kind of story which is full of happy aspects. Hats off to the chaps at Crewe for such a splendid effort.