Bentley 4 ½ "Blower" '1926
The history of the Bentley company, founded in 1919 by the famous British engineer Walter Owen Bentley, is clearly divided into three stages: independent existence (1919-1931), as part of Rolls-Royce (1931-1998) and under the control of Volkswagen (1998-present) .). The most famous cars of this brand - the 3 Liter, 4 1/2 Liter and Speed Six models - were created in Cricklewood, London in the first ten years of the company. All of them were in line with Bentley's idea of a real sports car: fast, powerful, heavy, with a large engine and a luxurious interior. Such cars were equally suitable for both racing and everyday use, for which they were prized by wealthy British motorists. The company was supported by contributions from its wealthy fans known as the "Bentley Boys". Le Mans victories in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930 glorified Bentley cars all over the world.
Design Bentley 4 ½ "Blower"
The Bentley 4 1/2 Liter is a landmark British sports car that is reminiscent of the days when prestigious road cars won the race. Bentley legend of the 20s. created by wealthy aristocrats, who were united by "a love of carelessness, elegant tailoring and a thirst for speed."
These gentlemen, known as the "Bentley Boys", provided excellent publicity for expensive Bentley products with their races. Bentley himself was well aware that his company exists at the expense of competition, and when developing new models adhered to the proven principle of "there's no replacement for displacement". This meant that Bentley believed that the main way to increase the power of the engine was to increase its volume. As a result, the Bentley 4 1/2 Liter became even larger and heavier than its predecessor, for which Ettore Bugatti ironically called it "the fastest truck in the world."
Design Bentley 4 ½ "Blower"
In 1926, the luxury 6-cylinder 6 1/2 Liter model went on sale, and a year later, the sports Bentley 4 1/2 Liter was designed on its basis by removing two cylinders and reducing the wheelbase. Thus, both vehicles had a solid ladder frame with dependent front and rear suspension on semi-elliptical springs with friction dampers and mechanical drum brakes on all wheels. The all-cast iron 4-cylinder in-line 4-cylinder engine with a displacement of 4398 cm3 featured a very long stroke of aluminum pistons (140 mm with a cylinder bore of 100 mm) and was equipped with a single overhead camshaft driven by bevel gears, which controlled four valves located at an angle of 30 ° through rocker arms and tappets per cylinder. The engine also included two magneto with two spark plugs per cylinder, two SU carburetors, a dry sump and underbody protection.
Design Bentley 4 ½ "Blower"
The atmospheric Bentley 4 1/2 Liter developed 110 hp. in the serial version and 130 hp. in racing, so she was very fast despite weighing almost 1700 kg.
Driving was challenging due to the unsynchronized 4-speed manual transmission and the oversized steering wheel. Easy-to-open fuel and radiator caps and Rudge-Whitworth spoked wheels with a center nut made pit stop service much faster.
The 4-seater open body Le Mans Tourer from Vanden Plas was intended for both racing and city streets. It had three small doors (on the driver's side there was a deep cutout in the sidewall of the body and an external handbrake lever), a folding windshield and a simple fabric awning. The length of the wheelbase was 3300 mm, but on 8 copies it was shortened to 2980 mm.
Design Bentley 4 ½ "Blower"
Built for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Bentley 4 1/2 Liter prototype debuted in 1927 but failed to reach the finish line due to an accident. However, 1928 saw the victory of Wolf Barnato and Bernard Rubin in the atmospheric version; another crew finished 5th.
The following season, the team became the absolute leaders: Jack Dunphy, Dudley Benjafield and Frank Clement in their 4 1/2 Liter took the 2nd, 3rd and 4th places, respectively, after Barnato and Birkin in the Speed Six.
The achievements of the model at Le Mans ended there, but in other races it also showed good results, for example, in 1930 it took 2nd place in 500 miles of Brooklands. From 1927 to 1931 the company produced 720 Bentley 4 1/2 Liter units, including 55 "Blower" compressor units.
Design Bentley 4 ½ "Blower"
Ironically, the Bentley 4 1/2 Liter "Blower" rose to fame as one of the best race cars of all time without winning a single race.
In addition, Walter Owen Bentley himself has always opposed superchargers, preferring to increase power due to the volume of the cylinders. The idea for the "Blower" came from racing driver Tim Birkin, who suggested installing a compressor on a 4 1/2 Liter Bentley to make it more powerful than the huge Speed Six.
With the financial resources of the millionaire Dorothy Page, Birkin managed to implement the project and convince Bentley to build 55 of these machines for homologation at Le Mans.
Under the hood Bentley 4 ½ "Blower"
The first "Blower" was created in 1929 by Clive Gallop, Mike Cooper and Amherst Villiers. There was no room for the Roots supercharger under the hood of the production 4 1/2 Liter, so it was installed right in front of the radiator grill.
A compressor with two rotating blades was powered by the crankshaft and pumped the fuel mixture through the carburetors into the intake manifold.
Power increased to 175 hp. in road modification and 242 hp. in racing, but at the same time "Blower" at full speed consumed 4 liters of gasoline per minute.
The engine, supercharger and gas tank were protected with a metal mesh to prevent stones from entering (in 1925 at Le Mans, Frank Clement and John Duff in a Bentley 3 Liter got off the track due to a punctured gas tank).
Interior Bentley 4 ½ "Blower"
The list of Bentley compressor achievements is very short: 2nd place in the 1929 RAC Tourist Trophy, 2nd place in the 1930 French Grand Prix and the speed record in Brooklands - 222 km / h. In Le Mans, the model performed only in 1930, but both crews did not reach the finish line.
Thus, the Bentley "Blower" did not secure a single victory for the team, and due to its unreliability brought the company a bad name. Nevertheless, the Blower is the most valuable pre-war racing car today.
The Bentley 4 1/2 Liter "Blower" rose to fame as one of the finest race cars of all time without winning a single race.
Modification Bentley 4 1/2 Liter "Blower"
Manufacturer Bentley Motors Ltd
Body type Two-door phaeton
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Bentley 4 ½ "Blower" '1926
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