1930 Bentley Blower in Lego 1:8,5 (hood removed)

            My second project for this year is one that has been on my to do list for a long time: The 1930 Bentley 4.5 liter Le Mans car, driven by Sir Henry Birkin. I love the story of this car:
For many, the impressive “Blower” Bentley is the most iconic racing Bentley, forever linked to its driver, Sir Henry Birkin, a talented race driver at the time. Ironically, the 4 ½ Litre Supercharged Bentley was the least successful of all the Bentleys in competition; and founder W.O. Bentley bitterly opposed the development. But while it lasted, the 4 ½ Litre Supercharged went like a rocket, earning this Bentley many fans, including me.  

Bentley managed to win the famous Le Mans 24 hour race in 1927 and 1928. At that time the 4.5 litre car (without supercharger) from 1928 was not up to the task for the 1929 event anymore, as Alfa Romeo, Bugatti and Mercedes were getting faster and faster. Bentley had a simple solution: more displacement, and the official team was equipped with the famous Speed Six 6.5 litre cars. Birkin believed in a different solution based on the rise of the Mercedes SSK which was equipped with a supercharger. He hired an engineer and developed the “Blower”, funded by Dorothy Paget, a very rich and eccentric woman who was famous for racing horses. Paget who was interested in everything speedy was given a few driving lessons by Birkin, and got so enthusiastic she decided to sponsor the efforts of Birkin to achieve a secondary Bentley team. Without her this would never have happened. 

Despite the funding, the fabulous driving and the sheer speed and power of the “Blower” it was not successful enough. It had more horsepower then the official Speed Six cars, but was not reliable. The “Blower” had a few successes but after Bentley sold his company to Rolls Royce, the racing activities were stopped, and also Dorothy Paget stopped funding the secondary team. Birkin continued racing and won Le Mans in 1931 for Alfa Romeo. In 1933 he died in a London hospital after getting complications caused by an injury from a hot exhaust, aged 36. 

My Lego model of this fantastic car is scaled 1:8,5 and about 50 cm. It consists of around 4000 parts. 
It was a bit of a challenge to do everything in the official dark green, as this Lego color is not available for many parts I would have liked to use. Nevertheless, during the process it all fell together and has been very nice to build. 

The model is build-up like the real car with chassis riggers and body. The engine, gearbox, fuel tank and drivetrain are modeled accurately, and the hood can be removed. The passenger door can be opened. The driver side has no door, as the driver jumped in. Some parts are chromed, like the grille and I made a custom cover from a rubber sheet over the rear seats, as was also used during racing. 

Hope you like it!

Taken on: July 29, 2018

Tags:

Bentley

Blower

Birkin

Mans

Lego

Bricksonwheels

Supercharger

4.5

Litre

Dark

green « less

Sets appears in: • 2018-07 Bentley 4.5 Litre "Blower"in Lego (scaled 1:8,5)

Groups appears in: • LEGO • model cars more » • Eurobricks • Everything LEGO • LEGO-MANIA « less

Stats: 22,042 views / 1 comment

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