This year’s Mille Miglia will have some truly iconic competitors. Bentley will be competing with two very unique four-and-a-half litre, supercharged “Blowers”.
One is a 1930s Le Mans race car belonging to the Bentley Boys while the other is a company demonstrator, which, after nine decades on the road, is still going strong.
The No. 2 Team Car – raced at Le Mans by Captain Tim Birkin – was brought by Bentley Motors in 2000 and has been regularly campaigned across the world by the company ever since. The car is perhaps best known for its epic duel with a 7-litre ‘Kompressor’ Mercedes (also supercharged) at Le Mans in 1930 with Birkin putting his off-side wheels on the grass as he completed a typically daring pass of his Mercedes opponent Rudolf Caracciola at 120 mph. The Blower immediately threw one of its rear tyre treads, but somehow Birkin carried on to set the fastest lap. Sadly, Birkin’s campaign ended after 82 laps but the immense pressure he applied to the Mercedes is wildly credited with assisting his fellow Bentley Boys Woolf Barnato and Glenn Kidston to win the race in their Bentley Speed Six.
The second Bentley Blower to take on Mille Miglia was completed in 1930 and is fitted with a beautiful Vanden Plas Open, Sports Four Seater body. It was owned by Bentley Motors as a customer demonstrator car before passing into private ownership. An early review praised it as “a car with the strongest possible individuality and it is certain that it is immensely likeable no matter what angle one may regard it”. It has over 100,000 miles on the clock. However, everyone at Bentley is confident the car will run for many, many years to come and will complete the 1,000 mile round-trip to and from Brescia.
