[2] In 1928 Birkin entered the Le Mans race again, leading the first twenty laps until a jammed wheel forced him to drop back, finishing fifth.

Ettore Bugatti once referred to the Bentley as "the world's fastest lorry" ("Le camion plus vite du monde").

Birkin set up his own engineering works for the purpose of developing the car at Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.

With financial backing from Dorothy Paget, a wealthy horse racing enthusiast financing the project after his own money had run out,[5][7] and technical help from Clive Gallop, Birkin engaged supercharger specialist Amherst Villiers.

[8][9] Secondly the cars tanks – radiator, oil and petrol – had filler caps that did not unscrew but were easily removed with one stroke of a lever.

[10] The original No.1 had a taut canvas top stretched over a lightweight Weymann aluminium frame, housing a two-seat body.

had never accepted the Blower Bentley, but with effective company owner and financial backer Barnato's support,[14] Birkin persuaded W.O.

In addition to these production cars built by Bentley Motors, Birkin put together a racing team of four remodelled prototypes plus a spare While the naturally aspirated 4½ Litre was noted for its good reliability, the supercharged models were generally not.

Paget resultantly paid for No.1 to be re-bodied with a single aluminium shell by Reid Railton, and painted in their racing red colour.

According to some, Birkin's courage and fearless driving, in particular his selflessly harrying Caracciola into submission, are regarded as embodying the true spirit of the vintage racing era.

[16] For 1930, motor sports enthusiast Eugène Azemar, who was involved with the Tourist Board in Saint-Gaudens in southern France, succeeded in persuading the Automobile Club du Midi to arrange a Grand Prix race in the region.

The new date meant that the Italian teams were unable to attend, leaving it to be mostly an internal French affair with sixteen Bugattis, two Peugeots and a Delage among the twenty five starters.

On 7 May 1933 Birkin started the Tripoli Grand Prix in a new 3 L Maserati 8C owned by fellow driver Bernard Rubin, finishing third.

During his pit stop Birkin burnt his arm badly against the hot exhaust pipe while picking up a cigarette lighter.

[1] It is a limited (12 units) version of 1930's Bentley Blower, built from the design drawings and tooling jigs used for the original four Blowers built and raced by Sir Henry 'Tim' Birkin in the late 1920s, which included Bentley's own Team Car (Chassis HB 3403, engine SM 3902, registration UU 5872 – Team Car #2).