Tag Archives: Supercharged

Recreation Racer – Peterson Supercharged 6.5 litre Road Racer

Tucked away in deepest Devon Peterson Engineering is a globally respected purveyor of hand made components for vintage Bentley cars.

Bentley Mk VI, Peterson SC Special, Goodwood Revival

The rural business run by Bob Peterson also has a fine reputation for restoring, rebuilding and recreating vintage Bentley Motor Cars.

Bentley Mk VI, Peterson SC Special, Goodwood Revival

Today’s featured Peterson Supercharged 6.5 litre Road Racer is a recreation of the famous methanol burning red Bentley Blower Tim Birkin drove at Brooklands from 1929 to 1932.

Bentley Mk VI, Peterson SC Special, Goodwood Revival

This car like many Petersen Specials relies on a 400 hp 6.5 litre 406.5 cui supercharged 8 cylinder Rolls Royce motor for power in place of the donor cars original 6 cylinder normally aspirated Bentley motor.

Bentley Mk VI, Peterson SC Special, Goodwood Revival

Like last Sunday’s Blue Velvet Special the Peterson Special is built around a Bentley Mk VI chassis in this case one of the last delivered in 1953.

Bentley Mk VI, Peterson SC Special, Goodwood Revival

Along with, Limited Slip Differential (LSD), dual circuit hydraulic disc brakes and fully adjustable suspension the Petersen Supercharged 6.5 litre Road Racer is fitted with Dunlop Racing tyres.

Thanks for joining me on this “Receation Racer” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Forced Induction Push – Bentley 4 1/2 litre #DS3573

Following the disappointments of it’s Le Mans appearances from 1925 to 1926, after the success with the 3 litre / 183 cui cars in 1924 Bentley employed his maxim ‘there is no substitute for cubic inches’ to his new prototype Le Mans challenger, known as “Old Mother Gun”, for 1927 by fitting it with a 4 1/2 litre / 319.5 cui motor.

Bentley 4 1/2 litre, Brooklands Double 12

During the 1927 running of the endurance classic there was a six car pileup involving five of the leading cars; two Théophile Schneiders, an Ariés two three litre Bentleys and the 4 1/2 litre Old Mother Gun which Leslie Callingham rolled into a ditch having chosen to avoid a head on collision.

Bentley 4 1/2 litre, Brooklands Double 12

With the 4 1/2 litre car out of the running the race was won by the 3 litre Bentley of Dr. Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis, the last car to arrive at the scene of the accident, after repairs had been effected that included the judicious use of string to hold one of the front wings and the team used a pocket torch to replace the damaged head light !

Bentley 4 1/2 litre, Brooklands Double 12

“Old Mother Gun” was subsequently repaired and Woolf Barnato driving with Bernard Rubin came out winners of the 1928 Le Mans 24 hours after a race long duel with the more powerful 8 cylinder Stutz DV16 Blackhawk driven by F Éduoard Brisson and Robert Bloch.

Bentley 4 1/2 litre, Brooklands Double 12

By this time Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin” who shared the forth placed 4 1/2 litre Bentley with Jean Chassagne at Le Mans in 1928 was convinced the way forward was to build light cars with super chargers. With the tacit agreement of Bentley’s chairman Woolf Barnato and independent finance from Dorothy Paget. Birkin set about building 55 supercharged four cylinder 4 1/2 litre Bentley’s, commonly referred to as Blower Bentleys, against the wishes of designer W.O. Bentley who simultaneously built a new Speed Six model for 1929 complete with straight six cylinder 6 1/2 litre 396.5 cui motor.

Bentley 4 1/2 litre, Brooklands Double 12

Such was W.O. Bentley’s opposition to the idea of supercharging, which had been tried on a 3 litre Bentley built 1926/7, that he refused to countenance the modification of the Bentley 4 1/2 litre motor in any way that would allow Birkin to mount the supercharger along side the 4 cylinder block with the result that the only place the superchager could be fitted was ahead of the front axle line so that it could be driven from the front of the crankshaft.

Bentley 4 1/2 litre, Brooklands Double 12

This mounting position and it’s attendant weight adversely affect the cars propensity to understeer / push where as the new Speed Six had all the weight of it’s motive power mounted between the axles.

Bentley 4 1/2 litre, Brooklands Double 12

Ironically the Speed Six model was ready before the Blower Bentley and Tim Birkin shared a Speed Six, known as Old Number One, with Woolf Barnato to easily win the 1929 Le Mans 24 hours ahead of three unsupercharged 4 1/2 litre Bentley’s.

Bentley 4 1/2 litre, Brooklands Double 12

The Bentley Blowers were ready for 1930 and three cars were entered by the Hon. Miss Dorothy Paget, including one for Sir Tim co driving with Jean Chassagne in the 1930 Le Mans 24 hours, but none were running at the finish. Woolf Barnato now sharing the Speed Six Old Number One with Glen Kidston meanwhile led home a Speed Six one two finish. Strategically playing the hare for the highly fancied supercharged 7.1 litre / 433 cui Mercedes Benz of Rudolf Caracciola and Christian Werner to catch and forcing the German car to run at a faster pace than would have been ideal, Birkins Bentley Blower contribute to the Mercedes Benz premature retirement and indirectly to Barnato and Kidston’s victory.

Bentley 4 1/2 litre, Brooklands Double 12

At the end of 1930 Dorothy Paget withdrew her support for Birkin’s Blowers and in 1931 despite 4 consecutive Le Mans Wins and 5 wins since 1923 Bentley was forced to sell out to Rolls Royce. This however was not quite the end of the Bentley Blower story as a special single seater Blower Bentley that Birkin has built in 1929, chassis HB3402 was just hitting it’s stride at Brooklands leaving the lap record at 137.96 mph in 1932.

Bentley 4 1/2 litre, Brooklands Double 12

In 1931 Sir Tim returned to Le Mans to co drive Lord Howe’s Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM and together they became the first drivers to win the 24 hour race with a supercharged car comfortably beating the much larger supercharged 7.1 litre Mercedes Benz SSK driven by Boris Ivanowski and Henri Stoffel by seven laps.

Today’s featured car looks and sounds like a Bentley Blower, but was supplied new in 1929 to Sir L.Lyle with a saloon / sedan body by HJ Mulliner with an unsupercharged 4 1/2 litre motor. The car was rebuilt with an open tourer body as seen today in 1973 when #DS3573 competed in the Scottish Weekend Whit Rally with flying colours.

The supercharger appears to have been first seen on chassis #DS3573 in 2005. Just after these photo’s were taken at Brooklands last year, five time Le Mans winner, Derek Bell drove the car at the Le Mans Classic with owner Martin Overington supported by a three man pit crew, comprising three ex service men injured in combat, on behalf of the Misson Motorsport charity.

Thanks for joining me on this “Forced Induction Push” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” which happens to be the 1000th GALPOT posting. My thanks to all those who have contributed and stayed with me on this journey, especially those who have liked and spread the word on their social media pages. I hope you will join me for the first of the next 1000 GALPOT posts again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Aim Sure – MG PA Supercharged Sports #P 0522

Len Miller an aviator who lied his way into the RAF in 1942 by telling them he was a plumber, rather than reserved occupation marine engineer, purchased today’s featured MG PA, after meeting Guy Gibson, leader of the ‘dam busters’, in 1943 who drove an MG J2.

MG PA, Race Retro

Len used to ferry his six crew mates, one on each corner one on the bonnet and one in the passenger seat across the airfield out to his 15 Squadron, motto “Aim Sure”, Lancaster Bomber during the 1939 – ’45 war.

MG PA, Race Retro

In 1944 Len had to eject from his Lancaster at 20,000 ft, he lost and regained consciousness in time to open his parachute and landed well behind enemy lines in Germany.

MG PA, Race Retro

His one man escape through Germany, occupied France into neural Switzerland is documented in the book “Bomber Squadron, the men who flew with 15 Squadron”.

MG PA, Race Retro

Many years later this car was damaged after a roof collapsed across the radiator and bonnet during the Great Storm of 1987 on the night of the 15th/16th October 1987.

MG PA, Race Retro

Repairs started a restoration which included replacing the cracked engine block, and the original seats with the Collingburn seats.

MG PA, Race Retro

Soon after the restoration was completed the motor was fitted with a side mounted Arnott supercharger.

MG PA, Race Retro

Len kept today’s featured car, which still bears 15 Squadron decals on the rear mudguards / fenders, for 59 years until his death in 2002. It fetched £36,500 at the Race Retro Silverstone Auction soon after it was photographed for this blog.

Thanks for joining me on the “Aim Sure” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”. I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Sub 7 Second Family ? – Chevrolet Corvette C1

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After a thrilling Aarrons 499 in April ’09, my friends Throttleneckracing and Checkeredflagstilettos kindly took me back to Atlanta and put me up in a hotel using TNR’s loyalty points and we had a great meal at a local Cracker Barrel.

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That night my head still buzzing from a combination of jet lag, 3 days of Alabama sunshine and hundreds of laps of 200 mph racing action I found my self watching drag racing for the first time on the Speed Channel.

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Despite the fact I was physically exhausted, I was enthralled and fully engaged mentally by the sight of earth shaking top fuel drag cars spitting flames a good 10 to 20 feet into the air.

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A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I met Drag Racer Chris ‘Backdraft’ Hartnell on a Bristol Pegasus Motor Club trip to Race Retro at Stoneleigh and such was his enthusiasm for the sport I am determined to go and see a drag race at Shakespeare County Raceway this year.

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If I am lucky I hope to catch site of this outrageous pro modified Corvette C1 run by Ian Hanson and his family team comprising his wife Pauline son Richard, brother Colin, sister in law Karen and nephew Tom.

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Chris tells me that Ian’s car has this outsize magneto to deliver charge to the spark plugs in place of a battery which would be run flat by the electrical requirements of this humongous motor.

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The blurb on Ian’s motor read something like “8860cc / 540 cui all alloy New Century Chevrolet Big Block, with forged Arias pistons, Brooks alloy rods, Howards billet crank, and Aviade dry sump oil system that is hiding behind an Enderie ‘Big & Ugly’ injector hat and fuel system with an 8/71 Teflon Stage 4 Littlefield Supercharger”.

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Last year Ian set a new Supercharged Outlaws UK et record of 7.29 seconds over a distance of 402 meters.

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The record was set with the engine in a ‘mild state of tune’ producing around 1,700 (Seventeen Hundred) hp !

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This year Ian will be turning up the boost a little further…

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and attempt to cover the 402 meters in under 7 seconds.

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I am sure you will join me in wishing Ian all the best, with a little luck I’ll be there to see it, with a bit more luck I might just have time to take a photograph.

Thanks for joining me on today’s ‘mild state of tune’ edition of ‘Gettin a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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