Bentley 4½ Litre

Infobox Automobile
name=Bentley 4½ Litre


aka=Blower Bentley (supercharged model)
manufacturer=Bentley
production=1926–1930
(supercharged model from 1929)
720 produced
class=Sports car
predecessor=3 Litre
engine=4.4 L I4
4.4 L supercharged I4
designer=Walter Owen Bentley
wheelbase=117½ in (2984 mm)
130 in (3302 mm)The Bentley 4½ Litre is a British sports car built by Bentley Motors. Its supercharged variant is also known as the Blower Bentley. Famous for his statement "there's no replacement for displacement", Walter Owen Bentley upped the displacement of the Bentley 3 Litre in 1926 to produce the 4½ Litre. Upon taking control of the company, the "Bentley Boys" went in search of even more power and developed the supercharged model in 1929 at Henry Birkin's racing workshops in Welwyn Garden City.

4½ Litre

The 4½ Litre was an evolution of the 3 Litre, sharing that car's basic chassis, including its semi-elliptical suspension at all four wheels and 4-wheel brakes. The straight-4 engine was bored out to 100 mm (3.9 in) to produce 4.4 L (4398 cc/268 in³) of displacement. This was good for 110 hp (82 kW) in road-going models or 130 hp (97 kW) when tweaked for racing.

A 4½ Litre Bentley claimed victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1928 with drivers, Woolf Barnato and Bernard Rubin.

This is the car author Ian Fleming first chose for James Bond. It is featured in three of the 007 Novels, "Casino Royale", "Live and Let Die" and "Moonraker". In the book, Bond drives a battleship grey 1930 4½ Litre Convertible Coupé, with French Marchal headlamps and an Amherst Villiers supercharger.

4½ Litre Supercharged ("Blower Bentley")

Although W. O. Bentley despised forced induction, his "Bentley Boys", and especially Henry "Tim" Birkin, wanted to supercharge the engine for more power. When the company ran out of money in 1925, millionaire Bentley Boy, Woolf Barnato bought the company, and in 1929 the first supercharged 'Blower' Bentley was built at Sir Henry Birkin's engineering works in Welwyn Garden City.

Barnato quickly authorised the building of 50 production Blowers in order to meet the qualification requirements for entering such models at Le Mans the following year. The large Roots type supercharger was placed outside the engine cover, giving the cars a unique appearance. With 175 hp (130 kW) on tap, expectations for racing success were high, but durability was lacking and the Blowers never won a major race. In the end, it was W. O. Bentley's larger-displacement 6½ Litre car that would secure victories for the marque in 1929 and 1930.

The supercharged engine had a huge thirst: the non-supercharged version, at Auto mph|100, would have a fuel consumption of about 16 l/100 km (15 mpg) while the supercharged version would use about 102 l/100 km (2.3 mpg).

Birkin's famous red single seater Blower, built and maintained at his Welwyn Garden City works, took the Brooklands Outer Circuit lap record to convert|137.96|mi/h|km/h|2|abbr=on in 1932. The record stood for another two years before being beaten by John Cobb's 24 litre Napier Railton.

Production

* Naturally-aspirated: 665
* Supercharged: 55

Gallery

4½ Litre gallery

4½ Litre Supercharged (Blower Bentley) gallery