Henry Birkin
Encyclopedia
Sir Henry Ralph Stanley "Tim" Birkin, 3rd Baronet (26 July 1896 – 22 June 1933) was a British
racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys
" of the 1920s.
family in 1896. He was the son of Sir Thomas Stanley Birkin, 2nd Bt. and Hon. Margaret Diana Hopetoun Chetwynd. In childhood, Henry Birkin gained the nickname "Tim", after the children's comic book character Tiger Tim, created by Julius Stafford Baker, who was extremely popular at the time. The nickname stuck right up to Birkin's death.
He married Audrey Clara Lilian Latham, daughter of Sir Thomas Paul Latham, 1st Bt. and Florence Clara Walley, on 12 July 1921. They were divorced in 1928.
He and Audrey had two daughters, Pamela and Sara, both of whom married and had issue. The elder daughter Pamela (d. 1983) married two Buxton cousins in succession, and her second husband was the Life Peer
Baron Buxton of Alsa, KCVO, MC
. She had seven children including wildlife film-maker Cindy Buxton
. The younger daughter Sara (d. 1976) married twice, and had two sons by her first husband..
At his death, without sons of his own, in 1933, he was succeeded by his next surviving paternal uncle Sir Alexander Russell Birkin, 3rd Baronet (d. 1942).
His younger brother, Archie Birkin
, was killed during practice for the 1927 Isle of Man TT
motorcycle races.
during World War I
and gained the rank of Lieutenant in the service of the 108th (Norfolk and Suffolk Yeoman) Field Brigade, serving in Palestine
where he contracted malaria
, a disease from which he would suffer for the rest of his life.
. Business and family pressure then forced him to retire from the tracks until 1927 when he entered a three litre Bentley for a six hour race. For 1928 he acquired a 4½ litre car and after some good results decided to return to motor racing, very much against his family's wishes. Soon the little Bentley driver, racing with a blue and white spotted silk scarf around his neck, would be a familiar sight on the race tracks driving with the works team (the "Bentley Boys"). 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.
The next year he was back as winner, racing the "Speed Six
" as co-driver to Woolf Barnato
. If Bentley wanted a more powerful car he developed a bigger model and the Speed Six was a huge car. Ettore Bugatti
once referred to the Bentley as "the world's fastest lorry" ("Le camion plus vite du monde"). Back in 1928 however, Birkin had come to the conclusion that the future lay in getting more power from a lighter model by fitting a supercharger
to the 4½ litre Bentley. When Bentley Motors refused to create the supercharged model Birkin sought he determined to develop it himself. With technical help from Clive Gallop and supercharger specialist Amherst Villiers
, and with Dorothy Paget
financing the project after his own money had run out, Birkin rebuilt the car at the engineering works he had set up for the purpose at Welwyn Garden City
in Hertfordshire. Adding a huge Roots-type supercharger
("blower") in front of the radiator driven straight from the crankshaft
gave the car a unique appearance. The 242 bhp "blower Bentley
" was born.
The blower Bentley first appeared at the Essex
six hour race at Brooklands
on 29 June 1929. However, the car initially proved to be very unreliable. W.O. Bentley himself had never accepted the blower Bentley. Nevertheless, with Wolf Barnato's support, Birkin persuaded "W.O." to produce the fifty supercharged cars necessary for the model to be accepted for the Le Mans twenty four hour race
. In addition to these production cars built by Bentley Motors, Birkin put together a racing team of four remodelled "prototypes" (three road cars for Le Mans and a track car for Brooklands) and assembled a fifth car from spare parts. Birkin's blower Bentleys were too late for Le Mans in 1929 and only two of the cars reached the start line in 1930. After an epic duel between Dudley Benjafield
and Birkin's privately entered blower Bentleys and Rudolf Caracciola
's Mercedes SSK all three retired, leaving the victory to the Bentley works team Speed Six of Barnato and Glen Kidston
. 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.
Back in 1925 the energetic 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. A great success, the Saint-Gaudens track later got the honor of hosting the 1928 French Grand Prix. If they can, so can we, thought the city council in the nearby town of Pau and decided to try to take the French Grand Prix to their own town. Pau had some Grand Prix traditions, as the town held the honour of arranging the first race ever to be called a Grand Prix back in 1901. For the 1930 Grand Prix a triangular, Le Mans
-type track outside the city was selected. Known as the Circuit de Morlaas it should not be confused with the well-known street track in the Parque Beaumont. The French had hoped to run the race to the International Formula, but when the response was poor the event was postponed and changed to a Formula Libre
event instead. The new date meant that the Italian teams were unable to attend, leaving it to be mostly an internal French affair with sixteen Bugatti
s, two Peugeot
s and a Delage
among the twenty five starters. Among the top Bugatti drivers were Louis Chiron
, Marcel Lehoux
, Count Stanislas Czaikowski, Jean-Pierre Wimille
, Philippe Étancelin
and William Grover-Williams
.
A curiosity in the largely single-seat entry list was Tim Birkin's blower Bentley touring car, stripped down to racing trim, with headlights and mudguards removed. The race distance was twenty five laps of the 15.8 km track, making a total of 396 km. Guy Bouriat took an early lead, followed by Williams, Zanelli, Czaikowski and Étancelin, with Birkin as first non-Bugatti driver, in sixth place. Williams in a works Bugatti then became the next leader. Czaikowski fell back through the field and Bouriat in the other works Bugatti made a pitstop giving over the car to Chiron. Then Williams also had to make a stop for a new wheel. That all made way for Étancelin to advance and he was followed by Birkin, the track with its long straights suiting the supercharged Bentley perfectly.
At one-third distance Chiron led, followed by Étancelin, Williams and Birkin. Birkin's fourth place became a third as Williams got engine troubles but then Zanelli, who had made an early stop, came rushing through the field pushing Birkin back to fourth. At lap ten "Sabipa" crashed and was thrown out of his Bugatti, Birkin only avoiding the injured driver by the slightest of margins. After eleven laps Chiron encountered problems with oil pressure and Étancelin took over the lead. Soon Chiron was also passed by Zanelli and Birkin. The Bentley driver used the horn to warn the Bugatti to move over, surely a unique occurrence in Grand Prix racing! With seven laps to go Zanelli made another pitstop and Birkin was up into second place. While Étancelin, with a 2.5 minute lead, nursed his Bugatti home to take victory, Zanelli had not given up and was catching Birkin fast. At the flag the margin was down to fourteen seconds but it was enough for the British Bentley driver to make Grand Prix history.
withdrew her support for Birkin's road team in October 1930. She continued however to support Birkin's red single seater track car, the original Blower number 1. The car had been re-bodied with a single shell by Reid Railton after it's lightweight fabric two seater body had caught fire in the 1929 500 mile race due to a cracked exhaust ( nicknamed the Brooklands Battleship ). Birkin kept his motor workshop going by entering into a partnership with Mike Couper and developing a business specialising in tuning high performance cars. In addition, an "electric model Brooklands" -- an elaborate miniature racetrack game with motorized cars running on single rails—was manufactured at the works. Birkin's partnership with Couper came to an end in 1932 however and the works closed.
Birkin continued racing despite these setbacks. In 1931 he won Le Mans with Earl Howe
in an Alfa Romeo, even receiving a telegram from Mussolini congratulating him on his "win for Italy". On the 24th March 1932 he raised the Brooklands Outer Circuit lap record to 137.96 mph in the Brooklands Battleship, a record which stood for another two years before being beaten by John Cobb driving the 24 litre Napier Railton. On 7 May 1933 he 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. There are different opinions of what then happened. The traditional view is that the wound turned septic whilst others say Birkin suffered from a malaria attack. It was probably a combination of both that proved fatal, as Birkin died at Countess Carnavon Nursing Home in London 22 June 1933.
in the role of Birkin.
In 2000, the last 54 of the Arnage Green label (BMW)
powered cars were created as a limited edition, called "The Birkin Arnage." German
aftermarket tuner MTM
have latterly produced a tuned version of the Bentley Continental GT
called "The Birkin Edition," producing 641 hp.
Birkin House, a Victorian country guest house in Stinsford
, Dorchester, is named after Birkin.
The artist Terence Cuneo unveiled his painting The 'Spirit of Brooklands,' which shows Tim Birkin racing John Cobb as the result of a wager, three laps of Brooklands to win. Cobb drove a ten and a half litre Delage, once holder of the land speed record, and Birkin his four and a half supercharged Bentley, the 'Brooklands Battleship.' The higher top speed of the Bentley gave Birkin the edge over the distance, and the painting depicts Birkin on the outside line of the high banking edging past Cobb to win. The actual race had taken place in in the August Bank Holiday of 1932, and Birkin had won by 25 yards after a third lap at 137 mph.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys
Bentley Boys
The Bentley Boys were a group of wealthy British motorists who drove Bentley sports cars to victory in the 1920s and kept the marque's reputation for high performance alive...
" of the 1920s.
Background and family
He was born into a wealthy NottinghamNottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
family in 1896. He was the son of Sir Thomas Stanley Birkin, 2nd Bt. and Hon. Margaret Diana Hopetoun Chetwynd. In childhood, Henry Birkin gained the nickname "Tim", after the children's comic book character Tiger Tim, created by Julius Stafford Baker, who was extremely popular at the time. The nickname stuck right up to Birkin's death.
He married Audrey Clara Lilian Latham, daughter of Sir Thomas Paul Latham, 1st Bt. and Florence Clara Walley, on 12 July 1921. They were divorced in 1928.
He and Audrey had two daughters, Pamela and Sara, both of whom married and had issue. The elder daughter Pamela (d. 1983) married two Buxton cousins in succession, and her second husband was the Life Peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
Baron Buxton of Alsa, KCVO, MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
. She had seven children including wildlife film-maker Cindy Buxton
Cindy Buxton
-External links:*...
. The younger daughter Sara (d. 1976) married twice, and had two sons by her first husband..
At his death, without sons of his own, in 1933, he was succeeded by his next surviving paternal uncle Sir Alexander Russell Birkin, 3rd Baronet (d. 1942).
His younger brother, Archie Birkin
Archie Birkin
Charles Archibald Cecil "Archie" Birkin was a British motorcycle racer, brother of Tim Birkin, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s.-Background and family:...
, was killed during practice for the 1927 Isle of Man TT
1927 Isle of Man TT
The 1927 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy saw more changes occur with a fatal accident during practice to Archie Birkin, a brother to Tim Birkin of the Bentley Boys fame. The corner in Kirk Michael where the accident occurred was renamed Birkins Bend and from 1928 practice sessions were held on...
motorcycle races.
Military career
He joined the Royal Flying CorpsRoyal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and gained the rank of Lieutenant in the service of the 108th (Norfolk and Suffolk Yeoman) Field Brigade, serving in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
where he contracted malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, a disease from which he would suffer for the rest of his life.
Racing career
In 1921 he turned to motor racing, competing a few races at BrooklandsBrooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...
. Business and family pressure then forced him to retire from the tracks until 1927 when he entered a three litre Bentley for a six hour race. For 1928 he acquired a 4½ litre car and after some good results decided to return to motor racing, very much against his family's wishes. Soon the little Bentley driver, racing with a blue and white spotted silk scarf around his neck, would be a familiar sight on the race tracks driving with the works team (the "Bentley Boys"). In 1928 Birkin entered the Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...
race again, leading the first twenty laps until a jammed wheel forced him to drop back, finishing fifth.
The next year he was back as winner, racing the "Speed Six
Bentley Speed Six
The regular Bentley 6½ Litre and the high-performance Bentley Speed Six were Bentley cars in production from 1926 to 1930. They were created out of the desire for more engine power by Walter Owen Bentley by adding two cylinders to the straight-4 engine used in his Bentley 4½ Litre car. The Speed...
" as co-driver to Woolf Barnato
Woolf Barnato
Joel Woolf Barnato was a British financier and racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s. He achieved three consecutive wins out of three entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.-Early life:...
. If Bentley wanted a more powerful car he developed a bigger model and the Speed Six was a huge car. Ettore Bugatti
Ettore Bugatti
right|thumb|Ettore Bugatti in 1932Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti was an Italian-born and French naturalized citizen automobile designer and manufacturer....
once referred to the Bentley as "the world's fastest lorry" ("Le camion plus vite du monde"). Back in 1928 however, Birkin had come to the conclusion that the future lay in getting more power from a lighter model by fitting a supercharger
Supercharger
A supercharger is an air compressor used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine.The greater mass flow-rate provides more oxygen to support combustion than would be available in a naturally aspirated engine, which allows more fuel to be burned and more work to be done per cycle,...
to the 4½ litre Bentley. When Bentley Motors refused to create the supercharged model Birkin sought he determined to develop it himself. With technical help from Clive Gallop and supercharger specialist Amherst Villiers
Amherst Villiers
Amherst Villiers was an English automotive, aeronautical and astronautic engineer and portrait painter.He designed a land speed record-breaking car for Malcolm Campbell, and developed the supercharged "Blower Bentley", driven by Henry Birkin and by James Bond.-Early life:Charles Amherst Villiers...
, and with Dorothy Paget
Dorothy Paget
Dorothy Wyndham Paget was a British racehorse owner.She was the daughter of Lord Queenborough and Pauline Payne Whitney of the United States Whitney family. She was a cousin of Jock Whitney, owner of the dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Easter Hero and latterly American Ambassador in London. She...
financing the project after his own money had run out, Birkin rebuilt the car at the engineering works he had set up for the purpose at Welwyn Garden City
Welwyn Garden City
-Economy:Ever since its inception as garden city, Welwyn Garden City has attracted a strong commercial base with several designated employment areas. Among the companies trading in the town are:*Air Link Systems*Baxter*British Lead Mills*Carl Zeiss...
in Hertfordshire. Adding a huge Roots-type supercharger
Supercharger
A supercharger is an air compressor used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine.The greater mass flow-rate provides more oxygen to support combustion than would be available in a naturally aspirated engine, which allows more fuel to be burned and more work to be done per cycle,...
("blower") in front of the radiator driven straight from the crankshaft
Crankshaft
The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an engine which translates reciprocating linear piston motion into rotation...
gave the car a unique appearance. The 242 bhp "blower Bentley
Bentley Blower
The Bentley 4½ Litre is a British sports car built by Bentley Motors. Replacing the Bentley 3 Litre, it is famous for epitomizing prewar British motor racing and for its popular slogan "there's no replacement for displacement", created by the founder of Bentley, Walter Owen Bentley...
" was born.
The blower Bentley first appeared at the Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
six hour race at Brooklands
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...
on 29 June 1929. However, the car initially proved to be very unreliable. W.O. Bentley himself had never accepted the blower Bentley. Nevertheless, with Wolf Barnato's support, Birkin persuaded "W.O." to produce the fifty supercharged cars necessary for the model to be accepted for the Le Mans twenty four hour race
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
. In addition to these production cars built by Bentley Motors, Birkin put together a racing team of four remodelled "prototypes" (three road cars for Le Mans and a track car for Brooklands) and assembled a fifth car from spare parts. Birkin's blower Bentleys were too late for Le Mans in 1929 and only two of the cars reached the start line in 1930. After an epic duel between Dudley Benjafield
Dudley Benjafield
Joseph Dudley Benjafield, MD was born on 6 August 1887, in Edmonton, London, UK. He attended the University of London and received his MD from University College Hospital in 1912...
and Birkin's privately entered blower Bentleys and Rudolf Caracciola
Rudolf Caracciola
Otto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola , more commonly Rudolf Caracciola , was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship, an unsurpassed three times...
's Mercedes SSK all three retired, leaving the victory to the Bentley works team Speed Six of Barnato and Glen Kidston
Glen Kidston
George Pearson Glen Kidston was a record-breaking aviator and motor racing driver from Britain. He was a member of the well known Bentley Boys of the late 1920s, and possibly the wealthiest of that already wealthy set. His father, A.G. Kidston, was a grandson of the original A.G...
. 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.
Back in 1925 the energetic motor sports enthusiast Eugène Azemar, who was involved with the Tourist Board in Saint-Gaudens in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, succeeded in persuading the Automobile Club du Midi to arrange a Grand Prix
Grand Prix motor racing
Grand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver...
race in the region. A great success, the Saint-Gaudens track later got the honor of hosting the 1928 French Grand Prix. If they can, so can we, thought the city council in the nearby town of Pau and decided to try to take the French Grand Prix to their own town. Pau had some Grand Prix traditions, as the town held the honour of arranging the first race ever to be called a Grand Prix back in 1901. For the 1930 Grand Prix a triangular, Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...
-type track outside the city was selected. Known as the Circuit de Morlaas it should not be confused with the well-known street track in the Parque Beaumont. The French had hoped to run the race to the International Formula, but when the response was poor the event was postponed and changed to a Formula Libre
Formula Libre
Formula Libre is a form of automobile racing allowing a wide variety of types, ages and makes of purpose-built racing cars to compete "head to head". This can make for some interesting matchups, and provides the opportunity for some compelling driving performances against superior machinery...
event instead. The new date meant that the Italian teams were unable to attend, leaving it to be mostly an internal French affair with sixteen Bugatti
Bugatti
Automobiles E. Bugatti was a French car manufacturer founded in 1909 in Molsheim, Alsace, as a manufacturer of high-performance automobiles by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti....
s, two Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
s and a Delage
Delage
Delage was a French luxury automobile and racecar company founded in 1905 by Louis Delage in Levallois-Perret near Paris; it was acquired by Delahaye in 1935 and ceased operation in 1953.-History:...
among the twenty five starters. Among the top Bugatti drivers were Louis Chiron
Louis Chiron
Louis Alexandre Chiron was a Grand Prix driver.-Career:As a teenager, Louis Chiron fell in love with cars and racing. He learned to drive at a young age and joined the Grand Prix circuit after World War I where he had been requisitioned from the artillery section to serve as a chauffeur...
, Marcel Lehoux
Marcel Lehoux
Marcel Lehoux was a French racing driver.Lehoux was born in Vendée in France. He placed second at the Grand Prix de la Marne at Reims in 1929, behind Zenelli and ahead of his friend, Philippe Étancelin, making a Bugatti sweep of the podium. At the 1930 Algerian Grand Prix, he followed Étancelin...
, Count Stanislas Czaikowski, Jean-Pierre Wimille
Jean-Pierre Wimille
Jean-Pierre Wimille was a Grand Prix motor racing driver and a member of the French Resistance during World War II.-Biography:...
, Philippe Étancelin
Philippe Étancelin
Philippe Étancelin was a French Grand Prix motor racing driver who joined the new Formula One circuit at its inception.-Biography:...
and William Grover-Williams
William Grover-Williams
William Charles Frederick Grover-Williams , also known as "W Williams", was a Grand Prix motor racing driver and special agent who worked for the Special Operations Executive inside France. He organized and coordinated the Chestnut network...
.
A curiosity in the largely single-seat entry list was Tim Birkin's blower Bentley touring car, stripped down to racing trim, with headlights and mudguards removed. The race distance was twenty five laps of the 15.8 km track, making a total of 396 km. Guy Bouriat took an early lead, followed by Williams, Zanelli, Czaikowski and Étancelin, with Birkin as first non-Bugatti driver, in sixth place. Williams in a works Bugatti then became the next leader. Czaikowski fell back through the field and Bouriat in the other works Bugatti made a pitstop giving over the car to Chiron. Then Williams also had to make a stop for a new wheel. That all made way for Étancelin to advance and he was followed by Birkin, the track with its long straights suiting the supercharged Bentley perfectly.
At one-third distance Chiron led, followed by Étancelin, Williams and Birkin. Birkin's fourth place became a third as Williams got engine troubles but then Zanelli, who had made an early stop, came rushing through the field pushing Birkin back to fourth. At lap ten "Sabipa" crashed and was thrown out of his Bugatti, Birkin only avoiding the injured driver by the slightest of margins. After eleven laps Chiron encountered problems with oil pressure and Étancelin took over the lead. Soon Chiron was also passed by Zanelli and Birkin. The Bentley driver used the horn to warn the Bugatti to move over, surely a unique occurrence in Grand Prix racing! With seven laps to go Zanelli made another pitstop and Birkin was up into second place. While Étancelin, with a 2.5 minute lead, nursed his Bugatti home to take victory, Zanelli had not given up and was catching Birkin fast. At the flag the margin was down to fourteen seconds but it was enough for the British Bentley driver to make Grand Prix history.
Death
Birkin's world fell to pieces at the end of 1930. Bentley Motors withdrew from racing and closed down the following year. (Although purchased by Rolls Royce the marque did not reappear for several years.) And Dorothy PagetDorothy Paget
Dorothy Wyndham Paget was a British racehorse owner.She was the daughter of Lord Queenborough and Pauline Payne Whitney of the United States Whitney family. She was a cousin of Jock Whitney, owner of the dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Easter Hero and latterly American Ambassador in London. She...
withdrew her support for Birkin's road team in October 1930. She continued however to support Birkin's red single seater track car, the original Blower number 1. The car had been re-bodied with a single shell by Reid Railton after it's lightweight fabric two seater body had caught fire in the 1929 500 mile race due to a cracked exhaust ( nicknamed the Brooklands Battleship ). Birkin kept his motor workshop going by entering into a partnership with Mike Couper and developing a business specialising in tuning high performance cars. In addition, an "electric model Brooklands" -- an elaborate miniature racetrack game with motorized cars running on single rails—was manufactured at the works. Birkin's partnership with Couper came to an end in 1932 however and the works closed.
Birkin continued racing despite these setbacks. In 1931 he won Le Mans with Earl Howe
Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe
Francis Richard Henry Penn Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, CBE, PC, VD was a British naval officer, Member of Parliament, motor racing driver and promotor. In the 1918 UK General Election he won the Battersea South seat as the candidate of the Conservative Party, which he held until 1929...
in an Alfa Romeo, even receiving a telegram from Mussolini congratulating him on his "win for Italy". On the 24th March 1932 he raised the Brooklands Outer Circuit lap record to 137.96 mph in the Brooklands Battleship, a record which stood for another two years before being beaten by John Cobb driving the 24 litre Napier Railton. On 7 May 1933 he started the Tripoli Grand Prix
Tripoli Grand Prix
The Tripoli Grand Prix was a motor racing event first held in 1925 on a racing circuit outside Tripoli, the capital of what was then Italian Tripolitania...
in a new 3 L Maserati 8C
Maserati 8C
The Maserati 8C was a Grand Prix race car for Maserati between 1932 and 1933. The 8C was being designed by Alfieri Maserati in the early 1930s however he died before its completion. Development of the engine continued and the car was constructed for racing in 1932...
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. There are different opinions of what then happened. The traditional view is that the wound turned septic whilst others say Birkin suffered from a malaria attack. It was probably a combination of both that proved fatal, as Birkin died at Countess Carnavon Nursing Home in London 22 June 1933.
Memorial
Birkin's life was portrayed in the 1995 TV drama Full Throttle with comedian Rowan AtkinsonRowan Atkinson
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
in the role of Birkin.
In 2000, the last 54 of the Arnage Green label (BMW)
Bentley Arnage
The Bentley Arnage is a large luxury car produced by Bentley Motors in Crewe, England from 1998 to 2009. The Arnage, and its Rolls-Royce-branded sibling, the Silver Seraph, were introduced in the Spring of 1998, and were the first entirely new designs for the two marques since 1980.Another break...
powered cars were created as a limited edition, called "The Birkin Arnage." German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
aftermarket tuner MTM
MTM
-Computing and electronic games:* Mario's Time Machine, an educational game for the SNES* Midtown Madness, a series of racing computer games* Monster Truck Madness, another series of racing computer games-Science, technology, medicine and engineering:...
have latterly produced a tuned version of the Bentley Continental GT
Bentley Continental GT
-Flying Spur:The four door Continental Flying Spur saloon was first displayed at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show. The Flying Spur utilizes most of the technical underpinnings of the Bentley Continental GT, and was introduced to European and North American markets in the summer of 2005...
called "The Birkin Edition," producing 641 hp.
Birkin House, a Victorian country guest house in Stinsford
Stinsford
Stinsford is a village in south west Dorset, England, one mile east of Dorchester. The village has a population of 346 , 13.5% of dwellings are second homes ....
, Dorchester, is named after Birkin.
The artist Terence Cuneo unveiled his painting The 'Spirit of Brooklands,' which shows Tim Birkin racing John Cobb as the result of a wager, three laps of Brooklands to win. Cobb drove a ten and a half litre Delage, once holder of the land speed record, and Birkin his four and a half supercharged Bentley, the 'Brooklands Battleship.' The higher top speed of the Bentley gave Birkin the edge over the distance, and the painting depicts Birkin on the outside line of the high banking edging past Cobb to win. The actual race had taken place in in the August Bank Holiday of 1932, and Birkin had won by 25 yards after a third lap at 137 mph.
Further reading
- Henry Ralph Stanley Birkin - Full throttle: Sir Henry ("Tim") Birkin (London: G.T. Foulis & Co. Ltd., 1948)
Complete European Championship results
(Races in bold indicate pole position)| Year | Entrant | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | EDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 1931 Grand Prix season The 1931 Grand Prix season was the first AIACR European Championship season. The championship was won by Ferdinando Minoia, driving for the Alfa Corse team. Minoia won the championship despite not winning a single race during the championship season... |
Private entry | Maserati Maserati Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993... |
ITA 1931 Italian Grand Prix The 1931 Italian Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Monza on May 24, 1931.- Classification :... |
FRA 1931 French Grand Prix The 1931 French Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry on June 21, 1931.- Classification :... 4 |
BEL 1931 Belgian Grand Prix The 1931 Belgian Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on July 12, 1931.- Classification :-Race:- Starting grid positions :... 4 |
16= | 16 |