---
title: "Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin · HICONIUM"
description: "Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin in the HICONIUM register — one file carrying their credit."
canonical_url: https://hiconium.dev/people/sir-henry-tim-birkin
image: https://hiconium.dev/og/people/sir-henry-tim-birkin.png
---

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> On this page: [Supercharging the four](#supercharging-the-four) · [Independent Welwyn team](#independent-welwyn-team) · [Pace without endurance wins](#pace-without-endurance-wins) · [One file carries this name](#one-file-carries-this-name)

![Portrait photograph of Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin.](https://hiconium.dev/_derived/images/people/sir-henry-tim-birkin/portrait.jpg.w1920.q75.webp)

People

# Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin

Bentley driver who commissioned the supercharged 4½ Litre "Blower" series

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Born | 1896 |
| Died | London, 1933 |
| Nationality | British |

Wikimedia Commons

The record

Bentley driver whose independent supercharged 4½ Litre "Blower" team was financed by Dorothy Paget after W.O. Bentley opposed the project and Woolf Barnato approved it.

Henry Ralph Stanley Birkin was born on 26 July 1896, the second son of Sir Thomas Stanley Birkin, later 2nd Baronet, of a Nottingham lace family. He joined the Bentley team in 1927. Sharing a 4½ Litre with Jean Chassagne, he finished fifth at Le Mans in 1928. The following year he and Woolf Barnato won in a Speed Six, which led from the first lap; Birkin set a 7 min 21 sec lap record.

W.O. Bentley favoured greater engine capacity. Birkin commissioned a supercharged 4½ Litre series using an Amherst Villiers crankshaft-driven Roots blower, with Barnato's approval. Fifty public cars were required to make four team cars eligible for competition, and Paget funded the team. Birkin & Co. prepared the team cars at Welwyn Garden City. Road cars were rated at 175 bhp and cars in race tune at 240 bhp.

A Blower first raced at Brooklands on 29 June 1929. At Le Mans in 1930, Birkin drove Team Car No. 2, UU 5872, with Chassagne. He passed Rudolf Caracciola's Mercedes-Benz SSK on the Hunaudières with two wheels on the grass, then retired after the car dropped a valve. Barnato and Glen Kidston won in a works Speed Six. The two Blowers that started retired. Birkin finished second in the French Grand Prix at Pau that September.

The single-seater Blower UU 5871 set the Brooklands outer-circuit record at 137.96 mph in March 1932. Paget withdrew support for the road team in late 1930. In 1931 Birkin won Le Mans with Earl Howe in an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300. He died in London on 22 June 1933 after burns sustained on the exhaust of a Maserati 8C at the Tripoli Grand Prix on 7 May became infected and developed into septicaemia.

### Supercharging the four

Birkin backed a crankshaft-driven Roots blower on the 4½ Litre while W.O. Bentley favoured a larger six. The Amherst Villiers Mk IV sat ahead of the radiator.

### Independent Welwyn team

The racing cars were prepared at Birkin & Co. in Welwyn Garden City and financed by Dorothy Paget, alongside the fifty public cars required for homologation.

### Pace without endurance wins

The two Blowers that started at Le Mans in 1930 retired. The works Speed Sixes finished first and second.

The stations

1. 1927–1929 Bentley Motors Team driver
2. 1929–1930 Birkin & Co. Team driver

The house

[![Bentley](https://hiconium.dev/images/marques/full/bentley.svg)](https://hiconium.dev/manufacturers/bentley)

Credited through Birkin & Co..

In the register

## One file carries this name

- [Bentley 4½ Litre "Blower" Project leader and works driver · Birkin & Co. 1929–1931 €6M 1929–1931 €6M Rating 97.0](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/bentley/41-2-litre-blower)

The files above are the register's own record of this name. [The people index](https://hiconium.dev/people) holds everyone the register credits.

Sources

- [bentleymedia.com](https://www.bentleymedia.com/es/heritage-collection/1929-team-blower-uu5872)
- [bentleymedia.com](https://www.bentleymedia.com/de/heritage-collection/1930-demonstrator-blower-gh6951)
- [bentleymotors.com](https://www.bentleymotors.com/en/about-bentley/history-and-heritage/bentley-boys-and-girls.html)
- [bentleymotors.com](https://www.bentleymotors.com/en/about-bentley/history-and-heritage/bentley-story.html)
- [bentleymotors.com](https://www.bentleymotors.com/uk/en/about-bentley/history-and-heritage.html)
- [bentleymotors.com](https://www.bentleymotors.com/en/about-bentley/history-and-heritage/motorsport.html)
- [motorsportmagazine.com](https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/october-2021/120/the-legend-of-the-blower-bentley-magic-or-myth/)
- [thepeerage.com](https://www.thepeerage.com/p3678.htm)
- [thepeerage.com](https://www.thepeerage.com/p3501.htm)
- [24h-lemans.com](https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/bentley-at-the-24-hours-of-le-mans-2-1924-1929-the-original-bentley-boys-52814)
- [24h-lemans.com](https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/24-hours-of-le-mans-centenary-1924-1930-the-one-of-a-kind-bentley-boys-56863)
- [bbc.com](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-23574665)
- [theguardian.com](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/jun/23/archive-obituary-sir-henry-birkin)
- [ourwelwyngardencity.org.uk](https://www.ourwelwyngardencity.org.uk/content/people/sir-henry-tim-birkin)