Clive Gallop
Reginald Clive Gallop | |
---|---|
Born | Cairo, Egypt | 4 February 1892
Died | 7 September 1960 Leatherhead, Surrey, England | (aged 68)
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | Royal Air Force |
Rank | Colonel |
Commands held | No. 56 Squadron |
Battles/wars | World War I |
Other work | Race driver and Engineer |
Colonel Reginald Clive Gallop (4 February 1892
Royal Flying Corps
Clive Gallop joined the Royal Flying Corps, flying aeroplanes over the Western Front. He commanded a number of flights, including No. 56 Squadron.[4]
London racing driver, motor vehicle dealer and engineer
At Humber, Bentley was given a team to design his own aero-engine. The resulting engine, fundamentally different from the Clerget though—for ease of production—alike in the design of the cam mechanism, was running in prototype by early summer 1916. This was the BR1, Bentley Rotary 1, with the bigger BR2 followed in early 1918. Gallop helped Bentley bring both into service with the Royal Flying Corps.[5]
At the end of hostilities and leaving his commission with the Royal Flying Squadron, Gallop joined the Royal Aero Club.[2]
Bentley Motors
In 1919, a group was formed in
Gallop joined the team as an engine designer
Power output was roughly 70 brake horsepower (52 kW), allowing the final Bentley 3 Litre car via a four-speed gearbox to reach 80 miles per hour (130 km/h). The Speed Model could reach 90 miles per hour (140 km/h), while the Super Sports passed 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).[citation needed]
Louis Zborowski
From 1921, Gallop joined "Count" Louis Zborowski at his Higham Park estate. As well as acting as his co-driver in numerous races, and as driver of the team's second Aston Martin in others (i.e.: 1922 French Grand Prix), he also helped Zborowski design and build four of his own racing cars in the estate's stables.
The first car was powered by a 23,093 cc six-cylinder Maybach aero engine and called "Chitty Bang Bang".[8] A second "Chitty Bang Bang" was powered by 18,882 Benz aero engine. A third car was based on a Mercedes 28/95, but fitted with a 14,778 cc 6-cylinder Mercedes aero engine and was referred to as The White Mercedes. These cars achieved some success at Brooklands.
Another car, also built at Higham Park with a huge 27-litre aero engine, was called the "Higham Special" - later known as "
In January 1922 Zborowski, his wife Vi, Gallop and Pixi Marix together with a couple of mechanics took Chitty Bang Bang and the White Mercedes across the
In 1923, Zborowski joined with American engineer
Bentley Boys
At the end of his partnership with Zborowski in 1924, Gallop as a friend of
Blower Bentley
If Bentley wanted a more powerful car, he developed a bigger capacity model. The Bentley Speed Six was a huge car, which Ettore Bugatti once referred to as "the world's fastest lorry" ("Le camion plus vite du monde").[9][10]
In 1928, Bentley Boy Sir Henry "Tim" 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, refusing to adhere strictly to Bentley's assertion that increasing displacement is always preferable to forced induction. Bentley believed that:[11]
To supercharge a Bentley engine was to pervert its design and corrupt its performance
When
Development
With financial backing from Dorothy Paget, a wealthy horse racing enthusiast financing the project after his own money had run out,[11][12] Birkin set-up his own engineering works for the purpose of developing the car at Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.
With an engine and car to be developed by Gallop, Birkin engaged supercharger specialist Amherst Villiers.[9] Gallop had designed the 4½ Litre Bentley engine with a single overhead camshaft actuating four valves per cylinder, inclined at 30 degrees, a technically advanced design at a time where most cars still used only two valves per cylinder.[13][14]
Bentley refused to allow the engine to be modified to incorporate the compressor. The huge
These additions and modifications took the power of the base car from:
- Unblown: touring model 110 bhp (82 kW); racing model 130 bhp (97 kW).
- Blower: touring model 175 bhp (130 kW) @ 3,500rpm; racing model 242 bhp (180 kW) @ 2,400 rpm.
The "
Production
The original
No. 1 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." had never accepted the blower Bentley, but with effective company owner and financial backer Barnato's support,[19] Birkin persuaded "W.O." to produce the fifty supercharged cars necessary for the model to be accepted for Le Mans.
In addition to these production cars built by Bentley Motors, Birkin got Gallop to engineer a racing series of four remodelled "prototypes" plus a spare:
- No. 1: a track car for Brooklands, but with headlights and mudguards.
- No's 2, 3 and 4: Road registered (No. 2 - GY3904;[20] No. 3 - GY3905).
- No.5: a fifth car, registered for the road, assembled from spare parts.
Death
Gallop was thrown from a skidding car in Leatherhead Surrey on 7 September 1960. He was taken to hospital but was found dead on arrival.[3]
References
- ^ "On the 4th inst. at Mena House, Pyramids, Egypt, the wife of Reginald George Gallop of Lavington House, Wimbledon, Barrister-at-law, of a son" Births The Times Saturday, 6 February 1892; pg. 1; Issue 33554
- ^ a b "All Great Britain, Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificates, 1910-1950 results for 1870 Census". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 2013
- ^ "56 Squadron". TheAerodrome.com. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
- ^ a b W. O. Bentley My Life and My Cars, 1967, London, Hutchinson & Co
- ^ Humber Mystery Solved. MotorSport Magazine Page 114, April 2001
- ^ William Boddy. An Ullmanism W O Bentley Crib?, MotorSport Magazine, Page 25, June 1964
- ^ David Paine (August 2008). "The Zborowski Inheritance". Archived from the original on 6 February 2005.
- ^ a b Martin, Fraser (25 July 2010). "1930 Bentley Blower". Car Middle East. Archived from the original on 29 August 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
- ^ a b c "Bentley Blower : le temps des géants". Classic Drivers (in French). 13 October 2000. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
- ^ a b Melissen, Wouter (29 May 2008). "Bentley 4.5 Litre 'Blower' Birkin Monoposto". Ultimatecarpage. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
- ^ "1927 Bentley 4.5 Liter". ConceptCarz.com. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7603-2572-8.
- ISBN 978-88-7301-623-6.
- ^ ISSN 0006-8608.
- ^ Chargé, Thierry. "Histoire : Le Mans 1924 - John Duff". les24heures.fr (in French). Retrieved 27 August 2010.
- ^ "Bentley 4½ Litre and 4½ Litre Supercharged (1926 -1930)". Thoroughbred and Classic cars. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
- ^ "Bentley 4 1/2-Liter "Blower"". Sports Car Market. 31 August 1995. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
- ^ van Damme, Stéphane. "Bentley 4 1/2 Litre". Histomobile (in French). Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
- ^ "1929→1931 Bentley 4½ Litre Blower". supercars.net. Archived from the original on 12 January 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2012.