Tim Birkin
Tim Birkin | |
---|---|
Born | Henry Ralph Stanley Birkin 26 July 1896 Nottingham, United Kingdom |
Died | 22 June 1933 London, United Kingdom | (aged 36)
Nationality | British |
Relatives | Archie Birkin (brother) Cindy Buxton (granddaughter) |
24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
Years | 1928–1932 |
Teams | Bentley Motors Ltd. Private |
Best finish | 1st (1929, 1931) |
Class wins | 2 (1929, 1931) |
Sir Henry Ralph Stanley Birkin, 3rd Baronet (26 July 1896 – 22 June 1933), known as Tim Birkin, was a British racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s.
Background and family
Birkin was born into a wealthy Nottingham family in 1896, the son of Sir Thomas Stanley Birkin, 2nd Baronet, and the 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. It was his nickname for the rest of his life.
Birkin married Audrey Clara Lilian Latham, daughter of Sir Thomas Paul Latham, 1st Baronet, and Florence Clara Walley, on 12 July 1921; they 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
. The younger daughter Sara (d. 1976) married twice, and had two sons by her first husband.At his death in 1933, without sons of his own, he was succeeded by his next surviving male relative, his paternal uncle Sir Alexander Russell Birkin, 4th Baronet (died 1942). His younger brother, Archie Birkin, was killed during practice for the 1927 Isle of Man TT motorcycle races.
Military career
Birkin joined the Royal Flying Corps during World War I and gained the rank of Lieutenant in the service of the 108th (Norfolk and Suffolk Yeomanry) Field Brigade, serving in Palestine where he contracted malaria, a disease from which he would suffer for the rest of his life.
Racing career
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2023) |
In 1921 Birkin turned to
The next year Birkin was back as winner, racing the "
The first car, a stripped down Brooklands racer known as
Back in 1925 the energetic motor sports enthusiast
.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 his 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 life changed dramatically 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.) Dorothy Paget 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 No.1. The car (nicknamed the Brooklands Battleship) had been re-bodied with a single shell by Reid Railton after its lightweight fabric two seater body had caught fire in the 1929 500-mile race due to a cracked exhaust. 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
Memorial
Birkin's life was portrayed in the 1995 TV drama Full Throttle with comedian Rowan Atkinson in the role of Birkin.[4]
In 2000, the last 54 of the
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 the August Bank Holiday of 1932, and Birkin had won by 25 yards after a third lap at 137 mph.
Racing record
Complete European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
Year | Entrant | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | EDC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1931 | Private entry | Maserati | ITA |
FRA 4 |
BEL 4 |
16= | 16 |
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1928 | Bentley Motors Ltd | Jean Chassagne | Bentley 4½ Litre | 5.0 | 135 | 5th | 5th |
1929 | Bentley Motors Ltd | Woolf Barnato | Bentley Speed Six | 8.0 | 174 | 1st | 1st |
1930 | Hon. Dorothy Paget | Jean Chassagne | Bentley 4½ Litre 'Blower' | >3.0 | 138 | DNF (Engine) | |
1931 | Earl Howe (private entrant) |
Francis Curzon, Earl Howe | Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 LM | 3.0 | 184 | 1st | 1st |
1932 | Earl Howe (private entrant) |
Francis Curzon, Earl Howe | Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 LM | 5.0 ** | 110 | DNF (Engine) |
- Note **: equivalent class for supercharging, with x1.33 modifier to engine capacity.
Notes
References
- Autosport 22 June 2006 p142
- German tuner makes maddest Bentley from evo magazine.
- Ben Truslove (9 August 2013). "Sir Henry Birkin and his supercharged Bentley 'Blower'". BBC News. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
Sir Tim Birkin is featured in this compilation film of 1920's and 30s footage on YouTube. Apologies for wrongly crediting him. https://studio.youtube.com/video/ksu8-9-UKvc/edit
Bibliography
- Birkin, Henry Ralph Stanley (1932). Full Throttle (Hardback). London: G.T. Foulis & Co. Ltd.
- Kenny, Paul (2009). The Man Who Supercharged Bond: The Extraordinary Story of Charles Amherst Villiers (Hardback). Sparkford: Haynes Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84425-468-2.