New Windshield for the 901

A few weeks back at my last(only) race of the season my windshield had a rock chip, that spread to a small crack. Then, on the last lap and clipping an apex which always results in a pretty good shock to the car, it cracked to about 2 feet in length.

Not good.

The reason being, that your car won't pass tech inspection with a large crack that is in the line of vision. So, until I replaced it, the car was illegal to run.

Side benefit, the original glass was super rock-chipped and sandblasted. Contributing in no small part to me missing a turn in the last race due to sun glare.

Calling around I was getting prices, installed, of between $290-$400. Ouch. Lexan would be near $400 and need $50 tear-offs to protect it.

Finally, I got in touch with Preferred Auto Glass in Denver and had them come to my house and install the windshield for $236. The lucky gentleman did a fine install in my well-stocked raceshop(street). Perfect.

Digital Ink Version of Hunt for the Blower Bentley Dropping. Kindle Readers Say Hey.

Yesterday the Kindle version of my newest automotive archaeology novel went live. Now you can Hunt for the Blower Bentley for less. Download it here.

It takes a bit of time to get the formatting correct and proofs done. But, voila. There it is in soothing digital ink.

The cover image still looks nice, but not as great as it does in color. For that, you'll need a better Kindle or Nook than I have.

Currently I am 50/50 paper vs. ebook. For new books I buy digital. For older books and travel I still use trusty paperbacks. One less thing to charge or worry about breaking.

Blower Spotted at Lime Rock Vintage Festival

Whether real or recreated, this VDP bodied Blower Bentley is the business.

A bit too polished and clean for my taste, but I would not kick it out of the garage for leaving spots on the floor.

My brother, who can be blamed for me liking European cars, spotted this at the Lime Rock Park vintage festival yesterday. Jealous.

Jaguar MK2 Model Pictures

I dig in situ model images. And these snaps from oldirishracing.com are really great. He has dozens more images of MK2 models and other jaguars here.

Of course I am partial to the Tamiya model in the same blue as my MK2. Now, he has me searcing the web for this model.

Blowers Not Just for Boys

No other car is so associated with men as the Blower Bentley. The phrase "Bentley Boys" is used in almost every mention of these cars. But is should be known that there was a female member of this boys club. A Mrs. Mary Victor Bruce.

Some highlights of hers include motorboat records for crossing the channel. And setting a record for lapping at Montlhery in a Blower Bentley and other auto records, mostly in ACs.

For more detailed history of Mrs. Victor Bruce. Check out this site.

And you should read more because any lady who says, "”Speed has always fascinated me since my first pony bolted. Going slowly always made me tired.” deserves a bit of respect.

In car and portrait image from Female Racing Drivers by Jean Francois Bouzanquet, cig card image from Flikr mando maniac.

Fancy Yourself A Bentley Historian?

Vintagebentleys.org is the web-based resource for tracking down your desired vintage Bentley.

I used it often while writing Hunt for the Blower Bentley. And visit it often for pure entertainment.

There you can search every W.O. Bentley by chassis number. Find reference materials. Get information on how to repair your early beast. Or even help others identify their own Bentley mysteries.

All in all, a fantastic enthusiast run site. And the place to start to see if you can do better than I or others in finding out what happened to supercharged Bentley SM 3912.

Another option is the Bentley Driver's club itself. Here you can contact the club historian and get all the info you need. Or want. Or that they have.

Happy car hunting.

Wings & Wheels Concours Photo Essay

I don't know my biplanes from my bombers or my trainers, but add a squadron of planes to a grouping of classics and you have a beautiful display.

This was held at Centennial Airport and was an event to benefit childhood brain cancers, an worthy cause for sure.

Enjoy the photos with prototype MGs, Vignale Cadillacs, Nashs, Gullwings and McLarens and more.

944 Active Aero or Cheeky Wink?

There I am, leading the 944 national champ and my engine builder Dave Dirks, into the almost 90 degree left-hander at the end of High Plains Raceway's short straight. Or starting straight. The corner highlighted by the red circle in the above track map.

Now, I removed my headlight motors and armature, but left the wiring and bulbs in place in case ever needed. And, my car is already at legal minimum weight.

But I never did affix the headlights in place. But should I.

I always noticed both headlights popped up on hard braking. And finally got an image to prove it. This snap was taken by Mitchell Taylor, the son of a fellow racer, Chuck Taylor. Click the photo for a much larger image.

Gives the car a bit of McLaren style active aero on a shoestring budget.

That is how I like to think of it. Not that it is just winking at the corners with my dodgy bodywork.

Blower Bentley Racing Prowess

I don't think I ever really get into the history of why Bentley developed a Blower in the first place. Not important to the story. Besides, the missing Blower SM 3912 was not fitted with a racing body. It had a two-seater Phillips drop head coupe body fitted. But, besides the point. Even in the '30s the consumer buyers of cars wanted to have as close to the racing version of a car as possible.

So, with that in mind, I've got a link to a bit of history on the characters who started the whole supercharged Bentley thing. Lots of it do with a Tim Birkin, who loved the Blown cars and used one to raise the Brooklands lap record to nearly 138MPH in 1932! Egads it must have been a ride going near to the top speed of a Porsche 944 in fancy tractor.

Check out the story at www.bentleygreenpower.com.

SPEC 944 Race Video

Just finished up a long, hot, crowded and incredible weekend of racing at High Plains Raceway.

Yes, this writer actually races. Not many of us do.

I had a very good weekend for being rusty from not racing all season. But the car ran great even in 95-plus degree heat. Thanks to the mocal oil cooler.

My rustyness really showed up in qualifying where I was a second and a half off my race pace. In the races I consistently put in a top five lap time. But couldn't qualify in the top five. Ugh.

The video above shows me running in 4th, that is my green car, until 10:20 or so in the video where the sunglare had me miss my braking point at the end of the long straight. Things happen fast at 120MPH but luckily I was able to keep it straight but fell back to 7th. As one of my co-races put it, you had "6 wheels off at turn 4 and 5".

That was Saturday, on Sunday I had my best racing, moving up from 9th to finish 5th. And avoiding quite a bit of contact.