The fabled supercharged 4.5 litre Le Mans car, 1930.
Although well-known today, neither of the two 4.5 litre cars finished; both DNFed due to engine failure, car #8, driven by Dudley Benjafield and Giulio Ramponi, after 21 hours, the other at 20 hours.
The 4.5 litre, being a four-cylinder, must have been a bit of a monster, and was probably the reason for Ettore Bugatti's snarky comment that Bentley built the fastest lorries in Europe. Two unsupercharged 6 litre Bentley Speed Sixes, with the smoother six cylinder motor, lasted through to finish first and second.
As for Bugatti, a 1.5 litre T40 driven by Marguerite Mareuse and Odette Sikotwo, finished 7th. Of course this achievement was the highlight of the press coverage on the Monday morning.
The kit is a Revell reboxing of the old 1/24 Heller kit. (I built the lovely 1/12 kit as a kid, but it didn't survive multiple moves in my '20s). It is well made but requires careful fitting as some of the dowel and socket joints are poorly formed.
I'm not a fan of the multi-piece body construction method as it leaves open the possibility of seams showing; I'm building it out-of-box without a lot of effort to improve it before getting back to something more detailed. It will sit nicely on the shelf next to the Chenard Walcker, Miller 91 and other pre-war racers.
Stay tuned!
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