3 Litre Red Label Speed Model. Placed 3rd in Brooklands 6 hour race May 1927 - driven by Henry Tim Birkin and Frank Clement - mechanic Wally Hassan. Chassis No BL1601 - From 1936 HF3177. Engine No BL1601 Registration No YE 6029 (reference Bentley The Vintage Years 1919-1931 by Michael Hay page 339) Bentley Motors prepared five 3 litres for the 1927 seasons racing. These 'Team Cars' were owned by very enthusiastic Bentley customers and this was certainly the case with YE 6029 which belonged to Henry 'Tim' Birkin - one of motor racings legendary figures. Tim Birkin insisted that while the other team cars were fitted with lighter duralium rockers, his own retained the proven standard steel ones. Bentley Motors treated the Essex 6 hour race at Brooklands as a dress rehearsal for Le Mans a month later and entered four cars including YE 6029 which Tim Birkin shared with his younger brother Archie in Number 11. Barnato and Benjafield in Number 10 and Clement in number 12, Callingham and Harvey in Number 6. The Bentleys met fierce opposition from the Sunbeam twin cam 3 litres and in the battle that ensued the three Bentleys fitted with duralium rockers fell by the way side. At the end of the third hour the Birkin brothers were lying second but the leading Sunbeam gradually drew away and in a bid to save the day Tim Birkin handed his car over to Bentleys very experienced professional, Frank Clement. Many years later Wally Hassan, Frank Clement's riding mechanic recalled what happened. As the Bentley team ground to a halt ... Birkin was left on his own. His car had the standard steel rockers but he had a C type gear box, I think, and the damn thing packed up, and he couldnt change gear. So Clement then took over his car, and we went off first to try it. It got worse and worse until he couldn't change gear at all - and if Clement couldn't change gear, that was it. So I took the lid off and bashed it into third and that's where it stopped, and that's how Clement finished the race - in third gear and oddly enough he got third place too. We certainly worked for that (Quotation from 'The Other Bentley Boys' by Elizabeth Nagle)In the BDC review of September 1951 it explains how in the fifth hour of the race the spare wheel broke loose and precious time was lost in finding and securing it. This cost Bentleys second place which was taken by Alvis. In spite of these handicaps Clement increased the cars average to 64.2 mph but it could not hope to catch either the Sunbeam or the Alvis. Tim Birkin had earned his place in the Bentley team. The troublesome gearbox No 6021 was repaired and is still in the car today, and was sold probably just as she had raced. In the 50's YE 6029 went to America and stayed there for many years. Upon its return to Britain the car was very carefully examined to confirm its identity as the car Birkin drove in the 1927 Brooklands 6 hour race. With the support of the BDC a successful application was made to DVLA for the reinstatement of the registration YE 6029. The car has been in private ownership for many years and the new owner will be acquiring a unique Bentley that has been off the scene for over twenty years. This car provides a rare opportunity to purchase a genuine Bentley team car, the rarest and most desirable of all vintage Bentleys ! I invite interested parties to come and inspect this magnificent Bentley. POA