![Stunning pre-war Bentleys take on this year's Mille Miglia Classic & Sports Car – Blower Bentley Mille Miglia 2019](/sites/default/files/styles/article/public/2019-05/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20Bentley%20Mille%20Miglia%202019%20%E2%80%93%201.png?itok=aIkrTY69)
It’s one of the most famous classic events and the Blower is a legendary machine – here’s the tale from the driver’s seat in Bentley’s centenary year
It’s Monday afternoon and Brian Gush sounds surprisingly chirpy down the phone. He shouldn’t be so.
He’s just spent the past weekend manhandling Bentley’s most important Blower up, down and around Italy contesting the Mille Miglia, trying to remember the central throttle arrangement, during long stints that would make ‘Tim’ Birkin proud.
“Days started around half past six and rarely finished before 10, sometimes 11 at night,” he says. “They were long, long days, with no respite.”
![The 2019 Bentley team cars for the Mille Miglia Classic & Sports Car – Blower Bentley Mille Miglia 2019](/sites/default/files/2019-05/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20Bentley%20Mille%20Miglia%202019%20%E2%80%93%202.png)
Bentley returned to the Mille Miglia this year (15-18 May) with two Blowers to be driven by Gush, the company’s director of motorsport, and Robin Peel, head of Royal and VIP relations.
In 1930, Birkin and Woolf ‘Babe’ Barnato entered the Mille Miglia but aborted the attempt because the cars were ill-prepared for such a long and gruelling road race.