Blue Train Races: Difference between revisions
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[[Woolf Barnato|Woolf "Babe" Barnato]] was a businessman of substance (a diamond mining heir in South Africa and [[Bentley]] chairman), a celebrated racing driver (a "[[Bentley Boys|Bentley Boy]]" with multiple [[24 Hours of Le Mans|Le Mans]] wins), and a noted bon vivant. One evening in March 1930, at a dinner at the [[Carlton Hotel, Cannes|Carlton Hotel]] in Cannes, talk around the table had swung round to the topic of motor cars; in particular to the advertisement by [[Rover Company|Rover]] claiming that its [[Rover Light Six|Light Six]] had gone faster than the famous "Le train bleu" express. Barnato contended that just to go faster than the Blue Train was of no special merit. He raised the stakes by arguing that at the wheel of [[Blue Train Bentley|his own]] [[Bentley Speed Six]], he could be at his club in London before the train reached Calais and bet GBP100 on that challenge! The next day, 13 March 1930, as the Blue Train steamed out of Cannes station at 17:45h, Barnato, with one of his friends who had gallantly offered to act as a relief driver, took to the mighty Bentley and set off at the double. From Lyons onwards they had to battle against heavy rain. At 4:20h, in Auxerre, they lost time searching for a refueling rendezvous. Through central France they hit fog, then shortly after Paris they had a burst tyre, requiring the use of their one and only spare. And yet, racing non-stop through the night along the bumpy, 1930's [[Route nationale (France)|Routes Nationales]], they reached the coast at 10:30h, sailed over to England on the [[English Channel|cross-Channel]] packet, and were neatly parked outside The Conservative Club in [[St. James's Street]], London, by 15:20h - four minutes before the Blue Train reached Calais. He won the bet, whereupon the French authorities promptly fined him a sum far greater than his winnings - for racing on public roads. |
[[Woolf Barnato|Woolf "Babe" Barnato]] was a businessman of substance (a diamond mining heir in South Africa and [[Bentley]] chairman), a celebrated racing driver (a "[[Bentley Boys|Bentley Boy]]" with multiple [[24 Hours of Le Mans|Le Mans]] wins), and a noted bon vivant. One evening in March 1930, at a dinner at the [[Carlton Hotel, Cannes|Carlton Hotel]] in Cannes, talk around the table had swung round to the topic of motor cars; in particular to the advertisement by [[Rover Company|Rover]] claiming that its [[Rover Light Six|Light Six]] had gone faster than the famous "Le train bleu" express. Barnato contended that just to go faster than the Blue Train was of no special merit. He raised the stakes by arguing that at the wheel of [[Blue Train Bentley|his own]] [[Bentley Speed Six]], he could be at his club in London before the train reached Calais and bet GBP100 on that challenge! The next day, 13 March 1930, as the Blue Train steamed out of Cannes station at 17:45h, Barnato, with one of his friends who had gallantly offered to act as a relief driver, took to the mighty Bentley and set off at the double. From Lyons onwards they had to battle against heavy rain. At 4:20h, in Auxerre, they lost time searching for a refueling rendezvous. Through central France they hit fog, then shortly after Paris they had a burst tyre, requiring the use of their one and only spare. And yet, racing non-stop through the night along the bumpy, 1930's [[Route nationale (France)|Routes Nationales]], they reached the coast at 10:30h, sailed over to England on the [[English Channel|cross-Channel]] packet, and were neatly parked outside The Conservative Club in [[St. James's Street]], London, by 15:20h - four minutes before the Blue Train reached Calais. He won the bet, whereupon the French authorities promptly fined him a sum far greater than his winnings - for racing on public roads. |
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=== The ''Blue Train Bentley'' controversy === |
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The [[H. J. Mulliner & Co.|H. J. Mulliner]]-bodied [[Saloon (car)|formal saloon]] he drove during the race as well as a streamlined fastback "Sportsman Coupe" by [[J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited|Gurney Nutting]] he took delivery of on 21 May 1930 became known as the ''[[Blue Train Bentley]]s''; the latter is regularly mistaken for or errouneously referred to as being the car that raced the Blue Train, while in fact Barnato named it in memory of his race.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1698/Bentley-Speed-Six--Blue-Train-Special-.html|title=Bentley Speed Six 'Blue Train Special'|last=Melissen|first=Wouter|date=2004-01-12|work=UltimateCarPage|accessdate=2008-11-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://autoaficionado.net/issue/0101-38.html|title=The Slippery Shape of Power|last=Burgess-Wise|first=David|date=2006-01-01|work=Auto Aficionado|accessdate=2008-11-04}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> A further cause of confusion is the well-known painting of the race by [[Terence Cuneo]] which features the Gurney Nutting bodied car. |
The [[H. J. Mulliner & Co.|H. J. Mulliner]]-bodied [[Saloon (car)|formal saloon]] he drove during the race as well as a streamlined fastback "Sportsman Coupe" by [[J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited|Gurney Nutting]] he took delivery of on 21 May 1930 became known as the ''[[Blue Train Bentley]]s''; the latter is regularly mistaken for or errouneously referred to as being the car that raced the Blue Train, while in fact Barnato named it in memory of his race.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1698/Bentley-Speed-Six--Blue-Train-Special-.html|title=Bentley Speed Six 'Blue Train Special'|last=Melissen|first=Wouter|date=2004-01-12|work=UltimateCarPage|accessdate=2008-11-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://autoaficionado.net/issue/0101-38.html|title=The Slippery Shape of Power|last=Burgess-Wise|first=David|date=2006-01-01|work=Auto Aficionado|accessdate=2008-11-04}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> A further cause of confusion is the well-known painting of the race by [[Terence Cuneo]] which features the Gurney Nutting bodied car. |
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Barnato drove a [[H. J. Mulliner & Co.|H. J. Mulliner]]-bodied Bentley Speed Six [[Saloon (car)|formal saloon]] during the race, which became known as the ''Blue Train Bentley''. Two months later, on 21 May 1930, he took delivery of a new Bentley Speed Six streamlined fastback "Sportsman Coupe" by [[J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited|Gurney Nutting]]. Barnato named it the "Blue Train Special" in memory of his race, and it too became commonly referred to as the ''Blue Train Bentley''. The H. J. Mulliner-bodywork was stripped off the original car's chassis to make place for a bespoke replacement, as was common practice for automobiles at that time. |
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With growing historical distance to the event, the Gurney Nutting-bodied car was regularly mistaken for or errouneously referred to as being the car that had raced the Blue Train. This was reiterated in articles and various popular motoring paintings depicting that car racing "le train bleu". Even in 2005 for the 75th anniversary of the race, Bentley's promotional material continued this depiction as the rakish coupe and the related daredevil [[Bentley Boys]] mythology symbolised the brand image Bentley was asked to project as a [[marque]] of the [[Volkswagen Group]] much better than the rather staid formal saloon bodywork by H. J. Mulliner.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1698/Bentley-Speed-Six--Blue-Train-Special-.html|title=Bentley Speed Six 'Blue Train Special'|last=Melissen|first=Wouter|date=2004-01-12|work=UltimateCarPage|accessdate=2008-11-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://autoaficionado.net/issue/0101-38.html|title=The Slippery Shape of Power|last=Burgess-Wise|first=David|date=2006-01-01|work=Auto Aficionado|accessdate=2008-11-04}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> |
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Thanks to research efforts and a massive automotive restoration by Bruce and Jolene McCaw of [[Medina, Washington]] – who became owner of the Gurney Nutting-built "Blue Train Special" – this long-time mistake became finally more widely publicised. The original H. J. Mulliner ''Blue Train Bentley'' bodywork was also reconstructed, so that both cars are now in fully restored existence. They are currently owned by Bruce and Jolene McCaw. |
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== Top Gear Race 'Car vs. Train' == |
== Top Gear Race 'Car vs. Train' == |
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Revision as of 16:47, 31 December 2013
 | It has been suggested that Blue Train Bentley be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2013. |
The Blue Train Races were a series of record-breaking attempts between automobiles and trains in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It saw a number of motorists and their own or sponsored automobiles race against the Le Train Bleu, a train that ran between Calais and the French Riviera. The rationale to beat the train was to compare the contemporary automotive performance with locomotive dominance; to showcase recent progress achieved by cars regarding reliability, durability, speed and comfort; to promote the cars, their marques and the adventurous persona of the drivers; and to establish automobiles as a viable and aspirational mode of transport for the individual traveller.
The Blue Train
Le Train Bleu (lit. "the blue train"), officially the Calais-Méditerranée Express, was a luxury French night express train which carried wealthy and famous passengers between Calais and the French Riviera from 1922 until 1938. It was colloquially referred to as "le train bleu" in French and the Blue Train in English because of its dark blue sleeping cars, and became formally known as Le Train Bleu after World War II.
It was created by a private French railroad company, the Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée, or PLM, to take British aristocrats, celebrities and the wealthy to the French Riviera. It made its first journey on December 8, 1922.
The prime season for "le train bleu" was between November and April, when wealthy travellers escaped the British winter to spend their holiday on the French Riviera. It originated at the Gare Maritime in Calais, where it picked up British passengers from the ferries across the English Channel. It departed at 1:00 in the afternoon and went to the Gare du Nord in Paris, then around Paris by the Grande Ceinture line to the Gare de Lyon, where it picked up additional passengers and coaches. It departed Paris early in the evening, and made stops at Dijon, Châlons, and Lyon, before reaching Marseille early in the morning. It then made stops at all the major resort towns of the French Riviera, or Côte d'Azur: St. Raphael, Juan-les-Pins, Antibes, Cannes, Nice, Monaco, and its final destination, Menton, near the Italian border.
Rover Light Six
In January 1930, the Rover name hit the world press when a Rover tried to take on "Le train bleu" on its 750-mile (1,210 km) run between Calais and Cannes. The idea of racing the Blue Train was very popular with motor enthusiasts, and each new attempt was received with varying expectations of success. Many had already failed on this mammoth challenge. The act to promote the new Rover Light Six in a headline-grabbing campaign was the brainchild of former motorcycle tester and pioneer publicist Dudley Noble, in which a Light Six was to race the Blue Train across France from Calais to St Raphael on the Côte d'Azur. It was a moderately shameless stunt of him, being safe in the knowledge that the average speed of the famous express was no more than about 40 mph (64 km/h) once all its stops and detours were taken into account. To beat the train, Noble had to drive more or less non-stop from Calais to the French Riviera. The Rover Light Six averaged 38 mph (61 km/h) on its 750 miles (1,210 km) journey to beat the train's expected time of just over 20 hours, which gave the Rover team a 20 minute lead over the train. It had been beaten for the first time and the Rover team became celebrities through the "Daily Express''.[1][2][3][4][5]
Bentley Speed Six
Woolf "Babe" Barnato was a businessman of substance (a diamond mining heir in South Africa and Bentley chairman), a celebrated racing driver (a "Bentley Boy" with multiple Le Mans wins), and a noted bon vivant. One evening in March 1930, at a dinner at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, talk around the table had swung round to the topic of motor cars; in particular to the advertisement by Rover claiming that its Light Six had gone faster than the famous "Le train bleu" express. Barnato contended that just to go faster than the Blue Train was of no special merit. He raised the stakes by arguing that at the wheel of his own Bentley Speed Six, he could be at his club in London before the train reached Calais and bet GBP100 on that challenge! The next day, 13 March 1930, as the Blue Train steamed out of Cannes station at 17:45h, Barnato, with one of his friends who had gallantly offered to act as a relief driver, took to the mighty Bentley and set off at the double. From Lyons onwards they had to battle against heavy rain. At 4:20h, in Auxerre, they lost time searching for a refueling rendezvous. Through central France they hit fog, then shortly after Paris they had a burst tyre, requiring the use of their one and only spare. And yet, racing non-stop through the night along the bumpy, 1930's Routes Nationales, they reached the coast at 10:30h, sailed over to England on the cross-Channel packet, and were neatly parked outside The Conservative Club in St. James's Street, London, by 15:20h - four minutes before the Blue Train reached Calais. He won the bet, whereupon the French authorities promptly fined him a sum far greater than his winnings - for racing on public roads.
The Blue Train Bentley controversy
The H. J. Mulliner-bodied formal saloon he drove during the race as well as a streamlined fastback "Sportsman Coupe" by Gurney Nutting he took delivery of on 21 May 1930 became known as the Blue Train Bentleys; the latter is regularly mistaken for or errouneously referred to as being the car that raced the Blue Train, while in fact Barnato named it in memory of his race.[6][7] A further cause of confusion is the well-known painting of the race by Terence Cuneo which features the Gurney Nutting bodied car.
Barnato drove a H. J. Mulliner-bodied Bentley Speed Six formal saloon during the race, which became known as the Blue Train Bentley. Two months later, on 21 May 1930, he took delivery of a new Bentley Speed Six streamlined fastback "Sportsman Coupe" by Gurney Nutting. Barnato named it the "Blue Train Special" in memory of his race, and it too became commonly referred to as the Blue Train Bentley. The H. J. Mulliner-bodywork was stripped off the original car's chassis to make place for a bespoke replacement, as was common practice for automobiles at that time.
With growing historical distance to the event, the Gurney Nutting-bodied car was regularly mistaken for or errouneously referred to as being the car that had raced the Blue Train. This was reiterated in articles and various popular motoring paintings depicting that car racing "le train bleu". Even in 2005 for the 75th anniversary of the race, Bentley's promotional material continued this depiction as the rakish coupe and the related daredevil Bentley Boys mythology symbolised the brand image Bentley was asked to project as a marque of the Volkswagen Group much better than the rather staid formal saloon bodywork by H. J. Mulliner.[8][9]
Thanks to research efforts and a massive automotive restoration by Bruce and Jolene McCaw of Medina, Washington – who became owner of the Gurney Nutting-built "Blue Train Special" – this long-time mistake became finally more widely publicised. The original H. J. Mulliner Blue Train Bentley bodywork was also reconstructed, so that both cars are now in fully restored existence. They are currently owned by Bruce and Jolene McCaw.
Top Gear Race 'Car vs. Train'
The Top Gear television series presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May regularly features various long-distance, "epic",[10][11] races where Clarkson or one of the other presenters drives a car against other forms of transport.
During Spring 2004 (in a programme aired 9 May 2004), Clarkson drove an Aston Martin DB9 from the Dunsfold studio in Surrey to Monte Carlo against Hammond and May who took the TGV and Eurostar trains. Hammond and May walked two miles to a bus stop, took a bus to Guildford railway station, train to London Waterloo, then the Eurostar to Gare du Nord, the RER to Gare de Lyon, the TGV to Nice and another train to Monte Carlo.
Clarkson's DB9 was shown beating Hammond and May's train journey by several minutes, although James later revealed in a radio interview that Clarkson had actually beaten them by almost an hour.
References
- ^ Graham Robson (1981). The Rover company (2 ed.). Patrick Stephens. ISBN 0-85059-543-6.
- ^ Chris Brady & Andrew Lorenz (2005). End of the Road: The Real Story of the Downfall of Rover. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-273-70653-5.
- ^ Lewis, Robert (2003-07-11). "Five Million Rovers (And More)". Car Keys. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
- ^ "Rover Report on their first 70 years". British Motor Heritage Centre. 1974-07-26. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
- ^ Pickard, J. (2004-11-16). "Reserved and Refined British Saloon Cars: Official History of Rover and Timeline Milestones". Rover 1904-2004. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
- ^ Melissen, Wouter (2004-01-12). "Bentley Speed Six 'Blue Train Special'". UltimateCarPage. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
- ^ Burgess-Wise, David (2006-01-01). "The Slippery Shape of Power". Auto Aficionado. Retrieved 2008-11-04. [dead link]
- ^ Melissen, Wouter (2004-01-12). "Bentley Speed Six 'Blue Train Special'". UltimateCarPage. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
- ^ Burgess-Wise, David (2006-01-01). "The Slippery Shape of Power". Auto Aficionado. Retrieved 2008-11-04. [dead link]
- ^
"Top Gear". Episode 1. 2004-05-09. BBC Two.
Jeremy Clarkson: No train can be faster than cars, not possible okay? And to prove the point I organised an epic race.
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"Top Gear". Episode 5. 2007-11-11. BBC Two.
Jeremy Clarkson: And now it is time for one of our epic races, you know the sort of thing where a Bugatti races across the Alps against a truffle, or a McLaren-Mercedes races a power boat to Oslo.
{{cite episode}}: Missing or empty|series=(help); Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|seriesno=ignored (|series-number=suggested) (help)