This smallest-ever Bentley is the product of a partnership with The Little Car Company.
It is certainly that time of the year again already where halls are decked with boughs of holly and much of the world enters a period of festive celebration. And while in the music world this period is marked by Mariah Carey being pulled out of her deep freeze again, the automotive world incidentally has a similar tradition too with Bentley typically something special for this holiday season.
Last year for instance Bentley had (rather admittedly bizarrely but satisfyingly at the same time) put together a rendition of the Christmas classic Nutcracker Suite using sounds made from the tasks performed within its factory, while two years ago the crew from Crewe showcased a Christmas-themed Flying Spur V8 that it dubbed the ‘The Reindeer Eight’. This year however the British luxury marque had decided to instead focus on the kids, with it recently announcing that it is marking the end of 2023 by dispatching its Blower Jnr to Switzerland to collect a tree for the company Christmas party.
Now while this may seem like a task perhaps better suited to Bentayga, there is actually a reason as to why the Blower Jnr was used for this trip instead. Such is because this smallest-ever Bentley built is currently undergoing a durability testing regime which apparently spans 8,000 km across three different continents, with this tree collection mission just marking the start of its long journey ahead.
As to what exactly is the Blower Jnr meanwhile, this latest Flying B comes as part of the automaker’s collaboration with the well-known shrunken-car builders The Little Car Company. Previously noted for building such scaled-down masterpieces as the Ferrari Testa Rossa J and Bugatti Baby II, this particular offering is to be an 85% scale recreation of the 1929 Team Car No. 2 4½-litre Supercharged Bentley.
Much like its full-scale ‘20s counterpart, the Blower Jnr incredibly features an authentic specification chassis utilising leaf springs and scaled-down period-correct friction dampers. Its makers also tout that its bonnet, with its multiple cooling louvres, is hand-crafted in aluminium using traditional techniques and fastened with leather buckled bonnet straps.
Under said hood however of this scaled-down Bentley is unfortunately missing the Roots blower and attached 4.5-litre four-pot from the original full-sized car, with propulsion instead being provided by a 15 kW rear-mounted electric motor. The Little Car Company nevertheless still quotes that the Blower Jnr could still hit a top speed of 72 km/h, with an expected range of around 105 km on a full charge.
What more is that improved from the original is this tiny car’s brakes, with Brembos fitted all round to ensure that this Blower Jnr could stop on a six-pence. Other modern touches made includes the rear body structure being created out of carbon fibre rather than an ash frame (though still to be covered in original impregnated fabric) and best of all, the fitment of seatbelts across the two tandem seats that makes this toy car actually road legal!
In fact, Bentley has announced that apart from the sole prototype who was tasked to retrieve the aforementioned Christmas tree from Switzerland, there are actually 5 other Blower Jnrs running around this vast world ‘undertaking activities for durability and retailer activations’. Full production of these scaled-down models are set to take place in 2024, with prices of each to easily be as much as (rather posh) full-sized car.
