New Bentley Continental GT
The latest version of the Bentley Continental coupe has been released. It has a reworked 12 cylinder engine giving fantastic performance through an eight speed dual clutch transmission - 0-60 mph is in 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 207 mph. certainly adds a modern touch to our www.bentleycontinentals.com web site!
Hampton Court Palace Concours 2018
As usual a really great day out with cars displayed in the Fountain Gardens on the East side of the Palace. Best in show was won by a stunning 1929 S Type Mercedes originally owned by Earl Howe and bodied in a boat tail style by Barker, see picture below.
The Bentley Motors awards went to a 1961 standard steel S2 for the pre1965 award and a very distinctive and historic Continental R for the post 1965 award pictured to the right.
RREC Annual Rally Burghley House 2018
The Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club had their annual rally at Burghley House on the weekend of 23 June 2018. The weather was perfect and there were the usual numbers of fantastic motor cars on show covering over 110 years of the Rolls-Royce marque along with a large number of trade stands.
Rolls-Royce Cullinan Launch at P and A Wood
I was fortunate enough to attend the launch of the above at local Rolls-Royce dealers P and A Wood. It was a fantastic event as they always manage to achieve with an informal atmosphere but you are aware of the attention to detail at every turn. The Cullinan was very impressive - the quality of the fit and finish evident at every point along with phenomenal performance as a result of the aluminium monocoque and the 6.75 litre engine driving all four wheels. Sales start later this year.
100 years of Bentley in 2019
We are celebrating 100 years of the first Bentley cars in 2019. There will no doubt be many events that will pay tribute to this great landmark in English automotive history - we will follow some of these on www.wobentley.com WO Bentley was born on 16 September 1888 - the youngest of 9 children.
Above: WO Bentley in his DFP car.
Above: WO Bentley who was born 130 years ago on 16 September 1888.
Above: Bentley designed rotary aero engine. Bentley had developed aluminium alloy pistons having examined an aluminium paperweight on a trip to France and the RR1 Bentley rotary engine was a great success in the Great War.
Racing WO Bentleys at Le Mans where the marque had great success. In all Bentley won the race 5 times in the 1920's and again in 2003.
The Bentley Boys at Le Mans. The Bentley Boys were a group of wealthy Bentley enthusiasts who lived life the full and included Woolf Barnato, Dr Dudley Benjafield, Tim Birkin, Sammy Davis, John Duff, Glen Kidston and Clive Dunfee amongst others. Obviously we are very fortunate to have the bentleyboys.com domain name for this web site a tribute to these Bentley heroes of a different era.
With the Remembrance Sunday celebrations of 11/11/2018 upon us it is worth noting that a number of the Bentley Boys had fought in the Great War and that may account for their great zest for life. John Duff was badly injured at Passchendale, Bernard Rubin was so badly injured that it was three years before he could walk again and Woolf Barnato fought at Ypres.
After the racing victories it was traditional to celebrate with a slap up meal at The Savoy in London: in this case everyone sat down around the wining car! Despite mounting financial pressure Bentley Motors continued to trade with the help of financial support from Woolf Barnato, legendary Bentley Boy and heir to a vast fortune from diamond mining, until 1931 when it was placed in voluntary liquidation and the business acquired by Rolls-Royce. To the right is pictured the beautiful Gurney and Nutting bodied Speed Six Bentley that Woolf Barnato raced across France from Cannes to Calais against the Blue Train.
The Warren September 23rd 2018
Despite a rather wet and windy start to the day The Warren had a great collection of cars on display as usual. These include a beautiful collection of Bentley Continentals, Bugattis including the Chiron and Nick Mason's Ferrari 250 GTO. There was also a rare Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud Harold Radford model in Sand and Sable as shown below. The guests were also treated to a fly past by the Lancaster bomber - even the weather had improved by then so we had good visuals as well as the superb sound track from the four Merlin engines.
