Maybe it’s the word ‘boys’ that makes the phrase ring. We know that they were grown men, but somehow it’s the image of schoolboy larks which cements the legend of the Bentley Boys. It’s rooted in the time, too: the 1920s, when men with inherited wealth didn’t have to work, paid racing drivers were rare and the amateur ideal was still admired.

Who were these grown-up boys? There was no strict qualification: if you were asked to drive for the works you were part-way there, but it was as much an informal social club as a team. We know them now as party-goers; yet they were regular winners. How did these contrasting elements co-exist?

WO Bentley in TT entry.