Bentley’s brilliant blowout
To celebrate 100 years of one of Britain’s greatest marques we gathered together three of its most famous racers from three very different racing eras. In a world exclusive, Andrew Frankel channelled his inner Bentley Boy for a track test like no other
Lyndon McNeil
Taken from Motor Sport, August 2019, Bentley’s brilliant blowout: Speed 8, GT, Blower triple test
This is quite something: the first time that cars from all three eras of Bentley’s racing history have been driven together. Each has their claim to fame: the GT3 is Bentley’s latest competition car, a state of the art racer in the most competitive category of sports car racing. The old Blower is not merely Sir Henry Birkin’s own car, not only the one in which he led Le Mans in 1930, but the one that exists today as the most original of all racing vintage Bentleys. And the one that sits in the middle chronologically? It’s the 2003 Le Mans winner – not one of a type of car that won that race but the actual winner.
Sir Henry Birkin’s Blower Bentley, the Le Mans-winning Speed 8 and the new Continental GT3 – together at last