The wonderful and storied history of Bentley Motor Cars starts in 1919, when English businessman W.O. Bentley showed his first automobile, the Bentley 3-Litre, at the London Motor Show. After viewing Bentley’s car, spectators were eager to own one, and the orders came into the factory. However, as demand increased at an unexpected rate, Bentley had to put customers on a two-year waiting list. Despite the waiting list, over 1,600 Bentley 3-Litres (the name refers to the engine’s size) were sold, establishing W.O. Bentley’s company as a serious contender in the rapidly expanding automotive world.
All right, but what about Bentley’s sporting character that sets them apart from the boys at Rolls-Royce? The same year that the 3-Litre went into production, W.O. had three specially prepared versions competing at the Tourist Trophy race, which his team won easily, to the surprise of the spectators. Encouraged by his initial success, Bentleys were entered into the world’s greatest sports car race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. Bentley’s cars were able to cross the finish line first in this coveted race four consecutive times, between 1927 and 1930. To put this amazing feat into perspective, this record of wins was not equaled until the 1950s by Jaguar, and not surpassed until the 1960s by Ferrari! It is amazing that Bentley, who is known for the luxury aspect of their cars, also has one of the greatest racing histories of any auto manufacturer.
Bentley has come a long way in 82 years of building cars, as can be seen by the absolutely gorgeous Arnage at the bottom of this page. The heart of any Bentley is its engine, and the venerable 6.75-liter V8 has served the company well for years. Recently, Bentley breathed new life into this engine by turbocharging it, allowing the massive beast to pump out 420 horsepower and an astounding 650 lbs-ft of torque! No other production engine in the world even comes close to such stump-pulling torque, which can easily turn the Big B’s rear tires into clouds of smoke. Surely, any other luxury car driver would not approve of such behavior. However, you have to remember that you are driving a Bentley, a car that has more consecutive victories at Le Mans then all but one auto manufacturer. Bentley claims that when equipped with this engine, 60mph can be attained from a standstill in 5.8 seconds… I wonder how many Bentley owners go out hunting Mustangs?
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