BENTLEY
Surprisingly, the history of Bentley Motors began with ... other cars. Or rather, from lightweight aluminum pistons, which Walter Owen Bentley in 1912 came up with to put instead of iron on the engines of French DFP cars, which he sold with his brother at Bentley and Bentley.
Walter Owen Bentley, known simply as WO (Walter Owen), an engineer by training, was dissatisfied with the performance of the DFP, as he believed that the best car advertising is first and foremost winning races.
WO received his engineering education from Bristol College and briefly worked as an apprentice railway engineer. At the age of 20, he participated in motorcycle races, including twice in the famous Isle of Man Tourist Trophy.
And in 1919 he registered Bentley Motors Ltd and two months later he presented a new chassis at the London Motor Show. In 1921 the first car was ready.
True to its vision of automotive advertising, and encouraged by DFP's sales results after several record attempts and the hype around them, WO turned to motorsport to boost sales of its own cars.
The first Bentley race was the Indianapolis 500 in 1922. The modified Bentley was driven by Douglas Hawks, along with mechanic "Bertie" Browning. It is characteristic that among the 27 cars that started in that race, for one reason or another, only 13 finished, and the thirteenth was the Bentley of Douglas Hawks, who successfully completed all 200 laps and thus proved the reliability of new cars.
Birkin was the first to come up with the idea to squeeze more power out of a 4½-liter Bentley by installing a supercharger. And when Bentley Motors refused to fulfill his order, he decided to do it himself.
And here's what happened:
Without supercharger: civilian model - 110 hp (82 kW); racing model - 130 hp (97 kW).
Supercharged: civilian model - 175 hp (130 kW) and 3500 rpm; racing model 242 hp (180 kW) and 2400 rpm.
In 1929, Birkin entered the 500-mile race at Brooklands, but a damaged exhaust caused the car to catch fire during the race. Birkin extinguished the car and continued the race.
Henry Birkin competed in other competitions, and WOBentley named him "The Most Outstanding Brit of His Time".
In the 1930s, the Great Depression took its toll on the company. Chief investor Wolf Barnato decided to keep his money rather than invest it in cars. By that time, the Bentley Blower was released, which entered the list of the most famous and charismatic cars in the world. But in the conditions of the economic crisis, the production of 50 copies of these cars hastened the collapse of the company. In 1931 the company was sold at auction. It was bought out by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Bentley himself began to work there.
Rolls-Royce has revolutionized Bentley by transforming the self-branded cars into its own line with a distinctive emblem. But already in the 80s, it was decided to return the brand to its original image. Rolls-Royce did not have time to bring ideas to life, as he himself faced a crisis. Bentley bought Volkswagen.
Now this manufacturer continues to work on sports and comfortable vehicles. The new Bentley Continental GT has been released, which knows no analogues in its category. The company will continue to be a leader in the production of machines in the Gran Turismo class, reviving and maintaining the tradition of Bentley.
Details
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Bentley Bentayga
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