Speaking of Bentley...

Speaking of Bentley, during my research about the Continental GT, I came across an interesting bit of trivia. Everyone knows Bentley for their bespoke vehicles that are tailor-made for each owner, but it is a lesser-known fact that the early Bentleys of the 1920s were world-class race cars as well.

From 1927 to 1930, Bentleys won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but their first victory actually came in 1924. Le Mans is part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, along with the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix. Bentleys also took victories at Indianapolis during that same era thanks to the Bentley Boys, a group of four independently wealthy businessmen who were famous at the time for racing the marquee.

One of those gentlemen was Woolf Barnato, who ended up buying the company and creating the Bentley Blower, one of the world’s first supercharged race cars. Forced air induction has been a hallmark of Bentley performance for nearly a century since.

-Trey Fennell