Though normally more accustomed to driving Austin Healey’s and Jaguar’s , Jeremy was offered the opportunity to drive a car from an entirely different era, a 1923 Bentley 3/41/2. Healey customer Alex Bell, who owns and races the ex-works car 767 KNX also owns the Bentley which he primarily uses for road based events and touring. The Silverstone Classic presented an opportunity to drive the car in the Kidston Trophy for pre-war cars during the Silverstone Classic weekend.
In the words of Alex Bell the race should be “Good for a giggle” and the opportunity to become a Bentley boy for the weekend was too good an opportunity to refuse.
The car
Built in 1923 on 9ft 91/2” chassis with a 4 seater body by Vandan Plas it was delivered to a Mr J.B Darley in Doncaster. Fitted with only rear brakes when new, presumably Mr Darley got tired of this interesting arrangement and front brakes were installed in 1925. The car remained with the original owner until the mid-1930’s.
Having been damaged during the blitz it was fitted with a ‘temporary’ plywood body and a breakdown crane to assist in the war effort. This was very common at the time as the heavy duty chassis made them ideal towing vehicles and fire engines. It passed through several other owners receiving the larger 4 ½ litre engine as well as other body and chassis works along the way before being comprehensively rebuilt with a supercharged body in the early 2000’s, which aside from a colour change from green to black is how it remains today.
The first thing you notice is the size of the car. Just like many pre-war Bentley’s this is a big vehicle with coachwork built on top of a heavy duty ladder chassis. The driver sits very high in the car on what can best be described as leather chairs. The steering wheel is large and positioned some distance from even a tall driver like Jeremy which makes it particularly difficult to manoeuvre especially at lower speeds.
Perhaps the biggest difference is the safety equipment provided, or perhaps rather the lack of it. Most race cars are mandated to have seat belts, roll bars and fire extinguishers on board. The pre-war racers have none of these fitted which keeps the cars looking very original, even if it does come with the obvious safety disadvantages.
Qualifying
Though he had briefly driven the car, qualifying presented the first real opportunity for Jeremy to sample the Bentley and highlight the huge differences between it and the Healey’s he’s been used to racing.
Jeremy’s first few laps were spent acclimatising himself with the controls which differ slightly from a more modern car. Though the pedals were familiar, the gear stick is mounted outside the car and operated with the right hand, the long travel meant having to lean forwards to move the lever to select the desired gear. This was made all the more difficult by the seat being set well back and having no real support for the driver’s feet to help him restrain himself during cornering.
Jeremy found the car pulled extremely well given its age and weight. Top speed is about 80mph which it achieves quite easily. The engine has a very low red line of just 3000rpm and has very short gearbox and axle ratios so it does rather run out of revs on the longer straights. With skinny tyres and the aforementioned lack of support and seat belts that’s really more than fast enough!
Just 27 minutes was allocated to qualifying and both drivers had to complete laps, at over 3 and a half minutes per lap there was not a lot of time. However Jeremy was pleased with qualifying, he was 2 seconds faster than owner Alex Bell and felt confident ahead of the race the next day.
The race
Alex Bell would start the race with 40 other cars including Fraser Nash, Aston Martin’s and several Bugatti’s. The cars all got away cleanly from the rolling start but on the first lap the safety car was deployed following an accident involving several of the leading cars, one of which caused the driver to be ejected from the cockpit, thankfully he was unharmed . With bits of car littering the track the marshals had to work quickly to clear the track as the race clock kept ticking.
Several laps went by before the safety car came in, Alex did a couple more laps at racing speed before coming into the pits to swap with Jeremy.
With just over 10 minutes remaining there was just enough time for him to complete 3 laps of the full Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. He kept it out of trouble and concentrated on remembering how to drive the car and holding onto the steering wheel for dear life. In all the excitement and concentration of the race Jeremy had forgotten that the advance/retard lever has a tendency to slide downwards of its own accord. The subsequent loss of power meant he was not able to beat Alex’s times as he had done in qualifying but was able to hold his own against the other competitors.
After 40 minutes it was time for the chequered flag to come out and the race was over. The pairing of Alex and Jeremy finished well down the field but the smiles on their faces showed that they had both enjoyed themselves which was the original aim.
Jeremy said afterwards "Holding on tightly and turning the heavy steering was very tiring even after just a few laps but it was very enjoyable and thank Alex for the opportunity to drive such a historic car."
