The Flying Bentley
Julia Morten writes 'Here is a photo of me and the Bentley in all its glory at Silverstone. It won despite only having 500 miles on the clock, or as someone said 'straight out of the box and on to the rostrum!'
The race took place at Silverstone and was put on by the Bentley Drivers Club on 13th August. It was a handicap race, based on lap times taken during the practice session. When the car arrived at Silverstone, driven there by our friend who finished the car for me after Hamish died, it had only done 500 miles all told, and was not run in at all, and he was very nervous of pushing the car too much in case it blew up. He did push it to do 3,500 revs as it seemed to be running freely, and it has the potential to reach 4,500 revs, so there is still a huge amount of speed to be achieved. Hamish and I worked on the car for about 19 years and it was Hamish's ambition to do 140 mph, as he had achieved 130 mph down the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans in 1973 with his old car. Lightness = speed, and he had reduced the weight of the car down to 16.4 cwt by paring away at every part of the body and engine. An original car usually weighs in at 2 tons. This car has a 1923 3 litre chassis, with a 1926 4 1/2 litre engine - a very potent combination. The race was over 8 laps of the club circuit at Silverstone (which is considerably shorter than the Grand Prix circuit). There was a great deal of interest in the car after the race because of its performance, particularly by the owners of the cars it left behind!
Wow you really look the part Julia! Congratulations and well deserved for all the hard work by Hamish and yourself to produce the car.