First Speed Six delivery in 94 years - as a Blower finishes a 24 hour race

2024-11-06

First Speed Six customer car since 1930 leaves the Mulliner workshop. The first of 12 Speed Six Continuation Series cars, each handcrafted over the course of eight months Follows completion of development programme in July. Destined for an existing Blower Continuation Series customer in the USA, and curated in a classic Parsons Napier Green specification. Meanwhile, a Blower Continuation Series customer car completes a 24 hour endurance race at Portimão as part of the ‘Benjafield’s 24’. The achievement marks the first time a factory-built Bentley Blower has ever finished a 24-hour race.

The first customer Speed Six Continuation Series car has been completed, and is soon to be dispatched to the USA – marking the first delivery of a new Bentley Speed Six since 1930. Existing Mulliner customer John Breslow will be the first person to receive his Speed Six as a racing companion to his Blower Continuation Series.

Commissioned just over 12 months ago, the classically curated Speed Six is resplendent in Parsons Napier Green bodywork on top of a black-painted chassis. The iconic face of the Speed Six is dominated by the twin round headlamps, finished in Chrome with a protective mesh and separated by a large number ‘4’ on the radiator. Crafted by hand from scratch, each car takes eight months to complete, with the expert team of Mulliner technicians and artisans working closely with a network of specialist suppliers across the UK to recreate every detail of the original Speed Six with exactitude.

The cockpit is as authentic as the exterior, with every gauge, switch and control exactly as per the specification of the Speed Sixes that raced at – and won – Le Mans in 1930. Leather trimmed in a rich deep brown with dominant red tones, the Rust leather and carpet pair seamlessly with the Parsons Napier Green to the exterior.

At the start of the project, the Mulliner Classic team visited the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire, to verify the five authentic period Parsons Paints that are available to customers. Over 600 individual new parts, including a new engine block casting, were fabricated for the new 6½ Litre race spec engine, which at the time developed 200 bhp. Dyno testing has shown the Continuation Series engines to develop 205 bhp; while higher outputs have been achievable with the aid of modern engineering materials (as many classic racing teams do), the aim of the Continuation Series team was to create a Bentley exactly as it would have looked and performed in 1930.

The Speed Six is regarded as one of the most important Bentleys in history, being the most successful Bentley racing car ever produced. Using the same manufacturing processes as the original car from the late 1920’s, the Speed Six is the second pre-war Continuation Series by Mulliner, Bentley’s bespoke and coachbuilding division.

The Blower Continuation Series was the first pre-war continuation series ever created, and has been built by hand using a combination of modern laser-scanned data and original drawings. Both the blueprints and the 3D data were taken from the 1929 4½-litre supercharged Team Car #2 – the most famous Bentley in the world, and one of the icons of the Bentley Heritage Collection.

Famous for pushing Bentley’s main competitor Mercedes-Benz to the point of breakdown in the Le Man 24 hour in 1930, the Bentley Blower was known for outright pace – at the sake of reliability - whereas the Speed Six was known for its dependable performance.

To celebrate Bentley’s first ever win at the Le Mans in 1924, the Benjafield Racing Club hosted a 24 hour endurance event at the famous Algarve circuit of Portimão. The event consisted of 25 period Bentleys, piloted by 87 club members, with one of the competitors being a Blower Continuation Series customer car, entered into the event by its dedicated owner. In a defining moment for the Blower family and of the Continuation Series, the car completed the race – becoming the first factory built Blower to ever finish a 24-hour event, and highlighting the quality of engineering behind the world’s first pre-war continuation series.