Bentley to revive ‘Speed Six’ with 12 Mulliner-built models

The Bentley Speed Six is arguably one of the most iconic racing cars from the British automotive marque and is regarded as the most successful and one of the most important Bentleys in history. It has achieved two consecutive wins at Le Mans, one in 1923 and the other in 1930, and introduced Bentley’s Grand Tourer concept: a fast car that remained comfortable and luxurious, and capable of covering huge distances with ease.

Every Bentley since has followed the same ethos.

To honor the achievements of the original cars, Bentley announced the Speed Six Continuation Series. The 12-car series has been designed and will be developed and built, by the same team of Mulliner specialists that have created the Blower Continuation Series — the first pre-war continuation project in the world.

“After incredible levels of skill were acquired by the Mulliner team through the development of the Blower Continuation Series, and with the success of the cars with their customers, a chance to honor the Speed Six is a fantastic next step. It’s vital that we protect, preserve and develop not just this important part of our heritage, but also the knowledge we’ve gained through working with these classic Bentleys. The Speed Six is one of the most important Bentleys in our 103-year history, and the 12 cars of the Continuation Series will embody the same values as W.O. Bentley’s originals, crafted by hand with the same meticulous attention both to engineering quality and to fanatical attention to detail. The lucky owners will be able to race their cars around the world, and truly relive the exploits of the original Bentley Boys,” said Bentley Chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark, who announced the Speed Six Continuation Series at the recently held Goodwood Festival of Speed.

To recreate a motorsports icon, the Mulliner team first created a complete 3D CAD model of the car, from both the original blueprints and a detailed analysis of the Le Mans-winning cars.

The first Speed Six used as a reference was “Old Number 3,” the third of three Speed Sixes entered by Bentley into Le Mans in 1930. The immaculately preserved vehicle is still fully road legal and actively raced by its owner today.

Bentley used its own Speed Six (GU409) as a second reference model. The 1929 road car wears an identical four-seat Vanden Plas body to the original racers and is restored to the same specification.

According to Bentley, the former provides the Mulliner team with a valuable source of design details and reference points for the creation of the new cars while the latter provides benchmark performance and handling data for the continuation cars, including a full power and torque curve for the 12 new engines to match — or beat.

The Mulliner team will once again be supported by a host of artisans from a number of automotive heritage specialists across the UK to produce faithful revivals of the Speed Six. Per Bentley, all units are already reserved at £1.5-million each.

Photos from Bentley

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