Bentley’s legendary Speed Six to be reborn

Bentley’s legendary Speed Six to be reborn

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Bentley Mulliner has vowed to bring the iconic Speed Six back to life with a new and highly exclusive Continuation Series of 12 cars to honour the achievements of the original models. 

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With that said, all 12 cars will each be mechanically, and aesthetically, authentic to the Bentley racers that won the Le Mans in 1929 and 1930. The new Speed Sixes will also become the second pre-war continuation project in the world after the Blower of the olden days. 

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If you page through Bentley’s history books, you’ll likely come to the conclusion that the Speed Six is one of the brand’s most important historical models. The 12-car series will be built by the same Mulliner specialists but sadly, all units have already been spoken for by customers around the world. 

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“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.”

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As a successor to the Blower of the 1920s which housed a 4.5-litre powerplant, the Speed Six spawned a larger supercharged 6.5-litre straight-six unit with 134 kW in its standard setting with wheelbases measuring 3,505 mm, 3,569 mm and 3,874 mm. 

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The racing variants which Mulliner will recreate had a wheelbase of 3,353 and saw the models pumping out 149 kW. This was enough to claim two victories at the Le Mans 24H in 1929 and 1930, driven by Woolf Barnato and Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin. 

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Mulliner first created a complete 3D CAD model of the car from the original blueprints and a detailed analysis of the original cars.

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Bentley announced the new Speed Six Continuation Series at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The 12 units will be assembled in the second half of the year where Speed Six Car Zero will be retained by Bentley, joining Blower Car Zero.

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