By
EWAN KENNEDY
22 May 2006
British Bentley builds sporting machines for well-heeled buyers. No
surprise you say, but the really interesting thing about this marque is
that the well-heeled owners don’t necessarily come from the upper
class. Indeed, anyone with enough cash is warmly welcomed as a member of
the Bentley fraternity. What is compulsory is a love of the marque,
pretenders and show-offs need not apply to join this exclusive group of
owners.
Bentley has just ticked over 60 years of
continuous manufacture at its famed fabrication facility in Crewe in the
UK, so is having a big celebration. A celebration that has just kicked
off with a huge Bentley tour of Australia, this country having embraced
the marque since its inception.
Winning races at the tough Le Mans
circuit in France is what made Bentley famous during the 1920s. The
company returned to that race track in 2002 and to the great delight of
its supporters won the 24-hour race in 2003. Think five Bathurst 1000s
without a break to get an idea of how hard a race this is on cars and
drivers.
The winning Bentley Speed 8 on that 2003
event is spearheading the Bentley Diamond Anniversary Tour in Australia.
That Tour began in Brisbane on May 11 and we were invited along to drive
modern-day Bentley Continental GT and Flying Spur models. Sadly, not the
Speed 8, though!
The Tour will cover 15,000 kilometres
over the next three months and is moving south from Brisbane to the Gold
Coast as I speak, before making stops in various locations in Sydney,
Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. From there, the cars head to New Zealand,
before embarking on a trip to several south-east Asian countries.
Contact www.diamondanniversarytour.com/ for information on where you can
see the displays.
On show will be not only some beautiful
Bentley cars, but also samples of the various materials, particularly
leather and timber, that can be handcrafted into the cars.
Everyone is welcome, certainly not just
those who have the wherewithal to afford a new Bentley. All that is
asked is that you love the finer things in life, especially cars!.
