The Bentley Continuation series of cars is … continuing. Today, Bentley unveiled the Speed Six Continuation Series at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This follows the series of 12 Bentley Blower Continuation models, but apologies you’re only hearing about the new series now, as the 12 Speed Six units are already spoken for.
Bentley says it regards the Speed Six as its most successful race car ever because it dominated Le Mans both in 1929 and again in 1930. Just like the Blower, the Speed Six will be built using the same processes as the original car by Bentley’s bespoke and coachbuilding division, Mulliner. Bentley has 80% of the car’s original drawings and is supplementing this knowledge with original mechanic’s notes and data taken from an original 1930 Le Mans racer and a 1930 Speed Six currently residing in Bentley’s Heritage Collection.
The “6½ liter” (as Bentley likes to term it) six-cylinder engine required the creation of over 600 new parts to build, and Bentley says initial dyno testing shows it’s making 205 horsepower, which is 5 horses more than the original race engines were documented to produce. Bentley originally put this engine together as a successor to the Blower motor, as the thinking at the time from W.O. Bentley was that increasing displacement would produce better results than supercharging.
Every last detail of the Speed Six Continuation Series is scrutinized to be as authentic as possible to the original. The one you’re looking at in photos here is finished in Parsons Napier Green and features a tan leather interior. A total of five authentic colors will be available for the buyers to choose from, too. The craftspeople building the cars will be working alongside younger folks on purpose in an effort to pass down the skills and techniques used to create such vehicles. Before a single screw is turned, though, Bentley says it will be putting “Car Zero” through a real-world durability program with a goal of over 21,000 miles on the road and nearly 5,000 miles on the racetrack. Will any of the 12 customers ever get close to those figures? It sure would be cool if they did.
As for those 12 lucky people who will own one of these Speed Six Continuation Series cars, they’ll all have custom sessions with the Mulliner team to get their cars customized and built to their specific wants. Each Speed Six will then take 10 months from start to finish to complete, and Bentley thinks production will be completed by the end of 2025.
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