Bentley Boys

Bentley Boys /bent-lee boyz/ noun (plural)

The Bentley Boys were a loose collective of wealthy British motorists, aviators, and financiers who, during the late 1920s, drove Bentley sports cars to a series of crushing victories at Le Mans. A band of immensely privileged adrenaline junkies, they treated international motorsport as a slightly more dangerous extension of the London social season. The "gentleman driver" archetype was taken to its absolute limit: men who would race a two-tonne car for twenty-four hours on a diet of champagne and adrenaline, funding the entire enterprise with their own vast personal fortunes. They saved the Bentley marque from bankruptcy, defined its image of rugged speed, and lived with a glorious, reckless abandon that made the Great Gatsby look like a provincial accountant.

The Full Story of the Bentley Boys

The Bentley Boys were born from the strange, frantic energy that followed the Great War. Many of them were surviving fighter pilots or officers who returned to a grey civilian life and found it intolerable. The need for speed was nihilistic, fuelled by inherited wealth and a desire to replicate the thrill of aerial combat on the roads of France. Racing W.O. Bentley's massive, thundering cars offered a suitable substitute for the trenches.

The group's centre of gravity was Woolf "Babe" Barnato, the heir to the Kimberley diamond mines. In 1925, when Bentley's engineering genius was failing to pay the bills, Barnato stepped in with a simple solution: he bought the company for somewhere around £100,000. He appointed himself chairman and effectively turned the factory racing team into his own private stable. A formidable character who kept wicket for Surrey and boxed as a heavyweight, Barnato remains the only driver to win Le Mans three times in three attempts.

Surrounding Barnato was a cast that read like the dramatis personae of an implausible adventure novel. Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin was the aesthetic opposite of the rugged Barnato, a dashing, stuttering baronet who raced in a silk scarf and burned through his fortune developing the supercharged "Blower" Bentley. Then came Glen Kidston, a submarine officer who had survived being torpedoed twice and the crash of a civil airliner, deciding that motor racing was the safest way to spend his leave. Dr. Dudley Benjafield, a bacteriologist, provided the group with a rare semblance of scientific rigour amidst the bravado.

At the 1927 24 Hours of Le Mans, as dusk fell, the entire works team was involved in the infamous "White House" pile-up. Sammy Davis, sliding his car into the wreckage of his teammates, found the chassis twisted, the lights smashed, and the front axle bent. Rather than retire, he and Benjafield effected roadside repairs with wire, tape, and brute force. They nursed the crippled car, "Old Number 7," through the night and the following day to take a legendary victory. The triumph of British grit over mechanical sympathy was complete.

Dominance followed, with victories at Le Mans four years in a row from 1927 to 1930. They celebrated as hard as they raced, throwing legendary parties at their flat in Grosvenor Square, known as "The Corner."

The bravado reached its peak with the Blue Train race of 1930. Barnato accepted a £100 wager that he couldn't beat the famous express from Cannes to Calais. He went further, driving his Speed Six through the night across France, crossing the Channel, and arriving at his club in St. James's Street, London, before the train had even pulled into Calais.

The end was abrupt. The Wall Street Crash decimated their fortunes, and Bentley Motors collapsed in 1931, to be swallowed by Rolls-Royce. The party was over, but in a few short years, they had forged a legend of British racing superiority that manufacturers spend millions trying to replicate today.

For The Record

Were Bentley Boys professional racing drivers?

Technically, no. They were amateurs who raced for the thrill rather than a paycheque. However, their skill level, fitness, and dedication were equal to or better than any professional of the era. The last generation where a wealthy amateur could genuinely be the best driver in the world.

What was the 'Blower' Bentley?

It was Sir Tim Birkin's obsession. He believed the only way to beat the lighter Mercedes and Bugattis was more power, so he demanded a supercharger be bolted to the front of the substantial 4½ litre engine. W.O. Bentley hated it, calling it "perverting the design." The Blower was incredibly fast and iconic, but famously fragile. It never won Le Mans.

Did Barnato race the Blue Train in a Speed Six?

Yes, although the specific car has been a subject of debate. For decades, a sleek Gurney Nutting coupé was celebrated as the "Blue Train Bentley." Later evidence suggests he actually drove his rather dour, fabric-bodied Mulliner saloon. The legend remains magnificent regardless of the bodywork.

Why did Ettore Bugatti call their cars "fastest lorries"?

Because compared to his delicate, lightweight Molsheim creations, the Bentleys were behemoths. Brute force won through massive engine displacement and a chassis built like a bridge. Bugatti meant it as an insult. The Bentley Boys took it as a compliment to their cars' unshakeable durability.

What happened to them?

The group dispersed after the sale of Bentley. Tragedy stalked them, as it did many of that generation. Sir Tim Birkin died in 1933 from septicaemia after burning his arm on an exhaust pipe during a race in Tripoli. Glen Kidston died in an air crash over the Drakensberg mountains. Barnato lived on, preserving the Bentley heritage until his death in 1948.