Thursday has started in ideal weather as I set off on the hour’s drive from the Cotswolds to the Bentley Driver’s Club just over the county border in Oxfordshire where I am due to meet up with the Bentley team, the Mulsanne that will be ‘my’ car for the next few days. Also on hand is the magnificent 8-liter Bentley that was once owned by the company’s founder, Walter Owen Bentley which will convoy with us to Le Mans.
It’s years since I’ve been to the BDC and this is my first visit to its new club house, but the sight of an original Bentley radial aero engine, lined up with a cut away of the turbocharged 6.75-liter V-8 – that, incidentally was first installed in a Bentley Carmargue prototype that never came to market – and a Speed Six, 3-liter straight four are vivid reminders of a glorious heritage.
I haven’t driven a Mulsanne since its launch last year and there is some slight trepidation as I thread the blue saloon through the sinuous lanes before we hit the motorway south to Portsmouth where we’re due to catch the ferry to Cherbourg. It feels wide and big, but its command style driving position means it can be placed with accuracy on narrow lanes.
The motorways are dispensed with contemptuous ease, but respectful of the UK’s speed limits the Mulsanne rarely broaches more than 80 mph.
Despite the blue skies and sun there’s a stiff breeze blowing thought ‘La Manche’ causing the seas to run a reasonable swell before reaching Cherbourg, although its girth makes shunting the Mulsanne around the car decks is a daunting exercise.
The autoroutes out of Cherbourg are mercilessly free of both traffic and the gendarmes that are so eager to pull over anyone exceeding the speed limit. The Mulsanne settles down to what seems like its natural gait: 90 mph with 2000 rpm on the tacho, as the miles unfurl we speed by signs reminding us of times when the world wasn’t so peaceful: Utah Beach, Dead Mans Museum, Omaha…
But this Bentley is made for a more serene life: it is super quiet and refined, the blown V-8 gurgles into life by merely flexing the right ankle for more power. And as I flick through the onboard computer I see we’re averaging 19.1 Imperial mpg and more than 60 mph.
Relaxing enough to appreciate the scent of hide, the glistening veneers and knurled, metal cold controls and look forward to a good night’s rest at our home for the next few days. Pity the darkness of night shrouded where we are staying.
Related posts:
- Mulsanne to Mulsanne – The Road to Le Mans: Day Two
- Spectacular Le Mans and Canadian GP
- New Audi Le Mans Racer Unleashed
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