Bentley EXP Speed 8

[TerryC]

So, Bentley are not racing anymore, I'm wondering what's happening to the two works cars? Do they have plan to return to LM/ALMS races next year?

[jhansen]

In one word...no.

[Audi R8R]

One was sold to a private collector, the other, I think, is scheduled to be a museum piece.

[marcush.]

Zytek brought the Bentley to Goodwood this year..which made me lough a bit.

[Steve Tarrant]

Why? Maybe if you realised that John Wickham, the Team Manager at Bentley is now the team manager at Zytek, and some of the Zytek mechanics were also previously Team Bentley mechanics, then it makes perfect sense for them to run the car at Goodwood.

Better that, than to have the car languishing in silence in a museum somewhere.

Cheers


Steve

[rdjones]

If anyone is interested there is a fantastic book called Bentley at Le Mans:- Racing the world's finest sports car By Ian Bamsey, and in there is a full history of each of the EXP Speed 8's.

In fact there was not just 2 cars built in fact there where 11:-

001 - Never Raced (The orginal test car powered by a Cosworth Engine)
002 - Never Raced (Converted to a 2 seater)
003 - Le Mans 2001 Car 8 Wallace/Leitzinger/van de Poole (Sold to a Japanese Collector)
004 - Le Mans 2001 Car 7 Brundle/Smith/Ortelli (Changed 2002 spec after the race and then used a show car)
005 - Never Raced - (Written off at Paul Richard)
006 - Le Mans 2002 Car 8 Wallace/Leitzinger/van de Poole (Retained by RTN)
007 - Sebring 2003 Kristensen/Capello/Smith they also used the car at Le Mans test day in 2003, (Retained by RTN)
008 - Never Raced (Written off at Jerez)
009 - Sebring 2003/Le Mans 2003 Herbert/Brabham/Blundell (Retained by RTN)
010 - Never Raced and never Run (Le Mans 2003 Show Car)
011 - Le Mans 2003 Kristensen/Capello/Smith (The winning car and again has been retained by RTN)

Now that is a brief history of each car there is a lot more detail in the book I have mention above.

[nick_andrews]

Dont they have hybrid cars? i mean old cars they used to test new body/mechanical parts on, becuase they ran one of these at the Oulton gold cup last year

[dretceterini]

I didn't realize 11 car had been built. I thought there was only 7..

[TerryC]

What a waste to put it in a museum. Thanks for that detailed list.

[marcush.]

I surely will buy that book as the Bentley is really something .
of course i knew mr wickham was involved the other day...but effectively he´s presenting a competitors car,wich seems a bit odd.
You wouldn´t expect a Audi coming out of the Zytek trailer .

[Steve Tarrant]

Not really, as Team Bentley was disbanded after LM'03, and therefore there is no Team Bentley to show the Bentley car. The Zytek personnel are effectively the only people who can run the car with any knowledge of its systems at this time.

[Adam43]

11 cars, 7 race starts!

[GT1]

What a waste. 11 cars for such a short racing life.

[RickP:Clio51]

I think I read that since they won the race, they've constructed 4 or 5 replicas for display and journalist testing purposes... its one of these that was tested in Autosport I thought?

[Osella]

They should be in private hands, racing

[Porsche GT1]

Originally posted by Osella
They should be in private hands, racing

agree. what a waste

[gsmith2424]

If I remember there is some sort of contract saying that they are not to be raced at all. I say just break the contract and deal with the problems latter.

[Osella]

I mean why not negotiate an even lower price on the proviso that the cars are going to be bricked up underground somewhere....
and THEN tear the contract up....

[Slippy Diff]

Originally posted by gsmith2424
If I remember there is some sort of contract saying that they are not to be raced at all. I say just break the contract and deal with the problems latter.

Maybe so, but are you gonna put up the cash?? They were outside the door to the BRDC suite at the 03 GP and looked great. Seemed quite small in real life though.


Bugger, wrong quote, meant to be the one saying they should be racing :confused:

[cybersdorf]

None of these cars will turn a wheel without factory support - in this case, support from Audi.

[andy97]

Originally posted by Steve Tarrant
Not really, as Team Bentley was disbanded after LM'03, and therefore there is no Team Bentley to show the Bentley car. The Zytek personnel are effectively the only people who can run the car with any knowledge of its systems at this time.

A bit off thread but I think that I am right in saying that Team Bentley was originally Racing Technology Norfolk (RTN) which was born out of TOMS Toyota's UK arm, set up to design, manufacture and run a handful of F3 cars in the mid 1990's.

[Suzy]

And going even further off-topic: if Bentley don't want them anymore then I am more-than-willing to look after them (I think the cars are gorgeous and really want one).

[Steve Tarrant]

Originally posted by andy97
A bit off thread but I think that I am right in saying that Team Bentley was originally Racing Technology Norfolk (RTN) which was born out of TOMS Toyota's UK arm, set up to design, manufacture and run a handful of F3 cars in the mid 1990's.

Very correct!

Originally posted by Suzy
And going even further off-topic: if Bentley don't want them anymore then I am more-than-willing to look after them (I think the cars are gorgeous and really want one).

And I'd second that one. I was lucky to have got close to the team in 2003 at LM, and have some souvenirs that I will never part with. But to own one of the cars - that would be a dream come true!!!!

[FG1]

I know this should be obvious, but for those of us who remain a little confused, WHY should Audi prevent these cares from racing?

FG

[Steve Tarrant]

The most obvious thing is that Audi group don't want Audi and Bentley racing against each other, when they are in fact owned in the same commercial group! It would be detrimental to whichever of the makes came second, and that would result in less sales.

Profit and publicity is the biggest reason company nowadays get involved.

The reason for bringing Bentley back was to give them good publicity as a brand, and the Audi group achieved that by backing away from LM'03 so that Bentley had a unopposed route to the top step of the rostrum. Having achieved that, Audi want their brand now to be the one thats seen at the tracks.