Bentley Drivers Club Celebrates 75th Anniversary at Silverstone

An action-packed two-day race meeting is to take place at Silverstone on August 13-14, as members of the Bentley Drivers Club will gather there to celebrate the 75th anniversary. Demo laps by four special cars are also to be featured, including the Bentley Continental SUpersport world ice record-breaking car, the Le Mans-winning EXP Speed 8, John Cobb’s 1933 Napier- Railton and Graham Moss’ 2003 Thunderbolt.

In addition, Concours winning cars will have their own display and the Club is hoping for a good gathering of R Type Continentals to mark the model’s 50th anniversary.

But getting back to the racing part of the weekend: the Bentley Scratch and Handicap races will see Bentleys spanning nearly 90 years out together, with contemporary machines squaring up against their vintage counterparts. Though some would think many of these cars belong in a museum.

One of the highlights is sure to be the Keston Pelmore Memorial Race, named after the founder ofthe Club, a 20-minute race that includes a wheel-changing pit stop. “Whilst Formula One-style 10-second changes are unlikely, there is still guaranteed to be plenty of competition in the pits to manage the quickest wheel-change,” Bentley says.

Also, the Morgan Challenge will see a range of Morgans battling it out, while the MGCC Thoroughbred Sportscar Championship will bring a grid of British sportscars of the 50s, 60s and 70s, including Aston Martin, MG, Lotus, TVR, Jaguar, Triumph TR - and more Morgans. And Equipe GTS will stage three exciting heats featuring historic production sports-cars including MGA, MGB, Triumph TR3 and 4, ‘Special-bodied’ Sprites and Midgets, Sabre 6, TVR Grantura, AC Ace and Alfa Romeo.