“Some 10 minutes after driving Chris Williams's Packard-engined Behemoth my hands were still shaking, my voice was croaking and the cool autumn wind was chilling my sweaty overalls. My face was cherry red from the infernal heat of the engine and my eyebrows singed from its 24 flaming exhaust stubs. In my entire career I have never driven anything as visceral, as physical or as sheer bloody terrifying as Mavis, the 42-litre Packard-engined Bentley,” says Andrew English, who was reporting on the Brooklands event for The Telegraph.
This menacing creation breaths fire and smoke from a total of 24 exhaust tips, 12 on each side. Though there is very little information on the vehicle, we can speculate this engine has 2 exhaust valves per cylinder and each valve has its own exhaust pipe (a twin-port design).
This is the third outing for the Bentley “Mavis”, which was created a tribute to the Second World War aero-engined giants that lapped the Brooklands oval, with brave drivers sitting in the unprotected cockpit behind their huge, string-bound steering wheels.
The Mavis was built by Chris Williams at weekends and evenings over the last seven years. The car is based on a Bentley 8-liter chassis, with custom-built components and a V12 Packard engine from an American Second World War motor torpedo boat.
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