24h Le Mans
Among the innovations at the Geneva Motor Show figures the Bentley EXP10 Speed 6, whose name references the British manfacturer's very rich history at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Created in 1928, the Bentley Speed 6 (180 hp) is the sporty version of the 6.5-liter which had appeared two years earlier. It was with the race version of the Speed 6 that Bentley achieved domination during the first decade of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with two consecutive victories in 1929 and 1930. At its wheel, Woolf Barnato, already a winner in 1928, was the first to win three times at Le Mans…in only three participations! It was the peak of the "Bentley Boys" era, the wealthy Brits who won four of the marque's five victories during that time. The Speed label was re-adopted when the Volkswagen group, current owner of Bentley, decided to relaunch the marque at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is how an EXP Speed 8 gave Tom Kristensen - along with Dindo Capello and Guy Smith - the fifth of his nine wins at Le Mans.
The Bentley fleet has made other nods to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Arnage and the Mulsanne models. The first references one of spectators' favourite turns at the 24 Hours since they can enjoy it and slowed-down cars on the track up close. The second deserves a bit of clarification since the name Mulsanne does not mean the same thing in French as it does in English. For French fans, Mulsanne is the slow turn at the end of the "Hunaudières" straight, which for Brits is called the Mulsanne straight.
The EXP10 Speed 6 design presented in Geneva also sports the famous dark "Racing Green" livery dear to British motorsports, victorious at Le Mans thanks of course to Bentley, but also to Jaguar and Aston Martin.
