After not attending the Bentley Drivers Club Concours last year due to non friendly sketching weather, I was really looking forward to attending this great concours. On route to the Club House in Wroxton, I was taken through picturesque Cotswold lanes and villages on my early morning drive to a quintessentially British event. With a relaxed atmosphere and a great array of stunning Bentleys old and new the event is always an honour to attend, especially as the sun blessed us with it's appearance:
"Lucius"
41/2 / 4 litre
(ink sketch)
This is an unusual Bentley for a few reasons. Firstly it is a 1927 4 1/2 litre chassis with a 1930 4 litre engine which was not a combination that the factory produced. Bentley only made 50 4 litre engines, and used them in 8 litre chassis, an odd combination, but they never had much success with this combination and so the 4 litre was dropped in favour of the 4 1/2. The owner and builder believes that the 4 litre is capable better performance than the 4 1/2 litre. Anthony is putting a race prepped 4 litre into 'Lucius' in order to race him to prove his point, an interesting challenge and I wish him every luck with it.
The car is called Lucius for a beautiful reason. It is named after his brother Luke who sadly committed suicide in 2014. On the same day that Luke took his life he visited Anthony and asked when they were going to go out in the Bentley for the first time. Anthony agreed that they would go for a drive on Christmas eve that year. After that fateful day Anthony decided to keep his word and got the car running and took it on a run on Christmas eve as he'd agreed. For me this is a wonderful thing as Anthony decided to keep on doing what he'd decided to do despite the turn out of events. Another dedication to Luke can be seen adoring the spare wheel, a metal sculpture of a swallow. Luke used to phone his brother every year to tell him that he'd seen the first swallow. another wonderful and poetic touch to a very personal project.
Doctors Coupe
(ink sketch)
Swept Side
(ink sketch)
4 1/2 Litre
(ink sketch)
More Photos...
A genuine W.O. Bentley owned car.
I didn't get to sketch this car but the lines of the coachwork are sublime.
Finally a supercharger is synonymous with Brooklands and this looked like a fantastic example
with the Mark IV Amhurst Villiers Supercharger mounted on the front. I did a quick pencil sketch of this which I plan to do something with in the future as I love the details and aesthetics of these superchargers.... a possible painting maybe?
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