Bentley to celebrate centenary at 2019 Festival of Speed

Continuing Bentley’s year-long centenary celebration, the concours will be the pinnacle of the manufacturer’s presence at Goodwood. Made up of some of the rarest and most valuable Bentleys in the world, it will feature on the cricket pitch throughout the weekend.

From the 4.5-litre 'Embiricos' Special to the recently unveiled and all-new Flying Spur, the vehicles will tell the story of four chapters of Bentley Motorsport. Other highlights include a Gurney Nutting Speed Six, a 1948 Pininfarina Mark VI, a Continental GT Zagato and W.O. Bentley’s own 8.0-Litre from 1930.

And bringing a Bentley touch to the Cartier Style et Luxe Lawn will be at least six R-Type Continentals, taking pride of place in this year’s Concours d'Elegance. With only 208 R-Type Continentals ever built in the early 1950s, they are now one of the most desirable models from Bentley’s past. It’s from the R-Type Continental – or, more specifically its three defining lines: the power line, rear haunch and sloping fastback roof – that today’s Continental GT designers took inspiration.

And the latest generation of the Continental GT and new Continental GT Convertible will appear in the Supercar class on the Goodwood Hillclimb, with the latter piloted by rising British racing driver Abbie Eaton. Meanwhile, the newest models to join the Bentley’s model family – the Bentayga Speed and all-new Flying Spur – will make their UK dynamic debuts as part of the First Glance class.

These Grand Tourers will be joined on the Hill by a host of racing models, in the very special Bentley Racing Class. Starting right at the beginning of Bentley is EXP2, the second experimental prototype built by W.O. Bentley, the first to race and the oldest surviving Bentley in the world.

Just 10 years later, the 1929 Birkin Blower – one of four Tim Birkin Team race cars – was built before being raced at Le Mans in 1930. With an insured value of £25m, ‘No.2’ is one of the most valuable Bentleys in existence. It will be driven up the Hillclimb by Katarina Kyvalova, the founder of the Bentley Belles talented female racing team.

Jumping forward more than 70 years, spectators will see the 2003 Speed 8 #7 – the car that led a Bentley 1-2 finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2003, Bentley’s six Le Mans victory and first since 1930 – fly up the Hill with winning driver Guy Smith at the wheel.

Finally, concluding Bentley’s Hillclimb campaign will be the 2018 Continental GT3 – the second generation Continental GT3 racer, based on the current Continental GT road car. Fresh from winning the 1,000km Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Race at Paul Ricard, the Continental GT3 will be piloted by Steven Kane.

Photography by Pete Summers.