This Profile may be forced to veer somewhat from our usual format since the chance to have a close encounter with a very historic Bentley in the same place where it made its name and on the much heralded occasion of Team Bentley’s return to the Sarthe, rather overwhelmed the experience. This wasn’t so much a car test as a drift in time – a union of old and new. It truly got the adrenalin pumping.
The cynics will be quick to point out that the two Bentley Exp Speed 8s, comprising all of the FIA LM GTP class, were really little more than last year’s Audis. But sitting on seventh and nineth spot on the grid for the 2001 24-Hours of Le Mans amongst the other cars, resplendent in dark green, they looked nothing short of great, and a third place finish for the number 8 car was a fair reward in atrocious conditions. But Bentley was at Le Mans in force and style with old “Number 2,” our feature car, in a place of honor in the Bentley hospitality center, along with the massed ranks of period Bentleys in the historic race paddock and out in the public car parks.
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