This summer, the biggest names in sports car racing (from BMW, to Porsche, and even Ferrari) will be returning to Le Mans to win the ultimate prize, and another legendary brand has announced its return. Sort of.
Bentley announced today that the Blower Continuation will enter three races this summer. The car is based on the Team Car #2 that raced at Le Mans 93 years ago, returning to the track where it minted its legend, and you can compete too but there’s a catch. You must be one of the 12 exorbitantly rich people that bought a Bentley Blower Continuation.
“By going racing with Blower Car Zero, we will prove the performance, authenticity and durability of our Continuation Series by taking on the original competition, and give our customers confidence that they too can take their continuation cars to the track,” said Paul Williams, chief technical officer at Mulliner, the Bentley division handling the construction of the continuation cars.
Read: How Does A 1929 Bentley Blower Compare To Its Modern Descendants?
Bentley had to make a handful of modifications to the Blower Continuation to get it ready for racing, but they are very minor and focused on safety. Among them are the addition of a rain light, side mirrors, tow points, a fire extinguisher, and a battery isolation switch.
To ensure the Continuation “Car Zero”, Bentley’s engineering test bed, is capable of dealing with the needs of Le Mans, the brand ran it at Goodwood Motor circuit at full race pace for six hours. The car apparently performed flawlessly, going a total of 380 miles (611 km) at an average speed of 83 mph (133 km/h).
“We’ve already proved the quality of the engineering within the car by completing a tough test of several hours at race pace around Goodwood, and it’s now time for the car to be unleashed for real racing,” said Williams. “We’ll take the learnings from this race program and apply them to the upcoming Speed Six Continuation Series, for which the first engineering car is in build now.”
Bentley will race the Blower Continuation at a total of three races this year: Donnington Park, UK, April 29 to 30; Le Mans, France, June 29 to July 3; and Spa, Belgium, September 28 to 30. Drivers will be announced at a later date and will be made up of a mix of professionals and journalists with racing experience.
