W. O. Bentley
Encyclopedia
Walter Owen Bentley, MBE
(16 September 1888 – 13 August 1971) engineer; designer of aero engines, designer and racer of motor cars, founder of Bentley Motors Limited
in Cricklewood near London.
He was known as "W.O." without any need to add the word Bentley.
, London
the youngest of nine children of retired businessman Alfred Bentley and Emily née Waterhouse. He was educated at Clifton College
, a Public School in Clifton, Bristol
, England
from 1902 until 1905 which he left at the age of 16 to start work as an apprentice railway engineer with the Great Northern Railway
at Doncaster
in Yorkshire
. "The sight of one of Patrick Stirling
's eight-foot singles could move me profoundly." At Doncaster he learnt, hands-on, each technical procedure; how to cast make and build complex machinery as well as design it.
experience—a second fireman on main-line expresses. "My longest day was London to Leeds and back, on the return journey doing Wakefield to King's Cross non-stop for 175 miles. This was a total day's run of 400 miles, entailing a consumption of about seven tons of coal, every pound of it to be shovelled. Not a bad day's exercise." During this time he also experimented with motorcycles, riding and racing Quadrant
, Rex
, and Indian
models. He completed his apprenticeship in the summer of 1910 and decided that for him the railways did not hold enough scope for a satisfying career.
He spent a brief period studying theoretical engineering at King's College London
, and a period with the National Motor Cab Company then running a fleet of 250 Unic
s where he was, amongst other things, in charge of cab maintenance and fascinated by the cabbies' ingenuity at fiddling the meters.
In 1912 he joined his brother, H M (Horace Millner) Bentley, in a company called "Bentley and Bentley" selling French DFP
cars. Convinced that successful participation in competition was the best way to market these cars and dissatisfied with their performance, W O—inspired by a paperweight—had a set of aluminium alloy pistons made for the DFP engine and with a tuned camshaft
, took several records at Brooklands
in 1913 and 1914.
W O realised his idea of using aluminium alloy pistons should be put to use in the national interest. It considerably improved power output. The pistons ran cooler allowing higher compression ratios and higher engine speeds. Security ruled out broadcasting the knowledge amongst engine manufacturers. After some weeks he managed to make contact with the official liaison between the Navy and those manufacturers. That man, Commander Wilfred Briggs, became his senior officer for the rest of the war.
W O was immediately given a commission in the Royal Naval Air Service
and sent to tell the manufacturers—the first was the future Lord Hives at Rolls-Royce—of his knowledge and experience having had the manufacturers modify their DFP car engines which Bentley sold in Britain. So Rolls-Royce's first aero-engine, Eagle, had aluminium instead of cast-iron or steel pistons. From Derby he went to Wolverhampton to Louis Coatalen
at Sunbeam and the same idea was used in all the Sunbeam aero-engines. W O was then sent to the Chiswick
factory making French Clerget
engines under licence and liaised between the squadrons in the field in France and the Chiswick factory's engineering staff.
The Clerget licensees were very unwilling to act on his more important suggestions so the Navy sent W O to Coventry to Humbers
where he was given a team to design his own aero-engine. The resulting engine, fundamentally different from the Clerget though—for ease of production—alike in the design of the cam mechanism, was running in prototype by early summer 1916. This was the BR1
, Bentley Rotary 1. The bigger BR2
followed in early 1918. The success of these engines may be read about in their own articles.
For this work W O was awarded an MBE
. In 1920 he was invited to make a claim—which was unsuccessfully contested by the Clerget licensees—and was later awarded £8,000 from the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors
.
. The first Bentley 3 litre engine burst into life in what was New Street Mews, Baker Street, London, in October 1919. A plaque marks the building in now Chagford Street NW1. The first complete car began road testing in January 1920. W O had designed a robust four-cylinder engine and sturdy chassis, the Bentley 3 Litre
. The first production car, made in small premises in Cricklewood
, was delivered in September 1921. Its durability earned widespread acclaim.
Appearances were made in hill climbs and at Brooklands
and a single entry in the 1922 Indianapolis 500
mile race driven by Douglas Hawkes finished at an average speed in excess of 80 miles an hour. A rather sceptical Bentley had been persuaded to attend the very first, 1923
, Le Mans race. To his great delight the privately entered Bentley of Duff & Clement took fourth place.
The 3 Litre won the 24 hours of Le Mans
in 1924
and following models repeated this each June 1927
, 1928
, 1929
and 1930
. His motto was, "To build a good car, a fast car, the best in class." His racing manager was an old school friend, Richard Sidney Witchell. Bentley cars set many records at Le Mans. "Bentley Boy"
Woolf Barnato
was the only driver to win each of the three times he entered, giving him the highest victory percentage.
However the 1925
Le Mans race was a complete failure for W O and his team and Bentley Motors Limited was in deep financial trouble. His actions were severely criticized by his board. The temporary solution was that Woolf (Babe) Barnato, of the "Bentley Boys", heir to Kimberley diamond magnate Barney Barnato
purchased all the business assets and they continued much as before with Barnato chairman but W O was now Barnato's employee.
W O designed another generation of cars, the six-cylinder 6½ Litre Speed-Six introduced 1928, but in 1929 against his wishes, Barnato allowed to be built before development was complete the Tim Birkin developed supercharged "Blower" version of his 1927 4½ Litre car. This development had taken place in separate workshops away from W O in Welwyn Garden City. Durability proved poor and the car failed on the track. At the time, Ettore Bugatti
commenting upon the Bentley line of motorcars quipped with a certain disdain, "Mr. Bentley builds the worlds' fastest trucks." Barnato continued to compete with distinction and helped steer the firm to its finest hour but everyone's efforts did not save the business.
The Great Depression
delivered the final financial blow. The 8 Litre
was launched as a grand car for the ultra-rich in October 1930. One hundred were made and sold. Ettore Bugatti sold three of his equivalent model. The 8 Litre's very success proved disastrous for W O 's own career. Rolls-Royce (Hives) elected to kill such strong competition for their Phantom II.
By July 1931 Barnato had decided he would provide no more support for the company and made himself scarce. On the 10th, on the application of the mortgagee, the court appointed a Receiver to Bentley Motors Limited. W O's cars had accumulated losses of £136,220. With Barnato's they were working their way through their third fortune.
D. Napier and Son
had manufactured cars in England until 1925 when they had shifted focus to aero engines; they were now anxious to return to the motor car market and entered friendly negotiations to purchase Bentley, and W O began work designing his next car for the expected new owner, Napier-Bentley. Rolls-Royce watched with care.
Cricklewood production
topped Napier's bid, announcing their acquisition of Bentley on 20 November 1931. Rolls-Royce had been disturbed by the 8 Litre's encroachment upon the market segment of their Phantom II
. The old business had not troubled to register their Bentley trademark. Rolls-Royce took immediate steps to remedy that. Cricklewood
was closed during 1932. Thereafter production was from Rolls-Royce premises in Derby
and, postwar, Crewe
.
Rolls-Royce had acquired the Bentley showrooms in Cork Street, the service station at Kingsbury, the whole establishment at Cricklewood and Bentley himself. This last was disputed by Napier in court without success. Everything was sold but some 8-litre chassis which were taken to Derby. The name alone was to be kept and used for a smaller economy car but that prototype proved to be as complex and expensive as the bigger Rolls-Royces and its development was halted.
W O believed Barnato had bought a substantial shareholding in Rolls-Royce just before pulling out his support while visiting New York. Barnato was invited to become a director of the new Rolls-Royce subsidiary, Bentley Motors (1931) Limited.
W O's winter of 1931/1932 was hard, his wife divorced him and he lost any form of personal transport. Hearing of this W E Rootes
arranged for him to test a new Hillman each weekend. As obliged to do by the court he joined Rolls-Royce under a contract extending from 1 May 1932 to the end of April 1935. Rolls-Royce isolated him in London and Europe, keeping him occupied as liaison between customers and—at long range—the works, to test drive vehicles at Brooklands and for long test runs across the Continent and the Alps.
While he worked on testing the prototype he was only permitted to comment on the design of what would become the new Derby 3½ Litre
announced in October 1933. Around that time he managed to begin to report in person to the design teams at Derby making friends in the process. Among them Harry Grylls and Stewart Tresilian who did some design-only work on a short-stroke replacement for the V12 engine for their Phantom III. W O had been effectively sequestered from the design team of the new car bearing his own name. But, he did admire their achievement.
Rolls-Royce promoted its new line of Bentleys as "The Silent Sports Car". W O departed at the end of April 1935 somewhat embittered.
M45R Rapide with a Meadows
engine won at Le Mans in June 1935
. Just a week later Lagonda was pronounced saved from receivership
by Alan P Good
and W O joined Good's new Lagonda board of directors as technical director. W O moved, with the majority of the Rolls-Royce racing department staff, to Lagonda. There, W O again went racing. Unable to persuade Harry Grylls to join his engineering staff at Staines W O did obtain Stewart Tresilian's services from February 1936. Tresilian brought Frank Stark and Reg Ingham with him. Donald Bastow joined them.
was launched in 1937. The 4480 cc engine delivered 180 bhp;hp (134 kW) and was said to be capable of going from 7 to 105 mph in top gear and to rev to 5000 rpm. Tresilian left in early 1938 for a Hawker-Siddeley subsidiary. V12 development was not complete but Lagonda's difficult financial circumstances encouraged more to leave at that time.
The car was exhibited at the 1939 New York Motor Show: "The highest price car in the show this year is tagged $8,900. It is a Lagonda, known as the "Rapide" model, imported from England. The power plant is a twelve-cylinder V engine developing 200 horsepower."
During the war
W O worked on armaments at Lagonda. Towards the end of the war he began work on a new straight-6
engine. It was clear Lagonda's successful V12 would be seen as too extravagant for the postwar market. With his team he developed a modern dual overhead cam straight-6 engine. It initially displaced 2.6 L (2580 cc/157 in³) with a 78 mm (3.07 in) bore and 90 mm (3.543 in) stroke it produced roughly 105 hp (78 kW) with dual SU carburettors. It was not to get on to the market until 1948.
In August 1947 J R Greenwood, chairman of Lagonda, announced though work had begun on the first 1,000 of its new 2½ litre motorcar designed by Mr W O Bentley, due to shortage of materials, continuing difficulties of production and the recently imposed double purchase tax those plans had been cancelled. While there were other engineering activities including the manufacture of a diesel pile-driver it had informed the 1,600 workpeople involved that some of them would inevitably become redundant.
, gear-wheel manufacturer, which would combine production with Aston Martin
bought earlier that year.
Production was moved to Feltham, Middlesex.
Brown had purchased Lagonda largely to gain Bentley's engineering expertise, and immediately placed W O 's newest creation, his 2.6 litre Lagonda Straight-6 engine
, under the bonnet of Brown's other new acquisition, the Frank Feeley-designed DB2
. This durable DOHC engine would continue in Lagondas and Aston Martins until 1959 and, W O noted, important design details were carried on through to their V8.
where he designed another twin overhead cam 3 litre engine before retiring.
However it is reported that W O 's team's, it included Donald Bastow, responsibilities for the Sapphire project which also extended to the chassis, ceased in 1949 and as it eventuated they provided not a lot more than the detailed inspiration for the production version of the Sapphire announced in October 1952. The production cost of W O 's exact engine design was considered to be too high. Nevertheless W O 's involvement maintained the considerable respect of contemporary engine designers and manufacturers for him and the final Sapphire product.
epidemic. He married Poppy (Audrey Hutchinson) in 1920, they divorced soon after the business was sold in 1931. He married Margaret Roberts Hutton née Murray in 1934 and she survived him. He had no children.
Bentley died at Woking, Surrey, Friday 13 August 1971, shortly before his 83rd birthday, revered patron of The Bentley Drivers' Club. His widow, Margaret, survived him and died in 1989.
" . . . In the eyes of those who own, have owned, or aspire to own, one of the 3,040 Bentley cars designed and built by the 'old' Bentley company under the leadership of "W.O." he was admired and respected—indeed, I think, loved is not too strong a word—for to know his cars was to know him. During his working life "W.O." suffered a series of ups and downs which might have broken a lesser man. It certainly marked him and it was a disillusioned "W.O." I first met 25 years ago [1946]. . . . "W.O." has said that the pleasure he derived in the post-war years from Club activities; from making new friends among its members; and from seeing the loving care bestowed upon 'his' cars has more than compensated for all his earlier disappointments." S. S.
"The six years during which I worked for "W.O." were a period of education and pleasure. His modesty, lack of pretension, mental honesty and reasonableness endeared him to those in contact with him, and his overriding interest in the improvement of the car provided the education in a period which included the post-war 2½ litre Lagonda development, schemes for 4 and 8 cylinder derivatives, for the pursuit of shorter strokes in engines, for a small transverse-engined front wheel drive car and for a performance engine for the Morris Minor in place of the 850cc side valve engine it then endured.
Though normally of reflective habit his experience showed him when swift action was necessary, and he could be very determined in pursuing it. Big enough to admit mistakes when they had occurred, he also knew when to modify and when to start afresh in remedying them.
It is a pity that circumstances prevented his influence on car development from being greater than it was. Though motoring and motor cars were his life he retained a keen interest in locomotives." Mr Donald Bastow.
Founded in 1936 this club now has near 4,000 members throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, US, Canada, Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(16 September 1888 – 13 August 1971) engineer; designer of aero engines, designer and racer of motor cars, founder of Bentley Motors Limited
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
in Cricklewood near London.
He was known as "W.O." without any need to add the word Bentley.
Early life
Bentley was born in HampsteadHampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
the youngest of nine children of retired businessman Alfred Bentley and Emily née Waterhouse. He was educated at Clifton College
Clifton College
Clifton College is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1862. In its early years it was notable for emphasising science in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated...
, a Public School in Clifton, Bristol
Clifton, Bristol
Clifton is a suburb of the City of Bristol in England, and the name of both one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
from 1902 until 1905 which he left at the age of 16 to start work as an apprentice railway engineer with the Great Northern Railway
Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....
at Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
. "The sight of one of Patrick Stirling
Patrick Stirling
Patrick Stirling was Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Northern Railway.His father Robert Stirling was also an engineer. His brother James Stirling was also a locomotive engineer...
's eight-foot singles could move me profoundly." At Doncaster he learnt, hands-on, each technical procedure; how to cast make and build complex machinery as well as design it.
Locomotives
This premium apprenticeship cost his father £75 for a five year term but with Great Northern he came close to his childhood ambition of driving a Great Northern Atlantic express locomotive. At the end of his apprenticeship he was made—for footplateFootplate
The footplate of a steam locomotive is a large metal plate that rests on top of the frames and is normally covered with wooden floorboards. It is usually the full width of the locomotive and extends from the front of the cab to the rear of cab or coal bunker just above the buffer beam. The...
experience—a second fireman on main-line expresses. "My longest day was London to Leeds and back, on the return journey doing Wakefield to King's Cross non-stop for 175 miles. This was a total day's run of 400 miles, entailing a consumption of about seven tons of coal, every pound of it to be shovelled. Not a bad day's exercise." During this time he also experimented with motorcycles, riding and racing Quadrant
Quadrant (motorcycles)
Quadrant was one of the earliest British motorcycle manufacturers, established in Birmingham in 1901. Famous for their big singles, Quadrant pioneered many innovations that proved important for motorcycle development but struggled after the First World War and the company was wound up in...
, Rex
Rex-Acme
Rex was a motorcycle company which began in Birmingham, England in 1900. Rex soon merged with a Coventry bicycle maker named Allard and then later in 1922 the company merged with Coventry's 'Acme' motorcycle company forming 'Rex Acme'...
, and Indian
Indian (motorcycle)
Indian is an American brand of motorcycles. Indian motorcycles were manufactured from 1901 to 1953 by a company in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, initially known as the Hendee Manufacturing Company but which was renamed the Indian Manufacturing Company in 1928. The Indian factory team took the...
models. He completed his apprenticeship in the summer of 1910 and decided that for him the railways did not hold enough scope for a satisfying career.
He spent a brief period studying theoretical engineering at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, and a period with the National Motor Cab Company then running a fleet of 250 Unic
Unic
Unic was a French car manufacturer firm founded by Georges Richard in 1906 after having left Richard-Brasier. Société anonyme des automobiles UNIC was established in Puteaux with two-cylinder and four-cylinder models. The 1943 cc 12 CV four-cylinder model was extremely successful and...
s where he was, amongst other things, in charge of cab maintenance and fascinated by the cabbies' ingenuity at fiddling the meters.
In 1912 he joined his brother, H M (Horace Millner) Bentley, in a company called "Bentley and Bentley" selling French DFP
Doriot, Flandrin & Parant
Doriot, Flandrin & Parant was a French car maker based in Courbevoie, Seine between 1906 and 1926.Auguste Doriot and Ludovic Flandrin had both worked for Peugeot and then Clément-Bayard before setting up their own car making company in 1906...
cars. Convinced that successful participation in competition was the best way to market these cars and dissatisfied with their performance, W O—inspired by a paperweight—had a set of aluminium alloy pistons made for the DFP engine and with a tuned camshaft
Camshaft
A camshaft is a shaft to which a cam is fastened or of which a cam forms an integral part.-History:An early cam was built into Hellenistic water-driven automata from the 3rd century BC. The camshaft was later described in Iraq by Al-Jazari in 1206. He employed it as part of his automata,...
, took several records at Brooklands
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...
in 1913 and 1914.
Aero engines
At the outbreak of warWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
W O realised his idea of using aluminium alloy pistons should be put to use in the national interest. It considerably improved power output. The pistons ran cooler allowing higher compression ratios and higher engine speeds. Security ruled out broadcasting the knowledge amongst engine manufacturers. After some weeks he managed to make contact with the official liaison between the Navy and those manufacturers. That man, Commander Wilfred Briggs, became his senior officer for the rest of the war.
W O was immediately given a commission in the Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...
and sent to tell the manufacturers—the first was the future Lord Hives at Rolls-Royce—of his knowledge and experience having had the manufacturers modify their DFP car engines which Bentley sold in Britain. So Rolls-Royce's first aero-engine, Eagle, had aluminium instead of cast-iron or steel pistons. From Derby he went to Wolverhampton to Louis Coatalen
Louis Coatalen
Louis Hervé Coatalen was a Breton automobile engineer.Coatalen was born in the Breton fishing town of Concarneau and went on to study engineering at the Ecole des Arts et Métiers at Cluny ....
at Sunbeam and the same idea was used in all the Sunbeam aero-engines. W O was then sent to the Chiswick
Gwynne (car)
Gwynne was an old established engineering company based in Chiswick, London, that made cars between 1922 and 1929. It was set up by Nevile Gwynne, brother of Rupert and Roland Gwynne....
factory making French Clerget
Clerget
Clerget was the name given to a series of early rotary aircraft engine types of the World War I era that were designed by Pierre Clerget. Manufactured in both France by Clerget-Blin and Great Britain by Gwynne Limited, they were used on such aircraft as the Sopwith Camel and Vickers Gunbus.In the...
engines under licence and liaised between the squadrons in the field in France and the Chiswick factory's engineering staff.
The Clerget licensees were very unwilling to act on his more important suggestions so the Navy sent W O to Coventry to Humbers
Humber (car)
Humber is a dormant British automobile marque which could date its beginnings to Thomas Humber's bicycle company founded in 1868. Following their involvement in Humber through Hillman in 1928 the Rootes brothers acquired a controlling interest and joined the Humber board in 1932 making Humber part...
where he was given a team to design his own aero-engine. The resulting engine, fundamentally different from the Clerget though—for ease of production—alike in the design of the cam mechanism, was running in prototype by early summer 1916. This was the BR1
Bentley BR1
-See also:...
, Bentley Rotary 1. The bigger BR2
Bentley BR2
-See also:-Bibliography:* Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9*Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I. London. Studio Editions Ltd, 1993. ISBN 1-85170-347-0...
followed in early 1918. The success of these engines may be read about in their own articles.
For this work W O was awarded an MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
. In 1920 he was invited to make a claim—which was unsuccessfully contested by the Clerget licensees—and was later awarded £8,000 from the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors
Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors
A Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors is a periodic Royal Commission of the United Kingdom used to hear patent disputes.On October 6, 1919 a Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors was convened to hear 11 claims for the invention of the tank....
.
Bentley Motors, Cricklewood, Middlesex
After the war, in early 1919, W O founded, with his brother, their own motor car business, Bentley Motors LimitedBentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
. The first Bentley 3 litre engine burst into life in what was New Street Mews, Baker Street, London, in October 1919. A plaque marks the building in now Chagford Street NW1. The first complete car began road testing in January 1920. W O had designed a robust four-cylinder engine and sturdy chassis, the Bentley 3 Litre
Bentley 3 Litre
The 3 Litre was the sports car that put Bentley on the automotive map. It was a large car compared to the tiny, lightweight Bugattis then dominating racing, but its innovative technology and strength made up for its weight...
. The first production car, made in small premises in Cricklewood
Cricklewood
Cricklewood is a district of North London, England whose northeastern part is in the London Borough of Barnet, western part is the London Borough of Brent and southeastern part is in London Borough of Camden.-History:...
, was delivered in September 1921. Its durability earned widespread acclaim.
Appearances were made in hill climbs and at Brooklands
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...
and a single entry in the 1922 Indianapolis 500
1922 Indianapolis 500
Results of the 1922 Indianapolis 500 held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 30, 1922....
mile race driven by Douglas Hawkes finished at an average speed in excess of 80 miles an hour. A rather sceptical Bentley had been persuaded to attend the very first, 1923
1923 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1923 24 Hours of Le Mans was the very first Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on May 26 and 27 1923.The original intention of the race was for a winner to be declared following three straight years of competition. The Rudge-Whitworth Cup would be given to the driver combination to...
, Le Mans race. To his great delight the privately entered Bentley of Duff & Clement took fourth place.
The 3 Litre won the 24 hours of Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
in 1924
1924 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1924 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 2nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 14 and 15 1924.-Official results:-Not Classified:-Did Not Finish:-Statistics:* Fastest Lap - #3 André Lagache/René Léonard - 9:19* Distance - 2077.34 km...
and following models repeated this each June 1927
1927 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1927 24 Hours of Le Mans was a motor race which took place at Circuit de la Sarthe on 18 and 19 June 1927. It was the fifth 24 Hours of Le Mans Grand Prix of Endurance. The race is commonly remembered due to the infamous White House crash, which involved all three of the widely-tipped Bentley...
, 1928
1928 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1928 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 6th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 16 and 17 1928.-Official results:-Did Not Finish:-Statistics:* Fastest Lap - #3 Bentley Motors Ltd...
, 1929
1929 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1929 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 7th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 15 and 16 1929.Prior to the event, the ACO modified the course near the actual town of Le Mans so that it did not enter as far into the suburbs...
and 1930
1930 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1930 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 8th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 21 and 22 June 1930. The pairing of Odette Siko and Marguerite Mareuse would go in history as the first women to compete and finish in the race.-Official results:...
. His motto was, "To build a good car, a fast car, the best in class." His racing manager was an old school friend, Richard Sidney Witchell. Bentley cars set many records at Le Mans. "Bentley Boy"
Bentley Boys
The Bentley Boys were a group of wealthy British motorists who drove Bentley sports cars to victory in the 1920s and kept the marque's reputation for high performance alive...
Woolf Barnato
Woolf Barnato
Joel Woolf Barnato was a British financier and racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s. He achieved three consecutive wins out of three entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.-Early life:...
was the only driver to win each of the three times he entered, giving him the highest victory percentage.
However the 1925
1925 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1925 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 3rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 20 and 21 1925.For this race, the start was actually held on the Mulsanne Straight, instead of in its traditional location following Maison Blanche....
Le Mans race was a complete failure for W O and his team and Bentley Motors Limited was in deep financial trouble. His actions were severely criticized by his board. The temporary solution was that Woolf (Babe) Barnato, of the "Bentley Boys", heir to Kimberley diamond magnate Barney Barnato
Barney Barnato
Barney Barnato , born Barnet Isaacs, was a British Randlord, one of the entrepreneurs who gained control of diamond mining, and later gold mining, in South Africa from the 1870s.-Background:...
purchased all the business assets and they continued much as before with Barnato chairman but W O was now Barnato's employee.
W O designed another generation of cars, the six-cylinder 6½ Litre Speed-Six introduced 1928, but in 1929 against his wishes, Barnato allowed to be built before development was complete the Tim Birkin developed supercharged "Blower" version of his 1927 4½ Litre car. This development had taken place in separate workshops away from W O in Welwyn Garden City. Durability proved poor and the car failed on the track. At the time, Ettore Bugatti
Ettore Bugatti
right|thumb|Ettore Bugatti in 1932Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti was an Italian-born and French naturalized citizen automobile designer and manufacturer....
commenting upon the Bentley line of motorcars quipped with a certain disdain, "Mr. Bentley builds the worlds' fastest trucks." Barnato continued to compete with distinction and helped steer the firm to its finest hour but everyone's efforts did not save the business.
The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
delivered the final financial blow. The 8 Litre
Bentley 8 Litre
The 8 Litre was the largest and most luxurious Bentley car designed and the last new model introduced by W O Bentley at Bentley Motors Limited in Cricklewood London prior to the purchase of W O 's business by Rolls-Royce to wipe out its dangerous competition for their Phantom II...
was launched as a grand car for the ultra-rich in October 1930. One hundred were made and sold. Ettore Bugatti sold three of his equivalent model. The 8 Litre's very success proved disastrous for W O 's own career. Rolls-Royce (Hives) elected to kill such strong competition for their Phantom II.
By July 1931 Barnato had decided he would provide no more support for the company and made himself scarce. On the 10th, on the application of the mortgagee, the court appointed a Receiver to Bentley Motors Limited. W O's cars had accumulated losses of £136,220. With Barnato's they were working their way through their third fortune.
D. Napier and Son
Napier & Son
D. Napier & Son Limited was a British engine and pre-Great War automobile manufacturer and one of the most important aircraft engine manufacturers in the early to mid-20th century...
had manufactured cars in England until 1925 when they had shifted focus to aero engines; they were now anxious to return to the motor car market and entered friendly negotiations to purchase Bentley, and W O began work designing his next car for the expected new owner, Napier-Bentley. Rolls-Royce watched with care.
Cricklewood production
| Year | 3-litre Bentley 3 Litre The 3 Litre was the sports car that put Bentley on the automotive map. It was a large car compared to the tiny, lightweight Bugattis then dominating racing, but its innovative technology and strength made up for its weight... |
4-litre Bentley 4 Litre The 4 litre was an ill-thought-through last minute attempt at restoring the Bentley company to a good financial state. Introduced in 1931, it used a Ricardo F-head engine of half the capacity in the 8 litre chassis in an attempt to attract economy-minded buyers.Instead, possibly treacherous... |
4½-litre | 6½-litre Bentley Speed Six The regular Bentley 6½ Litre and the high-performance Bentley Speed Six were Bentley cars in production from 1926 to 1930. They were created out of the desire for more engine power by Walter Owen Bentley by adding two cylinders to the straight-4 engine used in his Bentley 4½ Litre car. The Speed... |
8-litre Bentley 8 Litre The 8 Litre was the largest and most luxurious Bentley car designed and the last new model introduced by W O Bentley at Bentley Motors Limited in Cricklewood London prior to the purchase of W O 's business by Rolls-Royce to wipe out its dangerous competition for their Phantom II... |
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- 506 of the 3-litre cars were 'Speed Models' and 15 '100 mph Models'
- 54 of the 4½-litre cars were supercharged
- 171 of the short-chassis 6½-litre cars were 'Speed Sixes'
Rolls-Royce Limited, Derby
At the very last minute arch-rival Rolls-RoyceRolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
topped Napier's bid, announcing their acquisition of Bentley on 20 November 1931. Rolls-Royce had been disturbed by the 8 Litre's encroachment upon the market segment of their Phantom II
Rolls-Royce Phantom II
The Phantom II replaced the New Phantom in Rolls-Royce's offerings in 1929.-Description:It shared the 7.7 L pushrod-OHV straight-6 engine from its predecessor, being the last large six-cylinder Rolls. The engine was unitary with a 4-speed manual transmission...
. The old business had not troubled to register their Bentley trademark. Rolls-Royce took immediate steps to remedy that. Cricklewood
Cricklewood
Cricklewood is a district of North London, England whose northeastern part is in the London Borough of Barnet, western part is the London Borough of Brent and southeastern part is in London Borough of Camden.-History:...
was closed during 1932. Thereafter production was from Rolls-Royce premises in Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
and, postwar, Crewe
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...
.
Rolls-Royce had acquired the Bentley showrooms in Cork Street, the service station at Kingsbury, the whole establishment at Cricklewood and Bentley himself. This last was disputed by Napier in court without success. Everything was sold but some 8-litre chassis which were taken to Derby. The name alone was to be kept and used for a smaller economy car but that prototype proved to be as complex and expensive as the bigger Rolls-Royces and its development was halted.
W O believed Barnato had bought a substantial shareholding in Rolls-Royce just before pulling out his support while visiting New York. Barnato was invited to become a director of the new Rolls-Royce subsidiary, Bentley Motors (1931) Limited.
W O's winter of 1931/1932 was hard, his wife divorced him and he lost any form of personal transport. Hearing of this W E Rootes
William Rootes, 1st Baron Rootes
William Edward Rootes, 1st Baron Rootes GBE was a noted Coventry motor manufacturer and the innovative Chairman of the Promotion Committee which founded the University of Warwick.-Early life:...
arranged for him to test a new Hillman each weekend. As obliged to do by the court he joined Rolls-Royce under a contract extending from 1 May 1932 to the end of April 1935. Rolls-Royce isolated him in London and Europe, keeping him occupied as liaison between customers and—at long range—the works, to test drive vehicles at Brooklands and for long test runs across the Continent and the Alps.
While he worked on testing the prototype he was only permitted to comment on the design of what would become the new Derby 3½ Litre
Bentley 3.5 Litre
The 3½ Litre was presented to the public in September 1933, shortly after the death of Henry Royce, and was the first new Bentley model following Rolls-Royce's acquisition of the Bentley brand in 1931...
announced in October 1933. Around that time he managed to begin to report in person to the design teams at Derby making friends in the process. Among them Harry Grylls and Stewart Tresilian who did some design-only work on a short-stroke replacement for the V12 engine for their Phantom III. W O had been effectively sequestered from the design team of the new car bearing his own name. But, he did admire their achievement.
Rolls-Royce promoted its new line of Bentleys as "The Silent Sports Car". W O departed at the end of April 1935 somewhat embittered.
Lagonda, Staines, Middlesex
A LagondaLagonda
Lagonda is a British luxury car marque, founded as a company in 1906 in Staines, Middlesex by a former opera singer from Ohio, but of Scottish ancestry, named Wilbur Gunn . He named the company after a river near the town of his birth, Springfield, Ohio, United States...
M45R Rapide with a Meadows
Henry Meadows
Henry Meadows of Wolverhampton, England were major suppliers of engines and transmissions, to the smaller companies in the British motor industry...
engine won at Le Mans in June 1935
1935 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1935 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 13th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 15 and 16 June 1935.-Official results:-Did not finish:-Statistics:* Fastest Lap – #10 Earl Howe – 5:47.9* Distance – 3006.797 km...
. Just a week later Lagonda was pronounced saved from receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
by Alan P Good
Associated British Oil Engine Company
The Associated British Oil Engine Company was a British engineering company. It started life as a combine, similar to Agricultural & General Engineers. Petters Limited joined ABOE in 1937 . J&H McLaren & Co. was sold to ABOE in 1943, although it may have been a member from an earlier date...
and W O joined Good's new Lagonda board of directors as technical director. W O moved, with the majority of the Rolls-Royce racing department staff, to Lagonda. There, W O again went racing. Unable to persuade Harry Grylls to join his engineering staff at Staines W O did obtain Stewart Tresilian's services from February 1936. Tresilian brought Frank Stark and Reg Ingham with him. Donald Bastow joined them.
W O 's Lagondas, Bentleys in all but name
W O made Tresilian chief designer of the V12 project. The masterpiece V12V12 engine
A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....
was launched in 1937. The 4480 cc engine delivered 180 bhp;hp (134 kW) and was said to be capable of going from 7 to 105 mph in top gear and to rev to 5000 rpm. Tresilian left in early 1938 for a Hawker-Siddeley subsidiary. V12 development was not complete but Lagonda's difficult financial circumstances encouraged more to leave at that time.
The car was exhibited at the 1939 New York Motor Show: "The highest price car in the show this year is tagged $8,900. It is a Lagonda, known as the "Rapide" model, imported from England. The power plant is a twelve-cylinder V engine developing 200 horsepower."
During the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
W O worked on armaments at Lagonda. Towards the end of the war he began work on a new straight-6
Straight-6
The straight-six engine or inline-six engine is a six-cylinder internal combustion engine with all six cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase...
engine. It was clear Lagonda's successful V12 would be seen as too extravagant for the postwar market. With his team he developed a modern dual overhead cam straight-6 engine. It initially displaced 2.6 L (2580 cc/157 in³) with a 78 mm (3.07 in) bore and 90 mm (3.543 in) stroke it produced roughly 105 hp (78 kW) with dual SU carburettors. It was not to get on to the market until 1948.
In August 1947 J R Greenwood, chairman of Lagonda, announced though work had begun on the first 1,000 of its new 2½ litre motorcar designed by Mr W O Bentley, due to shortage of materials, continuing difficulties of production and the recently imposed double purchase tax those plans had been cancelled. While there were other engineering activities including the manufacture of a diesel pile-driver it had informed the 1,600 workpeople involved that some of them would inevitably become redundant.
David Brown, Feltham, Middlesex
A month later, in mid-September it was announced that the Lagonda specification had been bought by David Brown & Sons (Huddersfield) LimitedDavid Brown (entrepreneur)
Sir David Brown was an English entrepreneur, managing director of his family firm David Brown Limited and one time owner of shipbuilders Vosper Thornycroft and automobile manufacturer Aston Martin....
, gear-wheel manufacturer, which would combine production with Aston Martin
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
bought earlier that year.
Production was moved to Feltham, Middlesex.
Brown had purchased Lagonda largely to gain Bentley's engineering expertise, and immediately placed W O 's newest creation, his 2.6 litre Lagonda Straight-6 engine
Lagonda Straight-6 engine
The Lagonda Straight-6 is a famous automobile engine used by Aston Martin and Lagonda marques in the 1950s. Designed by Walter Owen Bentley of Bentley Motors Limited, it vaulted Aston Martin to fame as a maker of desirable sports and racing cars.-History:...
, under the bonnet of Brown's other new acquisition, the Frank Feeley-designed DB2
Aston Martin DB2
The Aston Martin DB2 is a sports car sold by Aston Martin from May 1950 through to April 1953. It was a major advancement over the 2-Litre Sports model it replaced, with a dual overhead cam straight-6 in place of the previously-used pushrod straight-4. The car featured a 2.6 L engine, and was...
. This durable DOHC engine would continue in Lagondas and Aston Martins until 1959 and, W O noted, important design details were carried on through to their V8.
Armstrong-Siddeley
W O remained as an engineer at Aston Martin-Lagonda for a time then he moved to Armstrong SiddeleyArmstrong Siddeley
Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury motor cars and aircraft engines.-Siddeley Autocars:...
where he designed another twin overhead cam 3 litre engine before retiring.
However it is reported that W O 's team's, it included Donald Bastow, responsibilities for the Sapphire project which also extended to the chassis, ceased in 1949 and as it eventuated they provided not a lot more than the detailed inspiration for the production version of the Sapphire announced in October 1952. The production cost of W O 's exact engine design was considered to be too high. Nevertheless W O 's involvement maintained the considerable respect of contemporary engine designers and manufacturers for him and the final Sapphire product.
Personal life
W O married three times. In 1914 he married Leonie Gore, the daughter of the ninth baronet, she died in 1919 in the Spanish fluSpanish flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
epidemic. He married Poppy (Audrey Hutchinson) in 1920, they divorced soon after the business was sold in 1931. He married Margaret Roberts Hutton née Murray in 1934 and she survived him. He had no children.
Bentley died at Woking, Surrey, Friday 13 August 1971, shortly before his 83rd birthday, revered patron of The Bentley Drivers' Club. His widow, Margaret, survived him and died in 1989.
Obituaries
Following his lengthy obituary printed in The TImes 16 August 1971 the same newspaper printed two more contributions." . . . In the eyes of those who own, have owned, or aspire to own, one of the 3,040 Bentley cars designed and built by the 'old' Bentley company under the leadership of "W.O." he was admired and respected—indeed, I think, loved is not too strong a word—for to know his cars was to know him. During his working life "W.O." suffered a series of ups and downs which might have broken a lesser man. It certainly marked him and it was a disillusioned "W.O." I first met 25 years ago [1946]. . . . "W.O." has said that the pleasure he derived in the post-war years from Club activities; from making new friends among its members; and from seeing the loving care bestowed upon 'his' cars has more than compensated for all his earlier disappointments." S. S.
"The six years during which I worked for "W.O." were a period of education and pleasure. His modesty, lack of pretension, mental honesty and reasonableness endeared him to those in contact with him, and his overriding interest in the improvement of the car provided the education in a period which included the post-war 2½ litre Lagonda development, schemes for 4 and 8 cylinder derivatives, for the pursuit of shorter strokes in engines, for a small transverse-engined front wheel drive car and for a performance engine for the Morris Minor in place of the 850cc side valve engine it then endured.
Though normally of reflective habit his experience showed him when swift action was necessary, and he could be very determined in pursuing it. Big enough to admit mistakes when they had occurred, he also knew when to modify and when to start afresh in remedying them.
It is a pity that circumstances prevented his influence on car development from being greater than it was. Though motoring and motor cars were his life he retained a keen interest in locomotives." Mr Donald Bastow.
The Bentley Drivers' Club
Woolf Barnato (1895-1948) served a term as president. W O agreed to become patron in 1947.Founded in 1936 this club now has near 4,000 members throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, US, Canada, Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
External links
- The W.O. Bentley Memorial Foundation
- The Bentley Drivers' Club
- Pictures and specifications of W O 's cars 1919-1932
- Bentley 8 litre coupé, coachwork by J Gurney Nutting
- Channel 4 short biography of Bentley
- Youtube Lagonda V12 engine start
- Jay Leno explains and demonstrates W O's racing Lagonda V12
- Jay Leno shows his 8-litre Bentley saloon