"This Bentley Isn’t Just an Old Car."
A Bentley 3 Litre competed in the 1915 Le Mans 24 Hours race, making it the first British automobile and the first Bentley to do so. That first Bentley was sold to a British fan for more than £3 million, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the race that made it famous: a 24-hour full-throttle test of man and machine.
This vehicle is significant because it was the first Bentley to be sold by Kidston SA, a brokerage firm established by Simon Kidston, nephew of Glen Kidston, who drove a Bentley to victory in the 1930 Le Mans 24 Hours. Kidston, Clement, and Duff, along with Sir Tim Birkin, Dr. Dudley Benjafield, and former Bentley Chairman Woolf Barnato, were known as The Bentley Boys for their aggressive approach to racing. As company founder W.O. Bentley said of this group’s antics: “The public liked to imagine them living in Mayfair flats. Drinking champagne in nightclubs, playing the horses and the stock exchange, and beating furiously around the racing tracks at the weekend. Of several of them, this was not such an inaccurate picture.”
John Duff, a Canadian war veteran, adventurer and Bentley dealer, drove Chassis 141 to victory in the Double 12 Hour Record at Brooklands (2,082 miles at 86.79 mph; 24-hour racing was outlawed so residents could sleep). He then contacted the trustworthy W.O. Bentley to get his vehicle ready for the forthcoming 24-hour race in Le Mans, France. Bentley felt it was crazy, but he gave his blessing and offered to borrow factory test driver Frank Clement to ride shotgun. Following 24 hours behind the wheel, they ended in a tie for fourth place despite having ran out of petrol due to stones puncturing the tank. During that time, they established the lap record at 66.69 mph in a car with just rear brakes.
Bentley and The Bentley Boys would compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans again in the following year. They were sure of victory this time. One of the most dominant runs in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours was the four-year stretch from 1927 to 1930 that Bentley dominated the event. As a result of Chassis 141's groundbreaking efforts, business founder W.O. Bentley came to believe that his vehicles could not only finish, but even win, a 24-hour race.
According to W.O., he owed a lot to both John Duff and Chassis 141. With the help of the 1923 and 1924 Le Mans 24 Hours races, Bentley was able to sell 700 cars in just two years after delivering its first vehicle to a customer in 1921. To claim that these accomplishments contributed to the overall success of the Bentley brand would not be an exaggeration.
With time, though, Chassis 141's existence became more routine. It was first utilised as a tow vehicle until the local undertaker converted the back end into a shooting brake. Its female owner used it in the late 1940s to take her St. Bernard dogs to dog shows. Then it fell off the radar until the early 1980s, when Tom Wheatcroft, the curator of the Donington Automobile Museum, got a call from a 97-year-old woman giving him a Bentley and a Voisin she had stored in her barn. Before a motorsport journalist recognised it as the long-lost first Bentley to compete at Le Mans, he acquired it without knowing their history. Peter Briggs, an Australian collector, and the Donington Museum struck a contract for the use of Briggs' Brabham F1 vehicle. Although the Brabham remained in Donington, the Bentley was sent to Australia to undergo restoration and eventually become a featured exhibit at Briggs' York Automobile Museum in the Perth suburb of same name. Its journey back to Britain completes a full circle.
Commenting on the transaction, Simon Kidston said:
"This week the most famous motor race in the world celebrates its 100th birthday and its pioneering early competitors remain as intriguing as ever. This Bentley isn’t just an old car, it’s a turning point in motor racing history and a cornerstone of the Bentley legend. And personally, having inherited a family passion for cars which was accelerated by my ‘Bentley Boy’ uncle, helping to bring this Bentley home feels really satisfying. It won’t be leading a quiet life: it’ll be lining up on the grid of the Le Mans 100th anniversary race for vintage cars next month. I hope its original drivers will be looking down and smiling.”