Concorso d’Eleganza at the Villa d’Este

The Concorso d’Eleganza at the Villa d’Este is always a glamorous event.

It is always a great place to see new coach work by proper coachbuilders.

Take a look at this one that showed up!



Yes it is a Bentley Continental GTZ by Zagato. With spats! This is based on a Speed car.

This is the first time I have seen this car. And the first time I have seen spats on a modern Bentley!



Also suprising is that this is a right hand drive car. I have read that only one right hand drive car would be made, but this is the second.

The other is here, with out Bentley Speed wheels or spats.

Here is another Bentley that was there. Quite a stand out colour scheme.



A Bentley R Type Continental. Quite a car!



Thank you so much to Ewan for sending in his pictures that he took on the day.

Most appreciated Ewan, and thanks again for sharing.

First Time on Top Gear

So, what was the very first car that Jeremy Clarkson ever reviewed on Top Gear?

How about the Bentley Turbo R 2 door coupe by Hooper.

Here is Jeremy talking about the first time on Top Gear, and a little bit of the Hooper 2 door.



If anyone find the full clip of the Hooper, please send in the clip!

An interestingly enough, what car was James May's very first appearance on Top Gear?

It was his very own Bentley T2. There is the full episode.


I still would love to see the whole Hooper video!

Gumball 3000 2012 Indianapolis to Kansas City

Here is an update on the Gumball 300 rally.



There was also a check point at St Louis.



The boys are still having fun.

Matching Phantoms

Here is a pair of matching Rolls-Royce Phantoms.



The same, but decades apart.



The photos were taken on the same day, I think on the same street in London.

2012 Bentley Continental GT

Here is a nice photo of a black 2012 Bentley Continental GT in Sydney.



It does look powerful.

How about in silver?



And from the rear.



But if you prefer the older body shape, how about this SuperSports?



And yes, that is a Holden ute in the background. Only in Australia.

Thanks Will for the photos from Sydney.

Rolls-Royce Phantom Series II Review

From Autocar
"This is the new Rolls Royce Phantom.
Changes compared with the old model are few and far between, the biggest of which being the addition of an imperceptibly smooth eight-speed automatic gearbox.
This is still the pinnacle of luxury travel"



Thanks Andy for the link.

A moment in the Azure in Monaco

Just say you decided to take a couple of your girlfriends out for some shopping in your nice baby blue Bentley Azure.

It certainly is a beautiful day in Casino Square in Monte Carlo, Monaco for some convertible driving.

But you know you are not the best driver, especially when there are other cars around.

So you like to take it slow. But then as it happened you have a moment in the Azure in Monaco and crash.

Then someone uploads you moment to youtube so everyone can see. Woops.



Even the Daily Mail write about the crash, and even mentions the price of all the cars you crashed into.



Double woops. Just a little bit embarrassed.

14 Goodwood Rolls-Royces

Check out this video of 14 Goodwood Rolls-Royces.

Take a close look at the front of the Rolls-Royce Phantom DHC at 0:56.



Yep it's a Series II. The first I've seen in the wild.

Gumball 3000 2012 Toronto to Indianapolis

Here is the Toronto Starting Grid from the Gumball 3000.



The Rally today goes from Toronto to Indianapolis, and here is Tim's video summary.



And wrap up.



Now from another teams perspective.

The Starting Grid.



Here is the summary of the day.



Looks fun!

Rolls-Royce und Bentley

This one is a goodie.

Check out the character at 2:30. The dog matching the hair do is just priceless.



The presenter reminds me of a boy band member. He totally looks like a synth player.

Team Habibeez is off for Day 2 of Gumball 3000

Shmee150 reports that Team Habibeez is off for Day 2 of Gumball 3000, leaving Toronto.

@Habibeez @gumball3000 @GumballLive twitter.com/Amarsagar87/st…

— Amar Sagar (@Amarsagar87) May 26, 2012

The @Habibeez on the 401 heading towards GM HQ in Detroit @gumball3000 twitter.com/Moealthani/sta…

— Moe Al Thani (@Moealthani) May 26, 2012

Here is Autogespot's video summary of Day 1.



And Shmee at the first check point. Spot the Bentley Brooklands.

Rolls-Royce Antibes with Monaco Conversion by Robert Jankel

The coachbuilder Robert Jankel certainly did some interesting things with Crewe cars in the 1980s and 1990s.

He even was the official coachbuilder of Rolls-Royce making the stretched Silver Spur model for the factoty.

But he also made some more interesting things such as Bentley Val d'Isere station wagon, the Bentley Azur 2 Door Spyder, the Bentley Blazer and even the Jankel Gold Label powered by Bentley.

He also offered an option called the Monaco Conversion.

The Monaco Conversion involved replacing the square fish tank head lamps of the Silver Spirit to more traditional round head lamps similar to the Silver Shadow.

From the brochure:

"Available on all Rolls-Royce, Bentley and RJD converstions.
The standard leadlight system is replaced each side with 7" round units fitted with quarts iodine bulbs.
The corner side, rear and indicator lights are deleted and the areas concerned made good to the origional bodywork.
Styled colour coded bumpers are fitted and inset into these are all indicator, side and tail light units."



All this for ₤9000.

What is hard to find is examples of cars that under went this conversion.

But Andy has!

Take a look at this.



I am pretty sure this car is a Rolls-Royce Antibes by Jankel, with a stretch is the C pillar and in front of the rear wheel arches.

Here is the design sketch, though from the photo angle, it does not seem quite stretched enough, but could be with out the everflex roof.



More on the Rolls-Royce Antibes here.

Thanks Andy for the photo.

Gumball 3000 in car view

You would not want to be camera shy for the start of Gumball 3000.

Team Habibeez in Toronto

Here is David Irvine filming Team Habibeez in Toronto.



You can follow Sheikh Mohammad Al Thani on twitter @Moealthani

Team Balthazar on Gumball 3000

Team Balthazar is the Unofficial Support Crew for Gumball 3000.

Here is there Flickr stream.



They are using RallyTronics software to record the rally route and tweets and photos etc.

Here is an example.



I have a feeling that you could see me using this at Rolls-Royce Owners Club runs and Bentley Drivers Club events soon!

Team Habibeez on the Highway

Here is Team Habibeez on the Highway spotted by @Buttsy Butler™



His number plate is a bit cool.

Gumball 3000 in Toronto

Here is car number 56 in Gumball 3000 entering Toronto.

Rapper Bun B behind the wheel.



Nice video David!

Gumball Hits Toronto

The Gumball just hit Toronto...

 

 

I just met superstar rapper Bun B. (A.K.A. Bernard Freeman )the rapper who was one half of the southern hip hop  duo UnderGround Kingz.

Nice, nice guy...

I told him to check out Bentleyspotting tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's his entry in the Gumball Rally:

 

 

Boot full o'stuff...

 

 

 

 

 

Then I met these guys:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheikh Mohammad Al Thani, known to his friends and fans as 'Sheikh Moe' is a Gumball legend!

Having initially driven the rally in character as Sheik Abdul Bin Falafel, with wing-men Matt and Mothman, these guys SERIOUSLY tear it up....

 

 

What a party...

 

I didn't see any Bentley entrants as I am old and go to bed early so probably missed them...

But I saw these in the neighbourhood:

 

 

Not part of it, but in the right place at the right time.

There were a few of these funny things lying around too.

Wasn't he a British 'Rapper' from the eighties..? Malcolm...?

"Buffalo Girls 'Round the Outside?"

Maybe not...

 

 

(Posted by David Irvine)

 

 

Gumball 3000 Update

Here is an update from David Irvine.

Gumball 3000 has made it to Toronto.

David has snapped Team White from the Netherlands in their Rolls-Royce Phantom.



The other car in Team White is a Bentley Brooklands. In white of course!



Now Shmee150 reports that Team Habibeez in now in Toronto!



Looking forward to David Irvines experience of the Rally in Toronto!

Gumball 3000

It's Gumball 300 time again! Love it.

This year let's follow Tim or Shmee150. He has teamed up with Team Habibeez for the Rally.

In a fleet of Rolls-Royce cars. Why not.

Intro.



Here is this years route.



Cars being sticker up.



Driving to the Start Grid. Times Square.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/s720x720/536495_386952741339987_176218959080034_1028063_304299510_n.jpg



The Start Grid.



That's Tim for keeping us updated!

Here is his live twitter feed.






Here is AutoGeSpots take on the Starting Grid.





Car spotters are certainly represented on Gumball 3000 this year.

Never Crossed my Mind...

Something I had never thought about until my fellow RROC member Gary T mentioned it. "Change your spare tyre - you may actually need it one day and it may fail...."

 

 

So today I fitted a new one.

 

But I do believe my spare tyre was still original (from 1975).

 

 

 

 

 

A Firestone Cavallino Wide Oval Radial.

 

 

 

It has a very odd thin mid wall whitewall.

 

 

 

 

It's old and hard, cracked and 'knackered' but I just can't throw it out - tomorrow I'll clean it up and keep it. My wife doesn't need to know....

Is it actually an original Crewe supplied spare? Anyone...?

It does say 'Made in Great Britain' on it.

It's useless as a useable tyre but maybe someone out there wants it.

 

Oh, and as far as the debate went (which ended up pretty well 50/50 by the way) , I fitted four new 16" BLACKWALLS on the old thing. Sorry Rodd, whitewalls are just not my style....

 

 

 

 

 

(Posted by David Irvine)

 

 

 

Bentley Drivers Club

Here is a recent pit stop of the Bentley Drivers Club from the 10 May.



I'll take the one on the right please.



Great photography.

Muskoka Bound.

Ahh, the weekend...

A very Canadian thing to do is leave the city. Sit in traffic jams for hours on a Friday evening to escape, then do the same again back down on Sunday evening.

Perfectly normal, right?

Destination Muskoka maybe?

 

 

So how do we get there?

There's always the Greyhound bus...

 

 

Maybe the trusty old GMC Suburban:

 

 

Naaaw! To heck with that. If you have one, take the Turbo RT Mulliner. There's lots of room.

Watch out for this one on Highway 400 this summer as it seems to be the vehicle of choice....

 

 

Bentley 1998 Turbo R/T Mulliner VIN#SCBZP25C7WCX66741

 

Thanks to 'RP' for the shot - and the gas stations will see their sales rise this summer for sure.

 

(Posted by David Irvine)

 

 

Bentley Turbo R at the Car Wash

Decided to take the Bentley Turbo R when going to see The Dictator film last tonight.

Parked under a tree on the main street. Once home, noticed that the birds had a go.

So it was to the car wash for a Bentley hose down.



Bentley Driver POV.

Rolls Royce Phantom at Hellaflush meet in Japan!

These are not my shots.

I somehow stumbled across them on Google, but had to post them.

Modified Goodwood Phantoms (in my opinion) are very cool.

 

 

 

"Rolls Royce Phantom at Hellaflush meet in Japan"

 

 

 

 

They are all on:

 

http://www.farmofminds.com/2011_10_01_archive.html

 

But here's the quick way to see them.

 

 

 

Crunch on every bump...

 

 

This car is wild!

 

 

 

I take no credit for these - I just want them to be seen.

 

(Only POSTED by David Irvine)