BENTLEY SPOTTING

It's the Rolls-Royce of Bentley websites.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

RR SUV Spotted?

Okay, so it's a brilliant 'Photoshop' job by Kenjonbro...


Good for a laugh.

(Posted by David Irvine- all credit to Kenjonbro)

Monday, April 28, 2014

Bentley Turbo R with Large Wing

Check out this shopping trolley handle.

On a matte black Bentley Turbo R.



Certainly not what you expect to see!

Thanks to @notfromwales for the tweet.

Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin and Bentley the World's Finest Sporting Car

This still says it all.

The world's finest sporting car. Bentley.



It's from this great clip about Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin.



It's always to see Bentley heritage.

Bentley Arnage LWB Landaulet

Wow, just came across this Bentley spotted on Instagram.



Yeah it's the very common Bentley Arnage LWB Landaulet.



Most likely a California special built in the US. Anyone know any more details?

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Rolls-Royce Wraith Event Attendee POV Experience

A very excited gent takes his GoPro to a Rolls-Royce Wraith test drive event.

I love the excitement.



Sounds like he had a great day!

1965 Silver Shadow and Bentley T Production line in Crewe

Check this video still out.



Yep, here is great period video from the Crewe factory in 1965.

Demonstrating the production line of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and Bentley T.



No sound, but still gold.

Now in black and white.



Just great.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Rolls-Royce Owners Club of Australia assist in the ANZAC Day Parade

Today was ANZAC Day and the Rolls-Royce Owners Club of Australia assisted Diggers in the Melbourne Parade.

From wikipedia - Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served."

A great variety of cars assisted.

From the old.



To the new.





And in between.







Here is a video of some of the cars.



I had this view which was nice.



Then it was off to the pick up point to assist.



It was about the Diggers today, not the cars.



I had an enjoyable day.

Thanks to Brad for getting me a drive.

TJ7378

Kenjonbro spotted this lovely 20/25 Rolls-Royce on the road last week.





Nice one Ken.

(Posted by David Irvine - all credits to Kenjonbro)

Bentley Spotting from a Bugatti

This photo is quite cool.

Yes, from Instagram, here is a great photo of a Bentley S3 Continental DHC by HJ Mulliner Park Ward spotted from you guessed it, a Bugatti Veryon.



The hashtags are pretty funny as well.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

The Bentley Continential GT3 Race Car

Here is a great film by David Hale of the Bentley Continential GT3 Race Car.




Very cool.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Bentley Plug-in Hybrid System

The Bentley Plug-in Hybrid System has been launched in China.

It's for the upcoming 2017 Bentley SUV.

"The plug-in hybrid system will offer a power increase of up to 25% together with a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions, both without any compromise to the exquisite luxury, timeless design and industry-leading refinement for which Bentley has become renowned."



It's a yes for more power.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Cruising in a Rolls-Royce Phantom V PV23 James Young Limousine

Check this out.

Let's go for a ride in Japan in a Rolls-Royce Phantom V PV23 James Young Limousine.



A little bit bumpy road, but quite fun!

Thanks boys for sharing the video.

Scale model collection on Instagram

I do like it when people share their collections.

Paul from Vancouver has been sharing his great Rolls-Royce and Bentley scale model as well as brochure collection on Instagram.

Check it out here.



Follow him here http://instagram.com/rrandbfreak

Bentley Racing in North America

Yep - this week Bentley announced it is back racing in North America.



And now for some bookface photos from Dyson Racing.



Let's see if there are any races around Rolls-Royce Owners Club or Bentley Drivers Club events.



That would make a nice north American holiday.

Hooniverse's Bentley Mulsanne Review

Hooniverse reviews the Mulsanne.

In a flanny shirt and runners. And does a burnout.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Crewe Factory Tour 1999

Oh the factory tour.

As Richard Charlesworth says "we like to bring people here so they can become dinner party bores and talk about the ins and outs of their cars".



I should really finish writing about the factory tour I went on late last year.

19th British Classic Car Meeting St. Moritz

This looks like a fun weekend away.

The production value of the video - and by default the event, looks superb.

I really like the timing instruments and all other dashboard accessories.



Quite liked the view at 1:38 as well.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Bentley P7 & P8

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Bentley Racing Side by Side

It's exciting Bentley racing.

Here they are side by side.



Flying Bentley Continental GT3 is back

15 hours ago the Bentley Continental GT3 car #7 looked like this.



Now it looks like this.


Top work boys.

The modern Bentley Boys are doing last minute practice.


Watch it live here - an hour and a half till broadcast commences.



Good luck Bentley Boys.

Flying Bentley Continental GT3 Spurs into Wall

Flying Bentley Continental GT3 Spurs into Wall. See what I've done there?

From Bentley Comms:

And the pic sequence.



Have a watch.



It's cosmetic only so will hopefully be fixed.





So Bentley line up at positions 4 and 13 tomorrow, with only 0.3sec between the cars.

That's racing.

FHC!

Kenjonbro has spotted this great FHC Bentley. 
 
 
Note the black grille shell.
 
 
It has to be a two door Mulliner Park Ward T series sporting Corniche wheel trims as there''s no Corniche emblem on the back and it has an 'H' registration.
 
 
Closlely followed by a matte GT.
 
 
(Posted by David Irvine - all credits to Kenjonbro)

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Bentley is back Racing in the Blancpain GT Series

Does your Bentley to this?



Well these do.

Watch the first factory backed Bentley race in 10 years. Since the historic Le Mans win of 2003 of course.



Welcome the modern Bentley Boys.

#Car7



#Car8



Bring on the noise in the pre-qualifying. Click the speaker icon to hear.



And watch it live here.



Have fun.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Instagramming those Bentley Pics

For the last month and a half I've been having fun uploading a new picture daily to Instagram.

I've taken all the pictures myself.

Here is a selection:











You follow me here: http://instagram.com/bentleyspotting

Sunday, April 06, 2014

Smooth riding for the Bentley Turbo R

I had a fun weekend literally wrenching on the Bentley. With an actual chain wrench.

In the drive way, of my apartment complex, because that's what I wanted to do.



When I bought a Bentley, part of what I wanted to do was to learn about the mechanics of it and to become more practical.

Yes, I have no problem writing 2000+ posts about Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars, but to fix them? Not much experience at all.

But really, there is good information out there, so you can do it yourself, and have a go.

Don't be scared. Get your finger nails dirty.

So I emailed Richard Tracey from SpurParts Pty Ltd and said that a couple of weeks ago I had three girls in the back seat, and they were bouncing around quite a bit.

It wasn't that smooth for them, and as I was not causing the back seat to bounce, I probably needed something fixed.

SpurParts Pty Ltd is based in Sydney, and has partnered with Introcar in the UK, as a supplier of Rolls-Royce and Bentley parts.

It's great to now have a parts supplier in Australia with no hefty delivery charges.



And what else was cool? Well Richard was heading down to Canberra and would drop the parts off and show me how to install them.

I also don't mind checking out the SpurParts Pty Ltd delivery vehicle, a Bentley Continental R.



So it was to the driveway for another Canberra style backyard service, like previously done here.

Don't shake you head about Rolls-Royce and Bentley DIY. I've said this before, there are no Rolls-Royce Motors or Bentley Service Centres here. There are no Crewe Genuine Parts shops. There's not even a dealership.

There are simply men in sheds very willing to share information and help other Rolls-Royce and Bentley owners and enthusiasts out.



So I read up on what was causing the bounce in the back seat. The rear gas springs or spheres must have been shot.

Now to research and information sharing on how to DIY the replacement.

I read about it on Bill Coburn's Tee-One Topics of course. His great 'how to' document is below.

I also checked out the Victorian RROC branches' Self Help Group newsletter called 'Crewe'd Jottings' which also has done the procedure, and I also found a 'laymen's guide' document that interestingly enough thanked Bill Coburn and Richard Tracey. Very convenient.

So here is the part, a gas spring or rear sphere. The sphere has a diaphragm inside where the hydraulic fluid pushes up against nitrogen to create that Rolls-Royce smooth ride.



And to replace them? Well they are attached to the top of the rear dampers and are accessible from the boot.

But the first step? Disconnect the battery, as you will be moving the battery master switch and you don't want to get any shocks.

The battery is in the rear under neath the carpet and underlay.



There is a trap door panel, and voilà the battery.



People may not know, but Rolls-Royce very conviently supplied tools with the car. They are on the rear shelf.



Quite a nice little packet.



I know the perception is that it is very wrong to use these.

People might think that the car broke down and they had to be used! Rolls-Royces don't break down. Or heavens, a non-qualified non-Rolls-Royce person touched the car! What, the owner did not have people to do that for him? Shocking I say.



Here is a very rare photo of a genuine Rolls-Royce supplied tool in use. This is much rarer than the tool itself!



Next step is to exhaust the hydraulic system by pumping on the brake pedal 100's of times.

Following de-pressuring the system, you need to bleed the dampers of their hydraulic fluid. The bleed nipples are mounted on the inside of the body beneath the rear doors. I didn't quite get a picture, but check the reference guides below.

Now to the boot.

Lower the rear carpeted boot panel. There were 4 screws that held it in place along with the battery switch surround.



So here is how it looks. See the gas spring in the corner behind the boot hinge?



There it is. It does look tight. Described in the guide as 'tighter than a Scotsman's wallet'. You can see why.



Now to the left side.



This has much easier access to the sphere, thanks to not having the battery switch in front of it.



My old spheres had the date written on them - 21/05/04 - so 10 years of making a smooth ride. Nice.



They usually last 5-8 years or so, so I got good use of of mine.

Then it was to wrenching.

First up was a strap wrench. It did not quite budge them loose.



Straight to the heavy metal. Yep, a chain wrench.



The chain wrench did the trick quick smart on the left hand side one.

It came out quite easily. Much easily than it seems from the how to docs.



A little fluid does come out when you remove them.



Then it was a matter of screwing in the new one.



The right hand one was so much harder to take out!

The battery switch was un-screwed and pushed to the side to gain better access.



And finally after a lot of goes we eventually got it loosened.



Then it was in with the new.



There is actually a o-ring between the sphere and the mount - best to put a little oil on it before you screw it in, just like an oil filter.



And before you screw it in all the way - make sure the o-ring is set properly.



The old went down the drain.



It is fun working on Bentleys.



Especially when this is the spares truck.



Finally start the engine and fluid will flow from the bleed nipples that were left open from before. Once there are no bubbles in it, close the nipples.

Then grab some more fluid.



And fill'r up.



Then it was a matter of packing everything back in the boot.



And going for a blast - now with a smooth ride for the back seat!

It was satisfying doing it.

Yes, I could have driven for three and a half hours to Bentley Sydney, drop it off for probably a day, then have to drive home. And pay top dollar.

But doing it in your drive way yourself is that much cooler. And much much more satisfying.

Thanks again to Richard Tracey from SpurParts Pty Ltd for showing how to install the parts. Talk about Service.


Here are the Reference Documents - please follow these:

Tee-One Topics



Crewe'd Jottings



Layman's guide

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