BENTLEY SPOTTING

It's the Rolls-Royce of Bentley websites.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Bentley Cake and Eat It

So, start with a precise shape. Seems familiar hey.



Make cake and sculpture.



Ice precisely.



Then serve.



Just check out the detail.

It looks great Donna, of DeliciousArts.com in LA.

But it's not the first desert featured - that when to Kristofer from Sweden who made a Rolls-Royce Ginger Spur here.

Oh, and here is another.



Maybe I feel like cake.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Dyson Racing Team Bentley at Sonoma Raceway Pirelli World Challenge

Here is a summary from the Team Bentley race today in the US.



We started 2nd and 3rd on the grid.



The Bentley Boys look happy.



And from the grid.



Watch the full race here.


Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream



And the result.









Well done on the podium.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

2014 Bentley Continental GT V8 S In Depth Review

Kyle is a pretty famous YouTuber.

His thing is to do these in depth car reviews which talks about all the little details.

They are pretty popular, with 239,368,491 views so far.

He even got to go along to Gumball 3000 this year as part of the media crew.

Here he is doing this thing with a GT V8 S.



Thanks Kyle for doing your thing.

Monday, August 18, 2014

[More] More Than Four...

Back in July 2013, Team Bentley Spotting posted "More Than Four..." featuring Rolls-Royce and Bentley limousines with six doors.
 
 
It includes photos of 11 different six-door cars...
 
And now we have one more. It's a 1994 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit III that was stretched in 1998 and since used for limousine hire.
 
 
The coachbuilder isn't identified,but be we suspect its a former AW Lymn Limousine Services car, and therefore most likely converted by Coway Ltd of Westhaughton to their specific requirements.
 
 
 
 
 
 
It's not the most luxurious specification, but practical for when you have six passengers climbing in and out.
 
And it's very, very looooooong...
 
(Posted by Andy)
 

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Robert Jankel Azur

Here at Team Bentley Spotting we are big fans of coachbuilt Rolls-Royce & Bentley cars from the eighties.
 
So we get very excited when we discover another example of these rare cars.
 
And one of the rarest is the Rolls-Royce (or Bentley) Azur by Robert Jankel Designs Ltd, available in both coupe or spyder versions.Here is a Robert Jankel leaflet featuring the car:
 
First, the renderings...
 
 
And the specifications...
 
 
Most of the Azurs are believed to have been bought by the Brunei Royal Family and remain in their collection, but every now and then an example is listed for sale.
 
And here is one!
 
 
It's a 1989 Rolls-Royce Azur Spyder, originally commissioned by a Middle Eastern sheikh, freshly refinished in metalic wine red and with 74,000kms from new.  
 
 
 
The  conversion includes lengthening the doors, both to maintain the balance of the design and to also aid access to the rear seats, while the power-operated hood was advertised as more advanced than offered on the Rolls-Royce Corniche II Convertible of the time.
 
 
 
The interior also includes a bespoke centre console to the front and a redesigned bench seat to the rear.
 
 
 
It's a very rare and interesting car.
 
Please let us know if you are aware of others.
 
For those of you who have never heard of the Robert Jankel Azur, Team Bentley Spotting has some previous posts:
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Bentley Mulsanne Launch Film 1981

Here is some retro viewing for you.

Seen this photo before of the 1981 Bentley Mulsanne when it was launched?



It's sporting the 1900TU Crewe number plates of most of the Bentley press cars.

Here is another angle with the aircraft flying above.



What is cool is that along with this photo shoot there also was a video!

Check out the 1981 Bentley Mulsanne Launch Film.



Quite cool to see.



Once Bentley added to turbo to this car, it really reinvigorated the Bentley brand.

A good dose of Bentley history.

Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit Ute

I do like it when I see a car I have never seen before.

And here is one. A Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit Ute.



It's great. And wrong. And great.

It's quite cleaver to move the rear window forward and keep the original slope.

They have even kept the petrol filler.

The car was spotted in Saudi Arabia and uploaded to Instagram.

Thanks to Jee Be for sharing it.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Pebble Beach and the Monterey Car Week

This week is the Monterey Car Week and Pebble Beach.

For Bentley it will be the North American debut of the Continental GT3-R.

I'm sure there will be plenty of Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars around.

Denis is there, and spotted this Bentley Mk VI with presumably a Swiss body.

Off to be auctioned presumably.



Certainly a lot of chrome.

Hopefully more pictures from will come through.

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

Clouds, Shadows, Corniches and Spirits Galore

A shot from atop the hill last week.


(Posted by David Irvine)

Alpine Silver Ghost

Alpine Silver Ghost at the National meet last week.


What a stunning car.







(Posted by David Irvine)

Tuesday, August 05, 2014

'Lizzy Was Here'

In 1975 Queen Elizabeth visited the Bahamas.


A very special 1974 Corniche DHC was used to transport her.


The actual car was at the RROC National meet last week.

DRC18835, now in Pennsylvania.






How cool is that?

(Posted by David Irvine)


Town & Country Silver Shadow

Wanna Woody?


But want a Rolls-Royce one?
Well Bentleyspotting has a yellow wheeled Turbo R to shock the world so why not have one of our honorary members go wild too?


I like a laugh.

Rodd Sala of Park-Ward Motors in Cary, Illinois showed us all his sense of humour by turning up at the RROC National meet in this:


Oh, it turned heads and caused rude words to come out of mouths....



It's a wrap. All for fun (and attention...)


Easy on the Gatorade, Rodd...


And Jetsetter badges....


Louis Vuitton luggage rack:


"Oh my...." 


Need a laugh?
You could buy it.


We all like a laff.... Right Alexi?


(Posted by David Irvine)


Mercedes Rolls-Royce

"Huh?", you say....

Well back in the nineties Mercedes-Benz formed a study team headed by Dieter Zetche to look into the possible purchase of Rolls-Royce and base the new model RR on their (then current) V/W140 S-Class series V12 engined car.


In the mid 1990s Tony Gott, chief executive of Rolls-Royce was looking for a new engine supplier was a new modern Rolls-Royce. I will quote from a book on the final takeover , but the rest is my own speculation.
"What started as purely engineering discussions with Mercedes-Benz ended with Gott and a small team from Crewe working on a practical project in Stuttgart....
The team returned with enough evidence to convince the Rolls-Royce board to go for the Mercedes bid."
Vickers didn't agree.

At the RROC National meet last week I came across an original Crewe styling sketch of what the seller thought was just a Silver Spirit.
I was fascinated by this rather expensive drawing....
It has Mercedes-Benz styling cues all over it!
The grey lower cladding on the body, the fog lamps in the lower front valance.
Interiorwise, sure it has traditional RR/B round air vents but look at the MB switches, instrument cluster, glove box, shifter, door handles......
Oh my! This, in my opinion is the Rolls-Royce Mercedes we have never seen.


When Mercedes-Benz withdrew from the 'Squabbling' involving BMW and Volkswagen , they said they had a better pursuit ahead - Chrysler.

Again, this is my speculation but why is it that when the Maybach came out it was based on Mercedes-Benz's previous generation 140 S-Class and not the 220 series which had been out since 1999?
They had produced a Rolls-Royce of their own and I think this picture is of the car that started it.

Have I started a debate?
I should have bought the sketch. I was right there staring at it....!

(Posted by David Irvine)




Homeward Bound

Well as I said, it was a blast!
The RROC National Meet 2014 in Pennsylvania.
Three ribbons. 
First place Silver Shadow/T Touring; a meet ribbon;  and the final surprise - the Cal West Award for the longest driven by a car entered in the Judging
At Louisville two tears ago I did drive the longest distance but hadn't entered the car....
So, finally I got it!



Time to pack up and go....

A heavy rainfall the previous evening left heavy damp air for the morning. Many cars were gone by the time I ventured out.


More on this 'woody' Silver Shadow later.



It did look like it was going to dry up.



Off we go. Food, gas, money, GPS, map (?) and courage....


Dry roads ahead.


But once we got going, that changed.


"Aiye , yie , yieee.......!"


"My o my...."


Three hours on it began to clear.


A reasonably quick border crossing....


And the last leg.


Finally almost home.


We made it.
Seven and a half hours. One and a half tanks of gas/petrol, two sandwiches, one coffee, one chocolate bar, two bottles of water and a dirty car.



We head off to the car wash first thing this morning as the forecast says rain in the afternoon.


"Do you think it's gonna rain?"


"Yup..."


Sure enough,  it rains just as I leave.
Bloody Toronto weather forecast - always wrong!


We did actually make it back just before it bucketed down.

Here's to my next National meet....

(Posted by David Irvine)

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