A series of superb little-seen vintage photos of a Bentley team car has been unearthed.
Dug out by marque aficionado Clare Hay, the pictures show the factory’s first Le Mans entry in 1925.
One amazingly relaxed shot (main image), which just looks like a couple of tourists parked up by the side of the road in France in a 3 Litre, is actually drivers Bertie Kensington-Moir and Dudley Benjafield taking their car through scrutineering.
A second picture shows an early problem for the entry. You can tell it is near the start of the race because the rules then stated that equipes must run the first 20 laps with the hoods up.
In fact, thanks to a major fuel miscalculation, none of the trio of works cars completed the first 20 laps to make it to the scheduled fuel stop.
Although Bentleys had run at – and won – Le Mans prior to 1925, that was the year when WO fielded his first factory team there.
Among them was the car in the pictures, chassis 1138.
The pictures came to light as a result of Fiskens commissioning more research into the car, which was fully restored a decade ago and is now for sale.
Click here to see more, including some great shots of it as it is today.
James Elliott is a former Editor of Classic & Sports Car