Bentley 8 Litre: Forrest Lycett’s record-breaker

By Mick Walsh

| 29 Apr 2025

Classic & Sports Car – Bentley 8 Litre: Forrest Lycett’s record-breaker

Speedometers of sports cars used to provide a magnetic draw for enthusiasts, and the saucer-sized 130mph AT dial of the fastest Cricklewood Bentley still has a special allure.

This highly developed 8 Litre was built by famed specialist Lewis ‘Mac’ McKenzie for vintage Bentley luminary Forrest Lycett.

It has a remarkable record-breaking history at Brooklands and Jabbeke, yet its tuning didn’t discourage its first owner from taking it on long European road trips.

The Bentley 8 Litre’s prominent speedometer reads to 130mph

Few experienced the magic ‘ton’ during the 1930s, but Lycett and his lucky passengers witnessed regularly the red-tipped needle creeping into three figures.

More impressive still was the effortless power, with the mighty ‘six’ spinning at just 2500rpm when flashing along at 100mph: if the route was long and straight, there was nothing that could live with this awesome machine.

GW 2926 remained one of the fastest sports cars even after WW2, as Lycett proved with sorties to Jabbeke.

In the streamlined age, when the romance of speed hit a zenith with cars, trains and aircraft, Lycett loved long drives in his Bentley: on the return leg of a trip to Germany, from Heidelberg to Dieppe, this ever-modest Bentley hero covered 428 miles in a day.

Lycett was always “very thankful to have been born in a motor age”.

This Bentley 8 Litre has a special tubular exhaust manifold

As I climb over the passenger-side body and in beside Neil Corner, renowned historic racer and car-connoisseur supreme, for a morning run up the A1(M), I can’t help thinking about those who have ridden here, including Lycett’s friends Bill Boddy and Laurence Pomeroy, who both wrote vividly about GW 2926’s remarkable performance.

As the Bentley 8 Litre burbles out of Neil’s Yorkshire Dales home, his wife Freda advises him “don’t scare Mick” – but, having watched Neil race since I was a boy, I have no fear. Safe hands are controlling this famous Bentley.

Today’s motorway to Darlington looks very different from the Great North Road when driven by Lycett in his Bentleys on runs to Scotland, but Neil knows it well from regular commutes over the decades.

Sitting in the outside lane we march past everything at easy revs, but it’s the deserted A66 underpass and the clear stretch to Darlington where the taps are opened.

The rapid pace is majestic: the smooth, mighty motor punches this legendary Bentley through the air with consummate ease.

Flat-out aboard Forrest Lycett’s outrageous, record-breaking Bentley 8 Litre tourer

We streak along and Neil looks relaxed behind the broad, four-spoke wheel as he guides GW 2926 with his signature precision.

Eventually he backs off and points to a bridge over the East Coast Main Line.

Here, 77 years ago, trainspotters would have stretched over the wall to witness the famous blue Mallard streamliner pound below at more than 100mph.

For me, that lucky run in the Lycett Bentley 8 Litre has parallels with an impossible dream of riding Mallard’s footplate, and it is an experience I’ll never forget.

In 1937, readers of Motor Sport would have noted plans to enter this 8 Litre for Le Mans, but in June it stated that ‘Mr Lycett doesn’t have time for the project’.

The idea of the Bentley 8 Litre roaring through the night, chasing Bugattis down the Mulsanne, conjures a marvellous fantasy, but in the late 1930s Lycett was more focused on record-breaking at Brooklands.

The view most saw of this Bentley 8 Litre as it passed them

The legendary 8 Litre was the favourite of Lycett’s: he owned nine Bentleys in total, but kept GW 2926 until his death.

His passion for WO’s finest was ignited by news of the works’ 1924 Le Mans victory with John Duff and Frank Clement.

Lycett’s extensive pre-war motoring – he claimed to have done 280,000 miles before WW2 – was not limited to Cricklewood-built thoroughbreds.

His varied ownership history included a much-enjoyed 1930 Aston Martin, an Alfonso Hispano and a Straker Squire, but his disappointment with Vauxhall and Invicta kick-started his loyalty to Bentley.

On one Continental tour with his Bentley Speed Six, Lycett first experienced 100mph on a clear Spanish road.

All his Bentleys were serviced and developed by Mac, whose long career included stints at Napier, Daimler, Bentley Motors and Rolls-Royce before setting up his own garage in Victoria.

This Bentley’s Brooklands records are celebrated with a plaque on the dashboard

Regarded as the high priest of vintage Bentleys, McKenzie and later his son, Don, became good friends with Lycett and supported him on his record runs.

Equipment in the McKenzie works included an engine dyno that had belonged to Count Zborowski and Bentley.

Lycett would often travel from his home in Kensington to the Victoria garage in one of his Bentleys while wearing a suit and bowler hat.

After discussions with Mac about servicing and modifications, he would then reappear on his bicycle – still wearing the bowler – to complete his commute to the City.

Lycett owned just one 8 Litre, the short-chassis YX5121.

The car was delivered on 29 December 1931, whereupon it was dispatched to Corsica coachworks in King’s Cross with instructions to build a lightweight, four-seater tourer body.

This Bentley’s front numberplate folds down to improve aerodynamics and cooling

By then close to 50 and pondering early retirement from his successful family business of importing tea, Lycett may have considered the 8 Litre a present to himself.

As well as motoring, this popular but modest bachelor had enjoyed a wide range of interests including football, music, church architecture and yachting.

As with many of his Bentleys, the 8 Litre was finished in the colours of Lycett’s old school, Shrewsbury, with black bodywork and maroon cycle wings with matching trim.

In the early 1930s the car was built primarily for Continental touring, and 60,000 miles were clocked up before war broke out.

But an entry in the 1933 Lewes Speed Trials hooked Lycett into sprinting, hillclimbing and later record-breaking.

Over the decade, Lycett improved his time up the South Downs quarter-mile course from a 27 secs debut to a 1939 best of 20.63 secs – just 2 secs off the outright record held by an ERA – despite a gearbox problem.

Forrest Lycett, who piloted this Bentley 8 Litre on many record-breaking runs

Lycett loved the challenge each year of tuning the engine and reducing weight, and on occasions it frustrated McKenzie when they disagreed about the owner’s latest ideas.

“I’ll take it somewhere else,” Lycett would threaten, but he’d ring back a day later to admit he was wrong and thank Mac for saving him money.

Lycett was quite fanatical about cutting the car’s weight, and in 1934 he had the 8 Litre rebuilt around a shorter Bentley 4 Litre 11ft 2in-wheelbase chassis, to which was fitted a new Corsica body styled around a lower radiator and scuttle.

As a result of the continuous trimming, the car eventually weighed the same as a standard 8 Litre chassis.

The result greatly improved GW 2926’s roadholding and braking.

This Bentley 8 Litre is painted in Forrest Lycett’s school colours

Through the 1930s, Mac and his mechanics were continually developing the engine, including pistons by Specialloid, bigger polished ports, a three-carb manifold loaned by ace tuner Walter Hassan, slide throttles and increased compression.

Lycett constantly played with the ratios in the F-type gearbox, including a higher first and third, while the rear axle was changed to a straight-cut unit.

Brooklands was the only suitable venue for Class B record attempts, and in 1937 Lycett set a standing-start kilometre record of 27.46 secs at 81.50mph.

He was determined to go faster, so a new, lighter body was made from alloy sections salvaged from a crashed Vickers bomber, while a new vibration damper saved 34lb and gave smoother running.

The tweaks were tried in March when Lycett entered the Inter-varsity Speed Trials at Syston Park in Lincolnshire, where he fuelled discussions about Britian’s fastest sports car after beating Hugh Hunter’s Alfa Romeo 8C 2.9 despite the slippery conditions.

Forrest Lycett’s Bentley 8 Litre (left) was popular at the Brighton Speed Trials, here against a land-speed-record Delage V12

Lycett’s friend and Bugatti Type 57S owner Ronnie Symondson always said nothing could live with the Bentley 8 Litre on a straight road.

No doubt fearful of the looming war, Lycett booked the track on 29 August 1939 for another record attempt.

With wings and front brakes removed, the now black machine looked terrifically purposeful, and the dapper Lycett, wearing a Bentley Drivers Club tie, powered GW 2926 from a standing start along the bumpy measured mile in 38.75 secs with a record average of 92.9mph.

Story has it the brakes, wings and lights were refitted for Lycett to drive back to the City for a meeting.

The record would be the last set at the Weybridge track.

Leslie Johnson sprints the Bentley 8 Litre at Silverstone in 1949

Lycett never circuit-raced GW 2926, but he did invite sports-car ace Leslie Johnson to drive it in a Vintage Sports-Car Club Silverstone sprint before competing at Goodwood in September 1950.

In sodden conditions the Bentley 8 Litre led for two laps, but eventually finished second to Gordon Shillito’s nimble Riley Special.

It would remain GW 2926’s only race, but Lycett carried on sprinting the great car through the ’50s and was always a favourite at Brighton Speed Trials, where it once crossed the line at 118mph.

After the war, changes had been made to the engine for fresh record attempts, including a triple-chain camshaft drive replacing the original triple-coupling rod drive, and a new three-two-branch pipe exhaust manifold.

With a shared booking with Goldie Gardner, Lycett headed to Jabbeke in July 1950 for his first overseas record attempt on the newly finished A10 motorway – after the loss of Brooklands, there was no suitable venue in England.

The Bentley 8 Litre’s triple-carburettor engine is packed tightly under the bonnet

The first day’s wind proved frustrating before the timing equipment failed and had to be sent to Brussels for repair.

All came good on 24 July when GW 2926 stormed to four Class B records, with a flying kilometre of 134.755mph and a slightly slower flying mile of 133.828mph.

For the standing kilometre Lycett clocked 82.210mph, with 93.405mph for the standing mile.

Local enthusiasts were impressed by Lycett’s driving skills as he launched GW 2926 down the motorway with no wheelspin.

When news came in 1958 that Lycett’s Belgian records had been eclipsed by a Facel Vega driven by Grand Prix ace Maurice Trintignant, key figures in the Bentley Drivers Club, Stanley Sedgwick included, started talking about a Jabbeke return.

Initially the 75-year-old Lycett wasn’t tempted, saying his tyres were too old and not available in the sizes required.

‘The idea of the Bentley 8 Litre chasing Bugattis down the Mulsanne conjures a marvellous fantasy, but Lycett was more focused on record-breaking at Brooklands’

Sedgwick wasn’t deterred, and he approached Dunlop who agreed to make special tyres with a guarantee up to 150mph.

Lycett felt cornered and eventually contacted Don McKenzie about preparing the 27-year-old 8 Litre for another record sortie.

The engine was stripped for a meticulous re-linering to ensure the capacity was under 8 litres for Class B eligibility.

To raise the compression, McKenzie welded metal on top of the pistons.

As with all of his record attempts and competitive outings, Lycett drove GW 2926 to Belgium in convoy with several other 8 Litres, including Jumbo Goddard’s twin-turbocharged special, with McKenzie following in a support vehicle.

Typical of his character, Lycett never mentioned the discomfort he suffered from arthritis, and once the car was fuelled for the record runs there was no stopping him.

The Bentley 8 Litre’s packed wooden dashboard with passenger grabhandle and lowered steering column – the aeroscreens were from a pre-war fighter plane

During the 15-mile warm-up trials, McKenzie, loaded with spare fuel, had no chance of keeping pace and would spot Lycett flashing past on his return.

The course provided three miles to accelerate, then a mile flat-out, followed by another three to slow and stop.

On the timed runs Lycett set a batch of new records, but the flying speeds were truly mighty.

The mile was covered at 140.845mph, but fastest was clocked over the kilometre, at 141.131mph.

How Facel founder Jean Daninos reacted to the news that a 33cwt vintage design with a septuagenarian driver had triumphed over his modern GT isn’t recorded.

Lycett was so pumped up that he registered for one more go, but, frustratingly, low fuel weakened the mixture with a resulting holed piston.

This Bentley’s brake and gearlevers were moved outside for more legroom

McKenzie later concluded that the warm-up runs had disrupted fuel calculations, but, despite running on just five cylinders, Lycett drove the triumphant 8 Litre home with his jubilant BDC chums including Harry Rose, who had covered the flying kilometre at 109mph in the No 3 ‘Blower’ team car.

Throughout the ’50s GW 2926 was regularly exhibited at the BDC’s dinner-dances, held at The Dorchester hotel, to celebrate its record-breaking success.

In 1960, a year after his epic run in Belgium, Lycett was tragically killed on Easter Saturday, 16 April.

En route to a Fulham football match as a pedestrian, and not far from his Kensington home, he was hit by a taxi on Cromwell Road and never recovered.

Lycett had already agreed to sell GW 2926 to the well-known collector Stanley Sears, a good friend through the Bentley Drivers Club.

The Bentley 8 Litre’s purposeful bodywork by Corsica evolved over the years, and the final version included some salvaged aircraft alloy

With its engine rebuilt, the car was collected from McKenzie’s workshop with 73,371 miles on the clock, and Sears drove it home to Sussex.

There it was housed with some impressive machines, including the 1904 Mercedes 24hp AD 9, two Edwardian Grand Prix cars and the ex-Tim Birkin Bentley ‘Blower’ team car UR 6571.

Sears, like Lycett, was a perfectionist about his cars and, after frustrating mechanical problems including a connecting-rod failure and second gear shedding its teeth, it was decided to restore the great Bentley to mint condition.

He enlisted Don McKenzie, who had taken over the garage business from his father.

The engine was rebuilt with specially made rods and pistons, while Lycett’s specification was detuned for road use, including a return to the original coupling-rod cam drive.

The brakes were also converted to hydraulics, while the bodywork was repainted and the interior tidied up with new seats, carpets and tonneau.

This Bentley 8 Litre, chassis YX5121, was delivered new to Forrest Lycett in December 1931

In early 1962, Sears entered the famous Bentley 8 Litre for the VSCC’s winter driving tests at Charterhouse, where it was surrounded by enthusiastic schoolkids.

After winning the BDC concours at Kensington Gardens, Sears and his son, Jack, entered GW 2926 in sprint events, including a return to the Brighton Speed Trials.

Among other outings were the VSCC Curborough sprint, the Firle Hillclimb and the Pomeroy Trophy, plus an overseas tour with the BDC.

After Stanley died in 1989, many of his cars were sold, but the favourite 8 Litre moved to Jack’s Norfolk farm, where it kept elite company with a Ferrari 250GTO and a Willment team Ford Galaxie racer.

The Corner and Sears families had a shared interest in motorsport and historic cars, and they became friends over the years.

The first Sears car to join Neil’s collection was the 1914 ex-Dario Resta TT Sunbeam, but the Lycett Bentley 8 Litre had always been on his dream list.

Slow lower changes take skill, while the Bentley 8 Litre’s steering lightens with speed

An archive photograph of the 1967 Pomeroy Trophy shows Jack Sears about to launch GW 2926 on the quarter-mile sprint down Silverstone’s Hangar Straight, and among the spectators Neil can be seen admiring the famed Bentley.

“Back in 1961, when I showed my ‘Blower’ at Kensington Gardens, I remember seeing two magnificent 8 Litres together, GW 2926 and Bill Monk’s superb two-seater,” Neil recalls.

“I’d just married and had never heard of Forrest Lycett, but I never forgot the car.”

Over the decades, Neil expressed his buying interest to Sears but with no luck, although ‘Gentleman Jack’ pledged him first refusal.

As a substitute, Neil acquired the Monk Bentley 8 Litre in 2000. “Bill was a Bugatti man and always had the latest Ferraris,” he says.

“His short-chassis 8 Litre was fitted with a two-seater body by Hofmann & Burton, and with a passenger door, a split windscreen and a luggage rack, it was a fantastic tourer.”

‘Lycett set a batch of records, but the flying speeds were truly mighty. The fastest was over the kilometre at 141.131mph’

Neil greatly enjoyed the 8 Litre experience, and eventually his patience with Sears was rewarded in 2011.

After a successful sealed bid, Neil headed to Uphall Grange in Norfolk to collect GW 2926.

With mechanic Richard Fox following, the 8 Litre motored north for a 250-mile first drive.

“We took 30 gallons of Avgas, which cured the pinking,” says Neil.

“Driving back it ticked all the boxes, with superb steering, gearbox and handling.

“We then sent it to Tony Fabian for a rebuild, which transformed the car.”

Current owner Neil Corner makes sure this Bentley 8 Litre is still enjoyed as it should be

Like Lycett, Neil loves driving his cars.

GW 2926 has been on several runs to Scotland, where its performance suits the long, open Borders and Highlands roads.

Lycett would relish road trips to Edinburgh, where he would surprise passengers that they’d be heading back to London without an overnight stop.

No hood was ever fitted, and through the rougher elements Lycett and his hardy passenger would just hunker down behind the special Gloster fighter-plane ’screens and relish the warmth from the big ‘six’.

Few pre-war sports cars can conjure such dramatic driving history.

Images: Tony Baker/Corner Family Archive

Thanks to: Neil and Freda Corner, Michael Squire and Clare Hay

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