Rolls-Royce Phantom Drop Head Coupe by Pininfarina

Coachbuilding is great because it makes dreams become reality.

You get exactly what you want. Even if others don't like it.

So you have a Savile Row bespoke suit and a Jermyn Street tailored shirt do you? Maybe some cobbled shoes from John Lobb? So do a lot of others.

Did you get a new Bentley last year? Nice one. A GT yeah? Did you get the Speed?

You know that 10,120 Bentley cars were delivered in 2013. Compare that to an average of 342 Bentley Turbo R cars per year when they were made. But don't worry, one in four cars sold above €150,000 was a Bentley in 2013.

But want true exclusivity?

Check out this South African gentleman's bespoke car.

Here you go, exactly what he wanted. Sharks gills and all.

Capetown eat your heart out. J'berg whatever. World, he's doing what he wants. Because he can.



It's designed by Pininfarina and is based on a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drop Head Coupe.

I'm not sure if it has a bespoke name, but it probably does.



Good on him for building his dream.

Just check out those coachlines. And the two tone.



I am such a fan that this car exists. Top marks to the gentleman who commissioned it. Well done.



But don't fret - Bentley Mulliner will still build whatever you desire as a special project.

Go on - order something amazing and send in the pictures!

The 1998 Bentley Project Bali

In 1998 the styling department of Rolls-Royce and Bentley in Crewe would have been quite used to designing special projects, being bespoke coachbuilt commissions of individual designs.

That's because the Royal Family of Brunei had commissioned an extensive number of special projects over the past five or so years. But as the Asian financial crisis hit, the special projects from Brunei dried up.

But the ideas did not dry up.

There is a design sketch of the Bentley Project Bali from 1998 by head designer Graham Hull.



It was an envisagement of a new Bentley 2 door coupe.

It certainly has early hues of modern Bentley motor cars.

2000 Bentley Continental T

kenjonbro has been car spotting in Dartford and came across the speed demon.



A Bentley Continental T.



Looking very nice.



Very nice spot.

Thanks kenjonbro for sharing.

#Bentley Turbo RT Olympian #winning

Was lucky enough to check out one of these in London when I was there in November.

A Bentley Turbo RT Olympian.



More photos at a later point.

Bentley is back Racing

The Bentley Continental GT3 is on the Race Track

It's an untimed test session today at the Gulf 12 Hours at Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The Bentley Continental GT3 is on the Race Track.

The Bentley boys are former American Le Mans Series champion Guy Smith, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Bentley in 2003, fellow Brit Andy Meyrick and Irishman Steven Kane.

There are 2 six-hour enduro races:

Friday, 13h December 2013

09.30 – 15.30 Gulf 12 Hours Race 1 (6h)
17.45 – 23.45 Gulf 12 Hours Race 2 (6h)

The new @BentleyMotors Continental GT3 @Gulf12Hours @_GUYSMITH_ @AndyMeyrick @TheStevenKane #Gulf12H pic.twitter.com/iYNCuAvUYE

— Sportscar365 (@sportscar365) December 11, 2013

And it's wearing AVON tyres. Interesting choice.

Pirelli is the official tyre of the 2014 FIA Blancpain Series, in which Bentley in booked to race in next year.

Rolls-Royce & Bentley Day 2010

Just stumbled across video of the 2010 Rolls-Royce & Bentley Owners Club Japan's annual Rolls-Royce & Bentley Day at the historic Red Brick warehouses in Yokohama.



Otherwise known as ロールス・ロイス＆ベントレーDAY2010.



Always is a good turnout.



This year's summary is here.

Want your name on the wall at Crewe?

Bentley Motors are celebrating 1 Millions Facebook likes by putting 20000 people's names on an actual wall at Crewe.

Yeah I so did it.

Post by Bentley Motors.

The Blue Train at The Savoy

This would have been a bit of fun!

Many thanks @TheSavoyLondon for helping us to capture the spirit of the #Bentley Boys with the Blue Train car - pic.twitter.com/CuCMkGwpzH

— Bentley Motors Comms (@BentleyComms) December 2, 2013

XUW218 Arisen

Something RR&B was going on last night on King Street West in Toronto.

I wasn't there but my spy Karim took these street shots:

A couple of Silver Shadows.

And a pair of Bentley S / Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud series cars.

Here's one of those cars I photographed almost 33 years ago as a classic car on display at the 1981 Toronto Autoshow:

The colour scheme has changed.

(Posted by David Irvine- thanks to Karim)

Rolls-Royce Camargue dans les rues de Paris

I like this.



Quite a cool technique.

Three Bentley Turbo R's

At the Terribly British Day 2013 car show my Bentley Turbo R was initially stationed next to a 1910 Silver Ghost.

Video of arrival here.



Yes, I still have my Le Mans 300km/h limited sticker and yellow wheels.

Then a Silver Cloud III and a 1987 Turbo R filled in the gap. That's a regulated drip tray underneath.



When the Cloud left, another Turbo R happened to be on hand to slot in.



We then popped the bonnets and had a good sticky beak. Three Turbo R's in CBR is a rare sight.



Looking over and over and over.



Mine is a 1989, the centre in a 1986 carbi model and the far is a 1987 injection.



They are all slightly different under there!



What I liked is that we all left at the same time.

Bentley Turbo R convey style.



That's a nice image in the rear view mirror at the traffic light.



Nice day.

Terribly British Day, Canberra 2013

Here is my entrance to the Terribly British Day 2013, a British car show held every year in Canberra, Australia.



Yep, I've still got my yellow wheels. To the video.



And I totally wore this shirt.

Post by Bentley Motors.

Red Pearl Mica

It's not often you see a Bentley Continental R with an after market turbo badge...

 

 

But then, it's not often you see a Bentley Continental R painted in red pearl mica with chrome sills.

 

 

 

 

It certainly grabs your attention...perhaps not the car for a more introverted owner!

 

I quite like the exterior, but the interior is a little too much for my taste...

 

 

 

 

It's currently for sale if anyone is interested...

 

A virtual beer if you can identify where the turbo badge is from!

 

I initially thought Porsche Cayenne, but its not quite the same...

 

Photos from Hexagon Classics.

 

(Posted by Andy)

Bentley Motorsport Shirt

I'm so trying to be like a Ferrari fan.

Totally wearing this shirt to the Terribly British Day car show in Canberra, Australia today.

Post by Bentley Motors.

I bought it when I was at Crewe.

Here is me driving into the show last year.



We will see how the turn out is like.

Bentley Turbo R Hooper 2 door Coupe

Check out this amazing car.



It is a 1989 Bentley Turbo R two-door by Hooper & Co.



VIN number SCBZR0A0KCH26285



The factory started building this car on the 14 November 1988.



It left the factory on the 30 January 1989, where it was sent to Hooper & Co. for construction into this amazinf 2 door version.



After this additional construction was completed, Hooper then sent the car back to the factory for inspection.

Crewe gave the car the all clear, and the warranty start date was 17 May 1989.



It is certainly a rare car.

Follow The Bentley Turbo R 2 Door by Hooper & Co

I've been using this cool data logging iPhone app for my Bentley driving.

It's call Harry's Lap Timer, and is essentially designed for track days.

It records all types of sensor data provided by your iPhone/iPod/iPad (or external sensors), and combines the data so you can use it in many ways.

You can also overlay the data over video to analyse your driving. Check out the output below of driver, car, date, lap, G-force, time, speed and location.



I don't used it to analyse my laps around the race track, I just use the data logging for fun, and to track my drives.

Like when I was out with the Bentley Drivers Club and I got to follow an extremely rare Bentley Turbo R 2 Door by Hooper & Co.

Check out my video. Sped up 600% so it does not get boring. (Now not blocked in some countries - HD as well use the cog icon to change to HD next to the clock icon)



Did you notice this? It's actually Garrath packing up BDC direction signs - and in a Rolls-Royce!



Or maybe this? An earlier arrival to the hotel.



I certainly had fun following a Bentley Turbo R 2 Door by Hooper & Co for 18 minutes.

What I would love to get into is recording the Bentleys sensor data, like the revs, temperatures, pressures, volts, warning lights and anything else that is monitored through the ECU.

My Bentley uses the RR&B MasterCheck ECU system. The standard system is the OBDII or On Board Diagnostics 2 system. There are plently of Bluetooth OBDII wireless interfaces that will talk to the iPhone.

This will mean I could record all the cars data, then add more dials to the video of what was shown on the actual Bentley dials. That would be so cool.

You can even be nerdy and make the dials on the video looks exactly like the Bentley dials.

It is what Bentley Motors did at the Festival of Speed with the Bentley GT Speed.



The issue is having the MasterCheck ECU convert to the OBDII system. I'm happy that guys are trying to do this. Check out the discussion about it on the RROCA board here.

One day I'll get into it.

Harry's Lap Timer from the Apple Store here.

1000th Bentley Spotting Post Fluid Consumption

Well today (or technically yesterday) was a big day.

The 1000th Bentley Spotting post, and the first road trip of 703kms in my 1989 Bentley Turbo R.

Read a blow by blow below in the live post.

Now to a summary of the fluid consumption for the day. Both for the Bentley and myself.

First fuel.

I filled the 105L tank up with 98RON and pressed the reset button on the odomotor. Fuel bill was AUD$138.46



Then in Holbrook I decided to top up again with 98.



That was after I have travelled 296 kms.



And I had used 45L of fuel to go that far, for a cost of AUD$71.16



Then I may have made a slightly inappropriate comment about the seemingly female nature of the wood grain on my glove box.



For examinations, gloves potentially should be used. I was driving by myself.

Then just outside of Melbourne I again stopped for fuel, just after Wallan (thank you GPS on iphone).



This time I had travelled 656kms.



And got to put in another 50L of fuel costing $78.11 to fill 'er up.



But on the way back to the car this is what I was confronted with. It was definitely an oh shit moment.



Yep, my Bentley had started to mark it's territory in a feline like fashion. Not the best.

So I grabbed the torch to investigate.(the video uploaded as the mirror image, it shows my left hand, but it is actually my right or whatever!)



I concluded that it was the coolant, but I could not find the source of the leak!



Then something special happened.

A guy comes up to me, and says what's the problem? I said I'm pretty sure it's a coolant leak.

He goes oh yeah, I rebuild one of these last month. My eyes lit up!

He then checked the fluid on the ground, and squeezed the main coolant hose from the radiator a few times.

I then gave him some back story - bought it about a month ago, boyhood dream car, just drove it from Canberra today, has had a leaky coolant issue when I first test drove the car etc.

Then I told him my uncle was a mechanic in Canberra and we were going to look after it together with the help of the Rolls-Royce owners club people.

He then slightly changed his tone and became much more friendly and asked for coolant. He also asked how was the temp gauge during the trip.

I told him that it was half way, and that's been normal all this month since I had had the car. He gave the idea that it should be a little less than this, but did not say it.

I got a 1L bottle from the boot, and he poured it in. It took it all, so I got my second bottle, and he tipped it all in up to the top.

I asked, so are you a mechanic and did you rebuild a Rolls-Royce? He said, yes he was and he rebuilt a Bentley Turbo R the same as this, that was in quite bad shape.



After he finished pouring in the second bottle, he said start it up.

I did, and there were no warning lights and the temp gauge moved up to the middle again.

We both looked under the car, and the leaking had stopped.

He asked how far I had to go, and I said about 50 km, and that I would get more coolant and keep a close eye on the temp gauge.

He said good, and started to turn to leave, I was just able to shake his hand and thank him, then he was off.

I did not even get his name - or tell him to check out Bentley Spotting!

I got 5L of coolant for the boot and set off for home.



I made it home safely and the temp gauge did not move from the centre position, standard behaviour all this month.



All in all I drove 703km today!



Then of cause, checked to see if there were any leaks again, and there was none at all. Interesting. I did get a reader comment saying "Probably the first time in a while that the hoses have been subject to sustained pressure....so no surprise if there is some leakage. Good way of testing everything!" I would have to agree!



Then for my fluid consumption? Well 2 600ml diet cokes, 500ml of water, and after 703kms I had a beer!



A big thanks goes out to the mechanic who helped me out, If you do ever read this, email me! I want to shout you a beer.

David - I did not quite make it 1000kms - but the last 50km I cared more about the temperature gauge than the odometer!