Car Racing 1920-1930 (Bentley, Mercedes-Benz)

in the 1920s and 30s two great car manufacturers and their drivers dominated a new sport which excited Millions with the thrill of speed from Britain the Bentley driven by its team of flamboyant millionaires who when they weren't partying won almost every race there was to win in Europe well there was no need to go any faster never go never to beat well we had nobody to beat but ourselves in Germany mercedesbenz and Union with encouragement from the Nazi government designed and built a new generation of sports cars conceived with only one thing in mind to be the best in the battle to be the fastest the prize was not only Laurels to the Victor but great National Prestige this was the era that saw the birth of Modern Motor Racing ever since the earliest days of Motoring there were races and competitions to be the fastest and as soon as the first person drove a motor car at speed someone else wanted to race and win if you drive at 200 M hour an open cockpit it feels like 500 just because you're in the elements and you're experiencing the wind coming against you and even the sound I mean that's something for me which I really get a buzz from is just to listen to the engine note of race cars you know when you're sitting there and knowing that you've got control under your right foot makes you powerful and your your chest grows and you think you know you're the man one of the first Great British racing drivers was Sammy Davis at the 1929 Brooklyn's 500m race Davis and his teammates Swept Away the competition in their their massive Bentleys these enormously powerful machines reached speeds of over 120 mph later Davis described the feeling of being behind the wheel of a Bentley after three laps I opened up full and watched for tricks the wind howled like hosts of demons the big car throbbing with animal life simply FLW verily the car was alive time after time it seemed to laugh gather itself together and jump from the banking at a pace that really thrilled as wild a race as ever a valkyrie dreamed from the musical Roar of exhaust behind to the howl of wind past the small oil stained screen but Motor Racing didn't develop overnight only 10 years earlier these cars and the speeds they attained would have seemed an impossible [Music] dream in the early 1920s the Motorcar was just becoming the great invention that would help shape the 20th century and be responsible for a new Industrial Revolution in the United States Henry Ford had shown the way by starting to mass-produce Motorcars huge numbers of cars rolled off the production lines ultimately the workers would also become the consumers in a growing cycle of [Music] wealth certainly the 1920s or the Vintage period was a time when a middle class person a blue collar worker somebody or somebody like a bank clerk could actually conceivably buy a car of their own and thereby Buy in to this extraordinary new thing which was called freedom of the road it worked vast numbers of people had their first Driving Experience in these new mass-produced cars and by the late 20s there were nearly 1 million cars on the road in Britain it was opening up an ability for individuals and families to go much further a field from their Hom toown OR Village that inev been envisaged before so a day down on the beach was no longer something you dreamt about a where with all was outside sitting in a little garage or on the drive it might take you a long time it was certainly uncomfortable but you'd get there in the end with all these new cars on the road there was one thing that still held them back a 20 mph speed limit which had been in forc for many years but it was a law that few respected legislation on the books there was a 20 mile limit they got tired of observing it probably for that very reason they didn't want to hold the industry back so people could build very fast cars the 20 mph speed limit was finally scrapped in 1931 but the motor industry had already come up with a new type of car to challenge the speed limits a car designed to appeal to men the sports car the invention of the sports car was a really exciting development in in terms of Motoring history because they didn't really exist before the first world war the only people who could afford them were extremely wealthy game young sort of chaps at University who just thrashed from between the University campus and their home in groa square that's what early sports car motoring was all about fabulously fast incredibly dangerous um and uh and usually driven by irresponsible Rich Kids marvelous soon mg Sunbeam wolves Ley singer Riley Tolbert all began to sell cars which offered a sporty image and much more speed than the average family Saloon sports cars were principally for showoffs that was the the real reason for having one and there were many a tale of young Chaps in there little MGM types and so on who would park outside the local Factory waiting for the the gals to come out and so on and they'd all be sitting there looking all frightfully attractive in their sports cars the average family car would find it difficult to reach 40 mph but these new sports cars could flash along at 60 MPH or more as roads began to improve taking the car out for a spin became the way in which many people had Direct access for the first time to the excitement of speed many drivers enjoyed taking part in organiz ized events hill climbs trials or Village races anyone could join in and assess their own car and performance against [Music] others in terms of actually undertaking competitive sport things like hill climbs and triing to this day seem slightly absurd where you have a muddy track out the side of a hill and to thrash your device as hard as you can up it to try and get there quicker than anybody else and that usually involved putting people on the back and bouncing up and down the suspension so the wheels get some kind of traction and basically abusing the thing horribly but an awful lot of fun so it was the beginning of Motorsport in that respect for most people the car was a way to get from one place to another but some drivers had different ideas and were adapting and developing cars to drive much faster than they could ever hope to go on normal roads Brooklyn's in Su had been opened as Britain's only racing circuit before World War I but racing at Brooklyn's soon became a social event and began to attract that breed of privileged young men who had time on their hands and money to spare they had bank holiday meetings there short handicap braces they had bookies there the public loved it you didn't go to horse race or watch a tennis match you went to Brooklyn then they had the slog the right crowd no crowding people thought it's a nice place to go we take our wives take our children there was a hill there we picnic watch the racing from some distance away that a splendid place at the time road racing was banned in Britain and only racing on closed off circuits was allowed but on the continent of Europe things were [Music] different in France Italy and Germany road races were the norm and many manufacturers looked on these events as a way to advertise their [Music] cars racing actually in Germany for Daimler started in 1899 we participated in our first race in N at the kazua and from that moment dler realized that to win races is the best advertising you can do and from from that moment on they always started to select certain events where they can demonstrate either the power and the speed of a car or the longevity of a car the reliability which was a very important fact at that time because cars is were not as reliable as they were today back in Britain one group of drivers began to look enviously at the international stage in which to compete they wanted to take a large car built for wealthy AR Aristocrats and head for the French racetrack of Lon the car they wanted to race was the Bentley known simply as the Bentley boys they would become Legends in their day together with the car they would change the face of British Motor Racing Forever by the early 1920s Motor Racing had captured the public imagination and unlike Britain which had banned Road bra the French authorities actively supported the motor car located in the LA Valley the little town of Lon had played a leading role in Motorsports since the beginning of the century but in 1923 the organizers created a 24-hour race as a test of endurance for standard Saloon cars rather than race on an enclosed circuit Lamont was to be raced on 10 Mi of public roads the idea was a race which really test cars even the lighting system so it was a 24-hour race so I had a race with lamps on after dark to test electrical apparatus which wasn't all that good then the cars had to do 24 hours at reasonably past speeds to win the race it was a very important race to the French and other manufacturers realized it was a jollywood in anyway or jollywood test ground so they began to get good inrees in Britain a wealthy car Enthusiast called John Duff decided to raise his own 3 ler Bentley and contacted the boss of the company wo Bentley for assistance in preparing his car for the race at the time W had never heard of lamon Bentley's initial reaction was that he didn't think that there was any Motorcar that could that possibly stand the strain of racing for 24 hours he thought the whole thing was was bizarre Walter Owen Bentley forever known as wo was born in 1888 and after school was apprenticed as a railway engineer soon his love of speed and engines Drew him to race motorcycles during his 5-year apprenticeship at Doncaster wo clearly developed a real passion for motorcycles and indeed for Speed but I think two things were happening too during this period one was the fact that he was ever improving upon the performance of these motorcy Les and two I mean without doubt speed was getting into wo's blood in 1912 W left the railways and with his brother bought the concession of the French car company dfp in World War I wo became a royal naval officer and helped design lightweight aircraft engines one of his most successful engines powered the sof with camel thousands were built and the camel became the ubiquitous Allied fighter aircraft of the war during the war wo had made up his mind that as far as he was concerned he didn't want to get back into the agency business with the dfp and being an Innovative engineer he just taken the view that right it's time to develop my own car Bentley Motors were formed in July of 1919 and by October of the same year the first Bentley engine had actually brought into [Music] life once into production wo Bentley's experience with the railways came into practice weighing in at nearly 2 tons and over 12 ft in length these goliaths were built like steam trains the engines ranged from 3 to 8 L and were capable of over 100 mph it was as if the Bentley was taking on a light life of its own if you were a child's author you would probably have a try and personify a Bentley and it would have big eyes in front it's got a tall forehead it makes sort of noises you'd expect to hear whereas some of the more Sleek technologically efficient cars hiding all their engineering under their polished aluminium body work didn't grip the imagination Bentley also fir believed in making his cars as safe as possible nothing was too much trouble everything split pinned you know everything checked everybody knew that that motorc car was correct and that they'd actually stake their life on it in 1923 and knowing wo's resistance to entering a race they might not win John Duff decided to set off and drive to the French Circuit of LaMore at the last minute wo offered Frank Clement as his Co driver Clement was actually the test driver for Bentley so he was allowed to go I imagine Duff said it it's your weekend off you know I you know come with me but that evening wo made another momentous decision the last minute Benton decided he ought to go so he went by Burton train can you imagine Burton train trying to get to race to almost started but I suppose it wasn't going long for 24 hours wo arrived on June the 21st the longest day of the year and what he saw enormously impressed him as night fell with the assetline lamps shining onto the corners of the track leemon was getting into his blood and before long he was suggesting that it was by far in a away the most exciting race he'd ever seen in his life the main principle of lore was to race normal domestic cars just as if they were on the road no car could race unless there were 50 models in production for the first 20 laps the cars had to have their hoods up they also had to carry all their tools and have lead weights fitted equal to three passengers Theon chunks at you every single thing you might have rain sleep hell Stones fog 4:00 in the morning you're tired and it's Pitch Black racing in appalling weather John Duff's Bentley came forth and set the fastest lap at an average of 67 mph wo was ecstatic he was also convinced that this was the way to exhibit his cars and go out and wave the flag for Britain the Bentley team were very much that way inclined in the days when we weren't ashamed to be patriotic and wave the flag um I certainly think there would have been a great following for Bentley much the same way as the Italians follow Ferrari today throughout 1923 and into 1924 Bentley and his team improved the cars but these thoroughbreds were not for the ordinary man costing between 1 and 2,000 which could have bought you a row of terrorist houses only the very wealthy could afford them many of the drivers had been fighter pilots in World War I flying in the war had developed in Sama taste for Speed and danger after the war these men found peace time boring and looked around for new Thrills ex fighter pilot Tim Burkin spoke for many civilian life afforded none of the excitements of the career I was leaving each day would seem more vapid and tedious than the last but with their money they could now take part in the new sport of fast longdistance racing driving their own cars these men took the motor racing World by storm those guys back then were like the modern day Gladiators and they went out into the arena and that Arena was a race circuit and they tried to harness the power of a of a race car which in all you know in all respects was a beast wherever there were endurance races the powerful Bentley took the honors soon the name Bentley was everywhere during the 20s the Bentley tradition incapsulated the spirit of an age Bentley and sports car almost became synonymous anybody who saw a a sports car in England during the 1920s irrespective of make or model immediately thought Christ you know there's a Bentley and it was that sort of spirit that captured the imagination of the public industrialists socialites royalty everyone wanted a Bentley life was getting faster and faster and Bentley reflected the mood of the age known as The Roaring 20s it was a time of jazz wild parties and where speed was King the men who raced these cars lived life just as fast and became celebrities overnight diamond mine owner wolf berato baronet Sir Henry Tim Burkin Harley Street physician John bfield Motor Racing journalist Sammy Davis and ex submarine officer Glenn Kidston became Idols of the public together they were called the Bentley boys well the Bentley boys were supposed to inhabit the very best Flats in London go out with the most beautiful girls from stage and screen and nightclubs and all that type of thing and you wonder how they ever found time to drive cars in [Music] competition gr Square millionaires parties in the best hotels girls all over the Place parties figured high on the Bentley boy list of priorities and some of the best were those thrown by millionaire wolf bernato my father was always surrounded with people in G square and he had a house at lingfield hard and R and that was always full of wonderful looking people as a small child I was made a tremendous fuss off by all these wonderful people who were well like the pop stars of today they were lordy everybody wanted to talk to them to touch them to see how they were they were incredibly wealthy they were sporting men of independent means they had a string of bent they played the stock market you know they owned race Waters they had a string of Mistresses and for another of these these guys I mean that was pretty well close to the truth wolf bernat's parties would go on from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. with men and women racing up and down his Drive bonato was said to have spent between 10 and 15,000 a week on enjoying himself they might have known how to have a good time but the Bentley boys were also dedicated Sportsmen the honor of winning was everything in 1924 in only the second year of competing at LaMore the race was theirs when John Duff and Frank Clement won in a 3 l Bentley a new era of Victory and success was opening up for Bentley over the next 2 years wo worked tirelessly in developing the [Music] cars everybody was dedicated to the development of speed the Bentley team looked increasingly Invincible but elsewhere in Europe other cars were also developing a reputation for Speed in 1926 a Mercedes driven by 22-year-old Rudolph kariola won the German Grand Prix his victory and the car he was driving now sounded alarm Bells within the Bentley racing team by the mid 1920s the lon 24-hour race had become established as the international showcase for car manufacturers but the French Bugattis and the Italian alfha Romeos and Maser was simply not powerful and strong enough to challenge the British Bentley atore Bugatti's frustration reflected what many designers felt about the Bentley Bugatti said they were heavy lorries and of course they were compared to the Bugattis like a ballerina against a s opera singer you could see it I mean you put a lightwe bat was probably past or as fast the Bentley against this great enormous probably fora thing you say that's what he meant but it was the stutgart based of dler Benz that would provide the principal challenge since 1901 damler had called their cars Mercedes to overcome sales resistance from the vital but anti-german French Market soon the new name was becoming known as a fast sports car the first Grand Prix which Daimler participated in was in 19003 the so-called Gordon Bennett R which is more or less the grandmother of the Grand Prix over the following years the Mercedes powered by huge 120 horsepower engines won more and more races this culminated in a first second and third at the 1914 French Grand Prix by the mid 1920s Dame labenz had introduced a new line of sports cars powered by a supercharged 2 L engine and capable of massive speeds these cars looked like a new breed that might ch challeng Bentley's Supremacy in 1926 Mercedes new cars shook the Bentley team when an unknown 22-year-old driver called Rudolph kariola won the German Grand Prix racing in pouring rain kariola demonstrated the huge power that Mercedes could bring to the racetrack shortly afterwards Dame labenz introduced into their stable of thy breeds their new ssk sports car designed by Ferdinand Porche who later founded his own stable of motor racing Legends this 7 L 120 mph supercharged car would throw down the gauntlet to Bentley's dominance I mean nothing more impressive my goodness 38250 supercharged Mercedes Bonet about 10 ft long outside exhaust pipes 120 M hour virtually guaranteed bentle of 110 oh yes of course exciting car but not perhaps quite as reliable as it need have been or the way people drove it we'd certainly buy Mercedes we didn't buy bentle but the Bentley boys didn't let Mercedes success get them down for them 1927 was the start of a golden age when the Bentley Giants would reign supreme to get that little bit extra wo even devised a system to film their pit stops to improve performance performance pit stops can win a race you may not be the fastest car in the race circuit but if you have a smooth set of pit stops and you have a very organized crew you can save valuable seconds that adds up to minutes when it comes to 24 hours so people who are ahead of the themselves in sort of vision and looking at pit stops for example like wo Bentley were already getting the advantage over everybody else down the pit Lane and it paid off Bentley won the 1927 Lon and at a celebratory dinner at the seavoy hotel there was a very special guest the winning car still dirty from its drive from lont the guests sat around and toasted it with champagne the 1928 LaMore continued the Bentley boy's incredible run of successes wolf berato convinced of the Bentley's superiority made a bet with the American stuts team on who had the best sports car in the world Bato clearly enjoyed a flutter and decided to have a wager of £1,000 with the stuts people they said fine we'll take you on but we'd like it to race at Indianapolis so bonata said well look I'm sorry but fair is fair old boy we'll after a race at Lam more let see only plays two race bernato won his first Lam more in car number four and collected his £1,000 not content with this he then took on the famous French blue train in a unique challenge my father down the south of France and they had a wager that my father would get to K before the blue train so they set off at the same time anyway he beat the train to Kelly and then they was to England and he went back to London and had a bath and put a fresh conition in his button hole and they'd made a splendid record the 1929 LaMore was to be the scene of Bentley's greatest Victory now racing even bigger 4 and 1/2 lit and 6 L cars they smashed all the opposition Bentley swept the board they came one 2 three and fourth uh so much so that they were so dominant by the the last lap that wo Bentley slowed all the cars down so effectively they almost crossed the line together it is quite a magnificent sign it's a huge deal I mean it really is a huge deal to actually get to the end of a 24-hour event and you get this whole run of emotions and by the time you get to the end of it you're physically and mentally drained but when when you've won and you stand up on the podium and to this day I can still see the Union Jacks flying underneath the crowd roaring I'm never going to forget that but with the Triumph of Lon still fresh in their minds 1929 began to Herald a change in fortunes for Bentley the 20s were drawing to a close and with Worldwide economic depression setting in few could afford to buy expensive cars [Music] anymore but more seriously for the racing Giants of Britain the German developed supercharged car was having a big impact on engine design the power of the engine is really determined on how much fuel and air you can get inside the cylinders but for racing you needed some way of pumping in additional air and fuel so that each cylinder was absolutely cram full of an explosive mixture wo Bentley was violently opposed to the use of superchar charges and felt that these additions were against the Bentley ethos as far as wo was concerned it's on record is saying that to supercharge a Bentley engine is to pervert its design and corrupt its performance but one of the Bentley boys Tim Burkin believed that superchargers were the way forward and if wo wouldn't build them then he would Burkin although a millionaire in his own right needed financing and that came in the shape of Dorothy padet Dorothy padet was a real character she is more associated with horse racing at one time it is said she spent more on breeding stock than the ARA Khan I'm tell ber is the only man in Al life I don't think anybody else mattered to her horses matter do you see berkin happened to be the the baronet very racy man scarf flying out behind his racing cars and that sort of thing thought perhaps this is for me with padet sponsorship Burkin team developed a supercharger for the existing 4 and A2 liter Bentley known as the blower Bentley it faced the mighty Mercedes ssk at odds in ster in September 1929 at last The Best of British would take on the German might with Bentley and Mercedes going head tohe driving the blower was Tim Burkin and in the Mercedes was German Champion Rudolph kariola where Bentley's met Mercedes cars both cars had the same character even if you drive either of these cars today of the s or SS or the bands they are huge machines they have a lot of talk and uh very difficult to handle you had to be real man to to drive such a kind of steering is difficult braking is tough when once kachula asked the management you have to increase the braking forces on the ssk they said you are r ring to go fast and not to go slow you know kola's 7 L Mercedes was also up against the new 6 and a half liter Bentley from the start kariola in car number 70 LED and a fight began between the Bentley and The Supercharged Mercedes Mercedes you see had a clutch you can bring the supercharged in by putting the throttle pully down then you hear a siren noise absolutely marvelous [Music] you're tally s a motor car V radiator outside exhaust pipes when you ex right you put your foot down s [Music] noise in driving rain and with speeds of over 110 mph kariola lived up to his reputation as the rain Master no one could hold the Mercedes One By One The Bentley's dropped out and kariola took The Checkered [Music] Flag Tim burkins blower Bentley could not match the mighty seven liters of Mercedes and came in 11th Burkin was unstinting in his praise of kiola and the Mercedes whenever he passed me at that terrific speed I felt no Envy only incredulity at his skill his courage and the endurance of his car with this success Mercedes were euphoric not only had the blower and the big Bentley been beaten in a head-to-head but perhaps the crown of lemon could now be taken back to [Music] Germany throughout the 1920s Bentley's racing team had reigned supreme but after their successful 1929 lemore they suffered a real shock when at a race in Northern Ireland a 7 L supercharged Mercedes ssk had broken their domination of Motorsport but in Britain they could still put on a good show at Brooklyn's in October of that year Brooklyn's with its famous steeply banked track introduced the 500m race it was destined to become the fastest long-distance race in the world although Mercedes was not represented entries came in briskly and not surprisingly Bentley was there in force the Bentley boys entered their massive 4 and 1/2 L 6 L and 6 1/2 L Giants Tim Burkin raced in his new Amherst Villa supercharged Bentley from the outset burkins Bentley number 32 set the pace lapping at over 120 mph you know there there's no way that you'd catch me getting in one of those cars I wouldn't want to drive a car which was running around on tires is that wide no roll bar no seat belts capable of 120 130 mph and racing willto will just doesn't entertain me at all lap after lap the Bentley tore through the opposition although burkins blower caught fire and he was forced to retire finally Frank Clement took the checkered flag with Sammy Davis a close second Bentley's had won again we're both very happy to have won this wonderful race and we think all very nice to have made such a fuss of us yes I quite agree all I'm waiting for now to drink by the start of the 1930s the global recession was beginning to affect racing at LaMore only 18 cars made it to the start line the smallest entry ever seen wo Bentley had entered an official team of Three 6 and 1/2 L vehicles and to take up the challenge Mercedes had entered a private ssk during that time time Mercedes didn't have an official race team they just participated with private drivers and they gave these private drivers a company backing so they gave these drivers a car and a mechanic also in the lineup against Mercedes was Tim burkins new team of two supercharged or blower Bentley although not part of Bentley's official team they did now have wo's blessing anything to try to beat the Germans he thought Birkin a very fast and rather dangerous driver in his own right if he can break up Mercedes and attract the crowd and that sort of thing if he doesn't win the race fine but he was a tremendously pass driver everything was now at stake for Bentley during a pre-race party someone had overheard that the weakness in the Mercedes was to keep making them use their supercharger this snippet was to prove invaluable from the outset kachol took the lead ahead of the Bentley time and again burkins blower challenged for position each time pushing the Mercedes harder and harder the Bentley guys used a very good tactic they had a numerous cars there and they said we always have to chase This Ss because the maximum power the Mercedes engine was achieving was only when you engaged the supercharger which was not a permanent charger but only for accelerating or overtaking and so on and this tactic [Applause] worked lap after lap the Bentley hounded the Mercedes and about midnight the incredible battle was over when kariola was forced to retire kachula had to give up after 12 hours because the engine was blown yeah so Bentley had a had a huge success that is the real basic of this Legend uh the challenge between Mercedes and Bentley as wo had predicted both blower Bentley failed to finish although Burkin in car number n did break the lap record at 89 [Music] mph but it was Bentley's finest hour with bonato getting his hat-trick of three lamon wins well babe you're making a habit of this the third time You' done it in succession yeah third time they say is always lucky well the average this year was better than it was last year and up to the time the Mercedes packed up we'd averaged over 80 M hour had we read now yes but then of course we had it all our own way and cut down and I think the average only just works out at about 75 and well there was no need to go any faster there nobody to go nobody to beat well we had nobody to beat but ourselves the Bentley boys enjoyed their moment of Victory but with widespread depression the market for luxury Motorcars was in freeall and across the racing scene of Europe new forces were about to take control which were to have a devastating impact on Bentley in 1928 Bonito musolini Italy's dictator had created the milia milia a 1,000m road race around Northern Italy as a showcase for the Italian motor [Music] industry in Germany an aristocratic racing driver called Manfred Von braic paid a visit to the leader of the National Socialist Party Adolf Hitler at this time Hitler was still looking to boost his popularity by winning over new supporters so I said to myself he's got money to spend as much as he likes he's being supported by industry but industry doesn't dare approach him so I went to see him on the obber salsburg we walked up and down him talking at me I mean he always had so much to say when he talked to anyone he always talk very loudly so everybody could hear him so I asked him to give us at Dame leben some money and he said Mr Von brich you will have the money once I'm in power but the economic depression was also having a marked effect on German manufacturers like Mercedes we had to change our whole production series more to smaller cars cars people could afford because the luxury cars they were so expensive there was no Market anymore for these cars so we had actually in the company we had some other problems than uh necessarily uh winning races when Hitler came to power he kept his promise and offered Mercedes 450,000 Reich marks to design a world beater he also offered cash rewards to the newly created company of Auto Union if they were able to win races and to break records people wonder why he had helped both teams I said think of the a race of one maker wins all the time but if we have two makes appear to be against one another we should get more publicity por designed the auto Union very clever engineer but they had just as good Engineers as a Mercedes they were quite fabulous for Hitler winning races was about more than just sport it was a way to show that German technology was the best in the world and that Nazi Germany was going to be unbeatable on and off the racetrack German industry went into overdrive in pursuit of Hitler's dream of Supremacy and soon the Mercedes w25 was revealed powered by a supercharged 3.3 L engine which produced 350 horsepower and a top speed of over 170 mph this car was a Quantum Leap in design but it very nearly didn't start its first race having been painted in the German racing color of white white the car was 1 and 1/2 kilos too heavy one of the guys decided scrap the color of the car and so they had 1 and a half kilo less weight and it was good enough for racing so the car was driving in the blank alloy panels and was winning that first race and that of course was a good sign so the officials of Mercedes decided we will use the silver color also for the future and very shortly afterwards uh radio a reporter called the cars a Silver Arrow and it was the birth of the silver arrows in its first race in 1934 at nurburging Manfred Von braic drove the w25 Silver Arrow to Victory letting go of the steering wheel Shifting the gear stick using the clutch I can tell you it made you feel like you had boiling water in your pants the rear engine Auto Union designed by Ferdinand Porche came second this was to be the start of a new era of European competition and rivalry and as Hitler had intended it was the Germans who reigned [Music] Supreme both Mercedes and Auto Union went head-to-head in a battle to conquer all opposition employing drivers such as kariola rosem Mayer and n lari these Giants dominated the European racing [Music] scene Hitler's New Germany promoted speed and was committed to Victory the way to achieve this was by winning Grand Prix [Music] races but there had been no State support for motor racing in Britain and no Savior for Bentley for Bentley Motors its racing team and the Bentley boys the party was finally over when wo went into receivership in 1931 Rolls-Royce had taken them over and as a team Bentley's never raced again although drivers like Tim Burkin tried to continue his blower Bentley never won a major race and Dorothy padet who is not used to losing withdrew her sponsorship she lost so much money with this supercharged car the late 1930 and she just pulled a plug it was a very sad chapter in the development of Bentley Motors meanwhile Lon was left to the Italians French and the surviving British after Bentley's retirement the Italian Alpha Romeo with a little inducement from musolini won four years in a row British manufacturers such as mg Riley lond and Aston Martin still flew the flag for Britain but they couldn't recapture The Glory Days of [Music] Bentley the era of the gentleman drivers was over they could not compete with the growing professionalism of their Continental Rivals as soon as Motorsport became involved with politics and economics the whole ball game changed now we've got a different set of people in charge we've got political influence we want to win for the great Glory of our particular country we've got Financial influence which says how much will that cost and we can afford it maybe to the detriment of something else now that if you like is not our way of doing things and at that stage you see the ascendancy of the Continental manufacturers over the British products as the 30s neared its end Mercedes and Auto Union cars were unbeatable I think Bentley was definitely missing in on presport in the 30s unfortunately we didn't have any big British team during the 30s there were only the Germans and the Italian a little French but that was it more or less and to be a real to have a real European Championship definitely the English should have been part of the story for a brief s years Bentley had taken on the best in the world and won their record of five lemon victories had created a legend out of the cars and their drivers Mercedes too had earned its place in Motorsport history in the race to be the best both companies had helped to shape the future of motor racing there was that crossover point where Bentley sort of faded away and then Mercedes came on board they do get record as golden years because they were racing years there was competition on the race circuit to for naale Stuff drivers battling on the track off the track manufacturers against each other true racing manufacturers with a racing Heritage which is second to none

Channel: rrbentleyparts

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Keywords: bentley, yard, bentleyyard, rolls-royce, rollsroyce, rolls, royce, parts, service, restoration, news, articles, models, photos, videos, market, marketplace, store, buy, sell, classic, antique, cars, 1920, 1930, race, racing, mercedes, benz, mercedes-benz

Id: 4Zji_woRTls

Length: 47min 48sec (2868 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 03 2011