This Bentley Speed 8 won Le Mans, then never returned… ft: @moraagp

in 2003 the car known as the Bentley Speed 8 raced at the iconic 24 hours of Lal and during the event this car LED from start to finish dominating the French classic in ' 03 but after Lal in a blink of an eye this car was gone from the endurance racing world and never returned and besides the fact that this variant that won Lal only raced at the event once what if I told you it was heavily inspired by an Audi prototype more on that in a moment but in this video I'll be collaborating with endurance racing content creator Mora GP as we dive into the fascinating details of the Bentley Speed 8 which won Lal overall but never raced again now before talking about the speed a itself it's imperative that we mention that when Bentley won in 2003 it wasn't their first trip nor their first win at Lama overall you see out of all the car manufacturers across the world Bentley was the first brand to win the 24 hours of Lal that still exists today their first win was in 1924 when the Bentley 3 l sport took Victory this was also the second ever race of the 24 hours of the mall the first of course coming the previous year in 1923 in terms of results Bentley dominated Lal from the years of 1927 till 1930 three different types of cars took Victory between this period the most successful of them was the Bentley Speed 6 which took victory in 1929 and 1930 in fact in 1930 the top two spots were claimed by the Bentley Speed 6 entries the nearest car that wasn't a speed 6 was a talbet 90 which was 11 laps down but even though Bentley endured through Lal coming away with a successful five overall victories that 1930 race would ultimately be the British manufacturer's last overall win at Lal well of course until the speed 8 came along but now that we know about Bentley's history at lamal let me hand things over to MOA who will talk about the foundations of where the speed8 came from to understand Bentley's return to Lamar we have to go back to 1998 Ali were eager to join endurance racing after seeing the Volkswagen brother Porsche take its 15th win at Lam more and so it was decided at the sty of the year that Audi would develop a prototype to race at lasar the plan was to develop only a car built around the LMP regulations called the RR however after the 1998 24 hours of lam more due to the domination from the GT1 cars and the evolution if you want to call it like that into prototypes rather than cars based off production models the ACO decided that it was time for a change starting from 1999 the GT1 class would be replaced into the so-called GTS class while to allow the GT1 Brands to compete and keep developing their Sports scass they created the LM GTP class the class was built as a close cockpit regulation which in a way set the GT1 manufacturers free from the need of their cars to be based off production models it was at that stage when AI decided that a two-car program will be a good approach to decide which of the two regulations had more potential and thus the r8c project was born firstly let's talk about the LMP car the r8r it was developed mainly by delara and it featured a 3.6 twin turbo V8 while it had a concept that looked somewhat similar to the Ferrari 333 SP it was visible that it was a kind of Rush concept meanwhile the rhc was really rushed the develop by racing technology Norfolk it used the same engine as the sister r8r but the the concept was the complete opposite using a close cockpit thanks to the inspiration of the GT1 cars you could see how it wasn't fully finished due to the lack of aerodynamic winglets after a lot of testing done for the r8r well not so much for the r8c the cars finally hit the track in the 1999 24 hours of lam more the RAR had a decent qualifying with their cars being 9th and 11th on the grid while the r8c struggled in 20th and 23rd once the race started the r8rs kept climbing spots but that wasn't the case for the r8c which suffered gearbox trouble in both cars ending their races prematurely the RRS ended up finishing third and fourth overall making it clear what concept Audi was going to use in the future this was going to put an end to the r story but a brand came knocking on the door this is where we insert Bentley who were interested in a motorsport return and with Audi choosing the r8r concept in favor of the r8c this opened the door for Bentley to enter the picture even though the Audi r8c program had been called off the facility in which the car had been produced from racing technology Northfolk still had the ability to continue a Lal prototype project and with Bentley interested in a motorsport return this was a perfect way to continue the project and for Bentley to reclaim the Lal crown and if you're wondering how Bentley was able to get involved in this well that's simply because Audi and Bentley are both owned by the same parent company which is Volkswagen the first iteration of Bentley's prototype would be called the EXP Speed 8 which was the variant before the speed 8 this Bentley would be designed by Peter El who also designed the Audi r8c this car actually shared a lot of Technology with the r8c it very much resembles the Prototype race car the EXP Speed 8 would be using the same engine used in the Audi R8 race car a 3.6 L V8 however the gearbox on the Bentley was different to the one on the Audi R8 the EXP speed8 would use a custom developed six-speed sequential manual transmission from xtrack as for the chassis that would be a carbon fiber and aluminum monoco Bentley was looking to run a three-year program starting off in 2001 with the EXP Speed 8 in endurance racing not just to take overall victory at the 24 hours of Lal but also to promote the allnew Bentley Continental GT as to the team running the operations of the Bentley exp Speed 8 later known as the speed 8 that would be the Formerly Known Audi Sport UK also known as Apex Motorsport but when the cars would compete in Motorsport the organization would be under the name team Bentley and so with the preparations now complete Bentley was ready to debut the car in 2001 their debut finally came alive in 2001 the program was simple they would only race at Lamar from 2001 to 2003 and no more showing how their focus was simply to conquer Las South once again the team six drivers in 2001 were Martin brundu estan Elli and Smith in the number seven and Andy Wallace Butch late serer and Eric Van thepool in the number eight now it must be said first that while there were a lot of prototype classes back then Bley was the only C to featuring the lmg TP category on qualifying they finished seventh and Ninth being 4 seconds behind the PO sitter Audi R8 it would be on the race when the Bley started to shine though while the number seven was unlucky as it had to retire after 56 laps to a gearbox issue the number eight had great Pace while it did find some issues in the race it ended up taking third place overall and their fastest lap was just 2 seconds behind the ra best lap showing that indeed there was potential after the race they decided that the car needed some updates so they started to get some work done on it it will directly influence their 2002 effort however for that Year's 24 hours of Lum more benley weren fully ready so they had to change their plans they would enter a so-called mu car the number eight which will have some of the updates but not all of them their biggest update were a new engine which was an Audi 4.0 L V8 twin turbo and a brand new gearbox but this only cost one issue only one car could be entered so that meant less mileage for them driving the number eight were the same three drivers as last year Wallas vandero and light singer in qualifying the starting position turned out to be worse as they were before 11th overall but they had managed to improve last year's lap by over a second and a half on the race this time the Bentley went again best of the rest being the best car only behind the Audi R8 the motivation was high but something very big was coming 2003 was a completely different year for team Bentley mainly because of the fact that this year would Mark the debut of the new variation of the car and they would secure major success at the 24 hours of Lon the inner workings of this new 2003 model would start as early as 2001 and there were definitely some changes made compared to the predecessor alongside the addition of the 4.0 L V8 engine which would increase the power of the car some of the improvements added on to the Bentley included tweaking the aerodynamics changing some of the Bodywork and upgrading the cockpit to name a few this variation of the Bentley prototype did a lot of testing and it was clear that not just the pace had improved but the reliability as well and that is crucial in a race with such magnitude as the 24 hours of the mall the redesign also meant that the car would receive a name change Bentley would get rid of the EXP and just call the car the speed 8 of course the ultimate result was that the new iteration of the speed 8 would finally return Bentley to the top step of the Lal Podium and of course if they did so this would be huge huge not just for the Bentley name but also marketing wise as Bentley and Volkswagen were releasing the allnew 2003 Bentley Continental GT the 2003 year of competition for the Bentley Speed 8s would also see the assistance of Yos racing Yost was the same team that helped out Audi to achieve overall Victor Lal from 2000 to 2002 and with Audi temporarily backing aside from a factory Lama effort this placed Yos racing in a position to help team Bentley achieve overall victory at Leal team Bentley also had a few famous names some that raced with Audi and team Yos competing in the Bentley Speed a in 2003 in just a moment Mora will talk more about some of those drivers that raced but as the 2003 season approached believe it or not even though Lamar was the target for Bentley it wouldn't be the first race for the redesigned speed8 with the introduction of the Jo racing back Bley Speed 8 the program suffered another change firstly two Bentley will be entered for the 2003 12 hours of Sebring as a test before Lam more but that wasn't the only one Bley had also changed their driver lineups thanks to the involvement of Joe so we now had very different drivers in the number seven car were guy Smith Ronaldo Capello and Mr Lamar himself Tom Christensen meanwhile in the number eight car it was Johnny Herbert David braam and Mark Blondo driving the race in Florida was expected to go well but it ended up being quite the warning for the Audi R8 the number eight Bentley took po position ahead of the sister number seven car both dropping 710 to the nearest Audi R8 in third however a technical infringement from both cars so their qual Labs being deleted and starting from the bar back of the field making their way up the order the Bendle couldn't match the Audi R8 race base but they were way closer than before they ended up finishing a great third overall three laps behind the two first Audi and the number seven Bentley set the fastest lap of the race letting the Audi know that they weren't here to play all the DAT gathered the driver's experience and the AAL Sensations from the team were crucial towards Lam more and it ended up being very useful so it finally came time for The Big Race the 2003 edition of the 24 hours of the mall as we saw the 12 hours of Sebring the speed eight were competitive but were not able to beat Audi to Victory but at Lama however things would be very different like Sebring team Bentley would bring two cars badged as the number seven and number eight entries they would also have the same driver lineup that was at Sebring in qualifying Bentley would dominate over the field the number seven car would qualify on pole thanks to then four-time lamama winner Tom Christensen the Danish driver would set a 3-minute 33 3.1 in the second day of qualifying which would ultimately be around 3 seconds faster than the nearest Audi the number 10 car at the start of the race the two Bentley had maintained first and second position overall and by the time they got to the molan straight they had already gapped the lmp900 entries during this 2003 event team Bentley with help from Yol racing proved that the speed eights were not just fast but they were Lightning Fast against the Audi R8s the majority of this race was led by the number seven Bentley and it had very strong Pace in the hands of drivers Tom Christensen guy Smith and rendo Capello the sister Bentley the number eight car maintained second position but wasn't on the same Pace compared to the number seven car the number eight car also encountered an issue when it went into the pit Lane for a battery replacement which meant that it lost a lot of time to the sister car but nevertheless team Bentley would finish law with a fantastic result the two Bentley Speed eights would cross the line in first and second position not just in the lmgp category but overall at Lal this meant that after 73 years of waiting Bentley had finally returned to the top step of the Lal Podium Christenson Smith and Capello would take overall victory in the number seven car lifting that iconic Trophy up in the air for Bentley to achieve their sixth win at the famous Circuit de losar after 2003 just like they had promised Bentley would put an end to their program after winning that Year's 24 hours of lam more Bentley ended up being absent from Racing for quite a while until their big return in 2014 with a GT3 car they ended up having quite a successful GT campaign from 2014 until 2020 they won the 2015 blank pain GT spring series and many more races on the way the most notable one being the 2020 12 hours of Bath the British brand was also very close to going back to prototype bracing in 2016 when an opportunity to build a Daytona prototype International came they did some testing and really looked into it but at the end bendy decided that it wasn't the right time and simply called it off as of 2024 Bentley isn't really doing anything apart from a sole Bentley entry in the 24 Hours of Dubai where they were far off the current gt3s so that was the story of the Bentley Speed which won the 24 hours of Lama overall in 2003 but never returned also big thank you to Mora for collaborating to make this video possible I've put a link to his channel down in the description but what do you think about the Bentley speed8 and its success at the 24 hours of Lama in 2003 well let me know all your thoughts down in the comments thank you for watching if you haven't already I suggest subscribing the reason why is because I make endurance racing content mainly on WC and imsa every week and if you want to watch more videos there's options on your screen but for now that's it for me I'll see you in the next one

Channel: Formula Jonah

Views: 42,470

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Id: I_nnglaOGxk

Length: 16min 41sec (1001 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 24 2024