Bentley Culture

The 8 Litre is considered W.O. Bentley’s masterpiece; yet it also marked the end of a chapter for the first Bentley Motors. GK 706 was W.O’s personal ‘company car’, in which he enjoyed many fast, non-stop runs down to the South of France with his wife. He was reunited with it on his 80th birthday at a Bentley Drivers’ Club reunion. 

Bentley’s clientele included those looking for the ultimate in luxury and effortless power. The 8 Litre, launched in 1930, was W.O. Bentley’s flagship. Its 7,938cc capacity was achieved by enlarging the bore of the 6½ Litre’s straight six engine and the crankcase was made of Elektron, a magnesium alloy, to save weight. Instead of the traditional race-bred mesh stoneguard, the 8 Litre’s radiator was tall, with vertical chromed vanes. Long wheelbases accommodated the formal coachwork clients wanted.

At the time of the 8 Litre’s launch, W.O. remarked, “I have always wanted to produce a dead silent 100mph car, and now I think that we have done it.” The company guaranteed that the 8 Litre would be capable of 100mph regardless of the chosen coachwork. When Autocar tested WO’s own HJ Mulliner saloon GK 706 it pronounced, “Motoring in its Very Highest Form… on performance alone it stands right in the forefront as an equal, at least, of any other car in existence.” Despite its performance, refinement and advanced technology, the 8 Litre’s launch coincided with the worldwide depression caused by the Wall Street Crash of 1929; unfortunate timing for a luxury flagship. At the time Bentley Motors was also in financial difficulty, leading to a change of ownership. Only 100 examples of the 8 Litre were built between 1930 and 1932. 

W.O. Bentley’s personal 8 Litre was mounted on a 12’ wheelbase chassis with a Weymann fabric body, which gave him ‘my most memorable driving of all time’. After the liquidation of the original Bentley Motors, dealer Jack Barclay sold the car to L.W. Weldon in 1932, who kept it for a year before selling it to Eric Mackintosh in 1933. It changed hands four more times before being acquired by Bentley Motors in 2006 and sympathetically restored, preserving much of the original patina. It has since become a symbolic ‘company car’ for Bentley CEOs.

Former fighter pilot Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin – who had bought a DFP car from W.O. prior to the launch of Bentley Motors – joins the Bentley stable. He will soon become famous both for his exploits on the racetrack and the creation of the Bentley ‘Blower’. Notorious for being hard on his cars, he will drive at Le Mans in 1928, 1929 and 1930. 

With W.O. Bentley opposed to supercharging on principle, Tim Birkin enlists Dorothy Paget’s help to add an Amherst Villiers supercharger to the Bentley 4½ Litre – and a legend is born. 

After Tim Birkin fails to convince W.O. Bentley that he should supercharge his cars, he finds an ally in heiress Dorothy Paget. Seeing value in the idea, she provides vital support to Birkin, making the development of a supercharged Bentley 4½ Litre possible. The Bentley Blower is born. 

Despite an increase in power from 110 bhp to 175 bhp, the Blower fails to achieve commercial success. Reliability problems, meanwhile, compromise its record on the racetrack. Yet successes including second place at the French Grand Prix in 1930 help the ‘Blower’ become the most famous Bentley of its era.

Explore the rich heritage of Bentley Motors through our interactive timelines—charting our legendary motorsport achievements, extraordinary vehicles, and the pioneering individuals who shaped our journey of innovation and performance.

W.O. Bentley’s passion for performance began early. Two years into his apprenticeship at Doncaster Railway Station, he bought a Quadrant motorcycle and began racing. Within another two years, his engineering instincts took over—his modifications to a Rex motorcycle were so effective, they were adopted by the Rex team itself. Soon, he was racing Indian motorcycles at Brooklands and the Isle of Man TT, immersing himself in the world of speed, innovation and competition.

During this formative period, W.O. connected with fellow motorcycling enthusiasts Frank Clement and Sammy Davis—both destined to become part of the iconic Bentley Boys. Clement would later join Bentley Motors as its first official test driver, eventually becoming a works racing driver and, later, a salesman. His recruitment marked the beginning of the Bentley Boys era.

Frank Clement would go on to secure his place in Bentley history. As the company's first test driver, he became the only paid driver to represent Bentley at every Le Mans race between 1923 and 1930, famously winning in 1924.

Canadian driver John Duff soon joined Clement at Bentley. In 1922, Duff piloted a Bentley 3 Litre solo for 24 hours at Brooklands, covering over 2,000 miles at an average speed of 86.7 mph—setting a new Double-Twelve speed record and showcasing the endurance potential of Bentley’s engineering.

At first, W.O. Bentley dismissed the idea of Le Mans. “I think the whole thing’s crazy,” he remarked. “Nobody will finish. Cars aren’t designed to stand that sort of strain for 24 hours.” But after watching Duff and Clement take fourth place in a privately entered Bentley 3 Litre at the inaugural 1923 race, he saw the opportunity—and embraced it.

In 1924, Bentley returned to Le Mans with factory support and a refined 3 Litre model. With W.O.’s full backing and numerous mechanical enhancements, Duff and Clement secured Bentley’s first victory in the legendary 24-hour endurance race—establishing a legacy of performance and resilience that would define the marque for decades to come.

We sat down with Italian architect and designer, Carlo Colombo at Salone de Mobile 2024 to discuss the inspiration behind his pieces for the latest Bentley Home collection. 

The collection has been designed by Bentley in collaboration with three furniture designers from Italy. Carlo designed the Chilton Seating and Langport Bed, passionate about pure forms, elegance, and materials Carlo’s design for the Langport Bed features veneered and striped patterns with metal inlays to give the product a distinctive Bentley style, whilst the Chilton Seating incorporates vertical decorations, leather fabrics and wooden elements, reflective of a car seat. Both products are skilful craftmanship at its best.

A few months ago, we partnered with Central Saint Martins and Culted to launch a design project that brought together the worlds of fashion and automotive design. Inspired by this year’s Met Gala theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” and our own Bentayga Atelier Edition, we invited five BA Fashion graduates to reimagine Black Dandyism through a modern lens.

The result was bold, expressive, and refreshingly individual. The winning design came from Ella Douglas, a London-based designer with a love for automotive aesthetics. Using chevron claret bow tweed, she created a sculptural dress that challenged the traditional suit silhouette—channeling the form and elegance of the Bentayga while celebrating the fluidity of Black Dandyism.

We caught up with Ella to talk about her process, her inspirations—from Sunday-best churchgoers to Dennis Rodman—and her advice for emerging creatives. The project was a powerful reminder of how our design philosophy can inspire creativity far beyond the road.

For the first time in over two decades—and only the fifth time in our 106-year history—we’ve redesigned the Bentley Wings. This new emblem marks the beginning of a bold new chapter for Bentley Motors, coinciding with the opening of our brand-new Design Studio in Crewe and the upcoming reveal of our future vision concept on 8 July.

Designed entirely in-house, the new Winged B was led by our Director of Design, Robin Page. He describes it best: “If a luxury brand is the product of the stories it has created, then its emblem is its signature.” Clean, sharp and confident, the updated emblem reflects a modern Bentley—progressive, refined, and unmistakably powerful.

We ran an internal design competition and the winning concept came from Young Nam on our Interior Design team. It honours the heritage of past designs while pushing us forward—retaining the iconic B and diamond inner wings, but now with more sculptural form and simplified lines, inspired by the elegance and precision of luxury watchmaking.

As Robin explains, “In an era of ever-increasing complexity… simplification and refinement is a modern necessity.” The jewel-like B at the heart of the emblem can even stand alone as a graphic mark, something we’ve never done before.

This emblem is more than a visual change—it’s the opening statement of our evolving design language. You’ll see it first on the front of our new concept car, a glimpse into the future of Bentley, inspired by the icons of our past.

We’ve always believed that our emblem is a symbol of motion, performance and elegance—something our founder W.O. Bentley understood when he asked his friend F. Gordon Crosby to create the original Winged B in 1919. Now, over a century later, we’ve reimagined that vision for a new era. And this is just the beginning.

This week, we unveiled EXP 15 – our latest design concept and a bold expression of Bentley’s future. Revealed inside our new state-of-the-art design studio, EXP 15 blends our Grand Touring heritage with an entirely modern, electrified design philosophy.

Inspired by icons like the 1930 Speed Six “Blue Train” coupe, EXP 15 features a confident upright grille, endless bonnet line, and sculpted, muscular proportions – all underpinned by five key exterior design principles that will shape future Bentleys.

Inside, EXP 15 introduces a luxurious, three-seat layout and an interior brought to life through virtual reality. It fuses traditional British craftsmanship with sustainable materials, advanced digital technology, and innovative design – including reconfigurable seating, concealed storage, and a boot that transforms into a luxury picnic space.

This concept offers a clear preview of where we’re heading – a future defined by elegant electrification, purposeful innovation, and unmistakable Bentley character.