Bentley back in the race

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

British carmaker Bentley doesn't expect to win at Le Mans this year, its first run in the 24-hour race in more than 70 years.

But it does expect to uphold the Bentley name, a motorsport nobility born in the 1920s when it won five of the first seven races.

And it will honour tradition in the most British of ways by running its two closed-cabin EXP Speed 8 racers on Dunlop tyres, just like it did in the old days.

"We have an excellent foundation for the cars to be competitive," said Bentley Motors chief executive Tony Gott. "However, with the tremendous heritage of Bentley at Le Mans is it an enormous responsibility and one we are taking very seriously."

Bentley dominated the race early last century, winning its first Le Mans in 1924 in a 3.0-litre car piloted by founder W.O. Bentley, Frank Clement and John Duff.

It won again in 1927, 1928 and 1929, and claimed the first four places in 1930. W.O. Bentley withdrew from motorsport soon after, mostly because the company ran out of money.

Now, bankrolled by owner Volkswagen, it's heading back to the French circuit with a driver line-up and a support team it believes will uphold the honour of Bentley. Its two EXP Speed 8 cars will race in a class for fully enclosed prototypes. "It means we can only use wheels up to 14 inches wide instead of 16-inch wheels," said design team leader Peter Elleray. "But this can be an advantage because the 14-inch wheels interfere less with the flow of air under the car."

Elleray designed the racers to be as aerodynamically efficient as possible. "The closed cockpit makes exploitation and management of the air flow over the centre section of the car more effective than on a conventional, open-top prototype," he said.

The EXP Speed 8 racers started out as three hoops of carbon fibre, over which is applied a stressed carbon-fibre skin to create a monocoque both strong and space efficient. This structure weighs 70kg.

The car is powered by the 440kW 3.6-litre twin-tubo V8 engine used in the open-top Audi R8s that finished one, two, three at last year's Le Mans.

The engine has new turbochargers and new cooling and exhaust systems to boost power and torque and to suit the car's aerodynamics. It also provides better fuel economy to cut the number of fuel stops around Le Mans.

The six-speed pneumatic gearbox has been developed with high-performance specialist Xtrac and designed specifically for the EXP Speed 8.

The suspension system also gets dedicated treatment. It follows current race-car thinking with double wishbones at each corner but uses torsion bars at the front packaged so as not to disturb air flow. Coil springs are used at the rear.

The brakes have been specially developed and use carbon discs and pads with six-piston callipers.

The EXP Speed 8 racers will first be seen in action in public during the official Le Mans test weekend on May 5 and 6.

Bentley regards this year's race as very much a shakedown as it seeks to ultimately dominate Le Mans again.

But team owner Richard Lloyd hangs on to a dream. "Of course I want to win this year," he said. "But you have to be realistic. This is the first year and to win would be almost unprecedented. The focus has to be on getting both cars to the finish which, at this stage of the programme, would be a tremendous result."

The return to racing is part of a nearly $2 billion investment in Bentley over the next five years by VW.