Sleek Bentley racers head back to Le Mans

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

The British marque Bentley dominated the 24-hour Le Mans race early last century, winning in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and claiming the first four places in 1930. It withdrew from motorsport soon after, mostly because it ran out of money.

Now, 70 years on and bankrolled by owner Volkswagen, Bentley is heading back to the French circuit next year with a closed-cabin racer called the EXP Speed 8.

The car has been under development for more than a year and is being tested by British driver James Weaver, a 12-race veteran at Le Mans.

The project's manager is Bentley's No 2 engineer, Brian Gush, who has borrowed components from the parts bin of the VW-owned performance company Audi Sport.

The carbon-fibre EXP Speed 8 will be powered by the 440kW 3.6-litre twin-turbo V8 engine used in the open-cabin Audi R8s that finished first, second and third at this year's Le Mans.

The engine will have new turbochargers and different cooling and exhaust systems to boost power and torque. It is also being reworked to provide better fuel economy to cut the number of fuel stops around Le Mans.

Bentley will build its own engine for the EXP Speed 8, a turbocharged V8 believed to be bigger in capacity than the 3.6-litre Audi powerplant.

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

Much of the money will go towards a mid-sized Bentley saloon expected in Britain in October 2003 to compete with the best from Audi, BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz.