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T H E O F F I C I A L M A G A Z I N E O F B E N T L E Y M O T O R S_S U M M E R 2o14_Issue 49

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_Issue 49

Opportunities now exist in certain locations to open a Clive Christian Showroom

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18 B E N T L E Y WO R L D

From glittering soirées to polo tournaments, the events and launches where Bentley dealers make the news.

28 L O O K I N G TO T H E F U T U R E

Richard Durbin reveals the latest tantalizing news about the forthcoming Bentley SUV.

30 H O M E RU N

Race number three. Victory number one. Guy Watkins was there as the Continental GT3 took the chequered flag at Silverstone.

38 E N G I N E E R E D TO M A K E T H E H E A RT R AC E

The limited edition Continental GT3-R is a grand tourer with a racing soul, enthuses Nick Swallow.

43 T H E G E N D E R AG E N DA

Kristin Tice Studeman examines the power, glamour and excitement of Bentley from a female perspective.

48 F O R E H A N D D R I V E

Tennis star Victoria Azarenka explains her life philosophy to Jeremy Hart – and takes the Mulsanne for a spin.

59 R H A P S O DY I N B L U E

Richard Charlesworth MVO completes the tale of this rare Speed Six restoration.

62 G AT E WAY TO A DV E N T U R E

The Gateway Canyons Resort offers adventure and relaxation in a stunning setting. Julia Marozzi enjoys the view.

68 N O S TO N E U N T U R N E D

Nick Foulkes meets Bentley owner Glenn Spiro, a man with an eye for a gem.

74 E L E C T R I F Y I N G P E R F O R M A N C E

Bentley unveiled a vision of a plug-in hybrid future at Beijing. James Falkingham examines the how and the why.

78 TRAPPINGS OF OFFICE

Nick Foulkes meets gallery owner and man-about-town Tim Jefferies, and is inspired by his newly-refurbished place of work.

80 RIDE-ON BLOWER

Rob Crossnan falls for a model Bentley Blower made by GRE Classics. It’s far too good for kids...

85 T H E C A S E O F T H E U N RU F F L E D T R AV E L L E R

A tailored set of Schedoni luggage is the perfect travelling companion for your Mulsanne, claims Michael Taylor.

90 O N T H E ROA D

Olympic equestrian Thomas Velin is seduced by Bentley’s past – and intrigued about its future.

For information regarding any article please refer to page 16

Summer 2014

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B E N T L E Y M A G A Z I N EI S S U E 4 9 / S U M M E R 2 0 1 4

WelcomeBentley is a remarkable company. On the one hand, it’s the most sought after luxury car brand in the world, celebrated for its craftsmanship and bespoke capability, given full expression in models like Mulsanne. On the other, it’s associated with the thrill of competition; the balance, razor-sharp response and breathtaking acceleration of the Continental GT3 have already put it among the front-runners in the Blancpain championship.

This issue of Bentley magazine expresses the breadth of Bentley’s appeal perfectly. You can enjoy tennis superstar Victoria Azarenka’s reaction to the Mulsanne, catch up with Bentley’s fortunes in the Monza round of the Blancpain GT Series or read about the new road-going GT3-R, the fastest-accelerating production Bentley of all time and a true grand tourer.

Another aspect of Bentley is its ability to connect with the needs of its customers. The hybrid concept Mulsanne, unveiled in Beijing, offers the tantalising prospect of a Bentley with a dual character ; zero emissions in town and exhilarating power on the open road. And of course the eagerly-anticipated SUV will combine luxury, performance, quality and craftsmanship to bring Bentley values to a completely new class of vehicle.

As you might imagine, these are exciting times at Crewe and I am personally delighted to be back as Chairman and CEO, working with a talented and tight-knit team of colleagues. My predecessor, Dr Schreiber, presided over Bentley’s strongest-ever financial performance, both in profit and turnover, so his is a strong legacy. I’d like to offer my thanks to him and my warm wishes to all the readers of this magazine. The journey continues!

W O L F G A N G D Ü R H E I M E RC H A I R M A N A N D C E O

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Although there are too many to name individually, our sincerest thanks and appreciation go to all who have contributed in Bentley magazine. To our readers, we hope that you will enjoy this issue of Bentley magazine. We have listed below the contact details for products and services mentioned within this issue.

F R O N T C O V E R Exterior: Glacier White with Beluga Interior: Alcantara® and contrast green Shot at Millbrook in the UK Photographer: James Lipman

G A T E W A Y T O A D V E N T U R E www.gatewaycanyons.com

N O S T O N E U N T U R N E D www.glennspiro.com

R I D E - O N B L O W E R www.greclassics.co.uk

T H E C A S E O F T H E U N R U F F L E D T R A V E L L E R www.schedoni.com

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S Abby Teichmann, Emily Goad, Mitch Pashavair, Molly Blanton, Jennifer Jackson,

C O M P E T I T I O N P R I Z E W I N N E R Congratulations to Mr R Crossley from Cheshire, UK who is the winner of our Bentley 47 prize draw Pure Pleasure in Paris. In this issue readers will find details on how to win a stay at Gateway Canyons Resort & Spa, Colorado with Bentley Magazine readers’ free prize draw. Good luck!

Copyright: Bentley Motors Limited

Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the data in this publication is accurate, neither the publisher nor Bentley Motors Limited nor any of its subsidiary or affiliated companies can accept, and hereby disclaim, any liability to any party to loss or damage caused by errors or omissions resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission of the publisher. All material has been published in good faith as having been supplied for publication. Information correct at time of going to press. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher or Bentley Motors Limited.

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of material used in this publication. If any copyright holder has been overlooked, we should be pleased to make any necessary arrangements.

Bentley Motors Limited does not officially endorse any advertising material or editorials for third party products included within this publication. Care is taken to ensure advertisers follow advertising codes of practice and are of good standing, but neither the publisher nor Bentley Motors Limited can be held responsible for any errors.

The names ‘Bentley’, ‘Arnage’, ‘Azure’, ‘Continental GT’, ‘Continental Flying Spur’, ‘Mulliner’ the ‘B-in-wings’ device and product names are registered trademarks.

Bentley Motors Limited VAT number GB 279230739 Registered in England under number 992897

If you do not wish to receive this magazine in future then please Email: [email protected] You will need to provide your full name and address for us to amend our records.

Bentley magazine is available by subscription. For further information, please contact Bentley Motors Limited on +44 (0)1270 535 032

The cover price of the magazine is £12.00

Bentley magazine is the official magazine for owners, enthusiasts, supporters and friends of Bentley Motors Limited. Bentley magazine is published quarterly by FMS on behalf of Bentley Motors Limited.

Bentley Motors Limited, Pyms Lane, Crewe, Cheshire, CW1 3PL, UK www.bentleymotors.com Email: [email protected]

O V E R S E A S O F F I C E S Australia: Bentley Motors Australia The Lakes Business Park 6 Lord Street, Botany, NSW 2019, PO Box 2316, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012

China: Bentley China Volkswagen Group Centre IFC, A-8 Jianguomenwai Avenue Chaoyang District, Beijing +86 400 890 6668

Dubai: Bentley Motors Limited Office 2505, Sentinel Business Centre, Level 25, Monarch Office Tower, One Sheikh Zayed Road, PO Box 333840, Dubai, United Arab Emirates +971 4 3050 678

Europe: Bentley Motors Limited Pyms Lane, Crewe, Cheshire, CW1 3PL, UK +44 (0) 1270 255 155

Japan: Bentley Motors Japan 18F Gotenyama Trust Tower, 4-7-35 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0001 +81 (0) 355 75 73 48

Korea: Bentley Motors Korea 3F Shinyoung Building, 88-5 Cheongdamdong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea 135-100 +82 (0) 2 6009 9501

Mexico: Bentley de Mexico S.A. de C.V. Km. 116 Autopista, Mexico-Puebla, Cuautlancingo, Pue. 72700, Mexico +52 (222) 230-6757

Russia: Bentley Russia Volkswagen Group Russia, Obrucheva St, 30/1 117485 Moscow +7 495 258 3901

North America & Caribbean: Bentley Motors, Inc. 2200 Ferdinand Porsche Drive, Herndon, VA 20171, USA +1 703 364 7990

Singapore: Bentley Motors Limited 247 Alexander Road, Level 4, 159934 Singapore + 65 6305 7204

E D I T O R I A L T E A M Wolfgang Glabus: Communications Director Bentley MotorsJulia Marozzi: Editor Irene Mateides: Co-proprietor FMS

W R I T E R S & C O N T R I B U T I O N S Nick Swallow, Kristin Tice Studeman, Julia Marozzi, Nick Foulkes, Jeremy Hart, James Falkingham, Richard Charlesworth, Michael Taylor, Avis Cardella, Rob Crossan, Gary Watkins Sub Editor: Nick Swallow.

P H O T O G R A P H Y & I L L U S T R A T I O N The Zimmerman Agency, Gateway Canyons Resort & Spa, Mitch Pashavair, Getty Images, Ulrik Jantzen, Corbis, Paul Cocken

F M S Nigel Fulcher: Managing DirectorIrene Mateides: Publishing DirectorKathryn Giornali: Project Manager

A D V E R T I S I N G E N Q U I R I E S For all advertising enquiriesplease contact:Advertising Manager Alisa StamenkovicTel: +44 (0)207 399 9582Mobile: +44 (0)7890 194364email: [email protected]

North America Advertising Manager Todd Koss Tel: +1 978 824 2811 Mobile: + 1 603 682 3731 email: [email protected]

C O N T R A C T P U B L I S H I N G E N Q U I R I E S For all contract publishing enquiries please call Nigel Fulcher on +44 (0)1920 444 889 or email: [email protected]

A L L O T H E R E N Q U I R I E S FMS, Hanley Barn, Fanhams Grange, Fanhams Hall Road, Ware, Hertfordshire SG12 7PW, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)1920 467 492

Acknowledgments: ISSUE 49

Gary WatkinsGary Watkins has devoted his working life to writing about sportscar racing. This season is his 25th as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and nearly 60 24-hour race. Among the highlights was reporting on Bentley’s 2003 Le Mans 24 Hours victory. Kristin Tice Studeman

Kristin Tice Studeman is an American freelance journalist living in New York City. She has traveled the world on assignment, exploring everything from the hidden cities of Morocco to the fashion scene in Copenhagen to kale’s recent rise to popularity. A budding car enthusiast, she wishes she had a place to safely park a Continental GT Convertible V8 in Manhattan. Unfortunately, her apartment isn’t large enough for that, so until then, she’s lusting over Bentley’s gorgeous new handbags. She has no pets, but wishes to have a French Bulldog named Herbert one day.

Michael TaylorA 20-year veteran of the industry, Michael Taylor’s news pieces, features and road tests are published as far afield as the United States, China, Japan, Australia, the Middle East and South Africa. The Australian has been the Motoring Editor of The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, the editor of MOTOR and 4X4 Australia and a Mitsubishi factory rally driver. He moved from Sydney to Italy. eight years ago, driving almost straight past the Schedoni operation in Modena. He has removed himself from the wicked temptations of Supercar Valley and now lives between Milano and Switzerland.

Editor: Julia Marozzi A former features editor, news editor and Weekend editor at the FT, Julia has worked in Toronto, Hong Kong, Montreal, Miami and London for a variety of national and international publications, including the South China Morning Post and the Sunday Times. Julia’s undying affection for the Flying Spur has now reached a new level of excitement. Her driving can best be described as high-spirited.

Publisher: Wolfgang Glabus

f.www.fms.co.uk

twitter.com/fmsmagazinesFMS is a member of the Periodical Publishers Association

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P E O P L E PA RT I E S A N D P L A C E S

Bentley World

The day before the International Doha Motor Show, over 250 guests and media representatives were invited to the new showroom of Bentley Doha to witness the new contemporary retail identity of Bentley coming to life for the first time. The clean, contemporary design and beautifully-crafted fittings were much admired, as was the new Continental GT V8 S which was making its Middle East debut. This was just the first step of the global roll out of the new Bentley Retail identity that will take place in every Bentley dealership in the world over the next two years.

After a move of premises, Bentley Motors COO Kim Airey declared the new Bentley Walnut Creek dealership officially open and introduced the new Continental GT V8S at an invitation-only soiree, held at a breathtaking 101-acre estate in the locality. Guests were chauffeured to the event by Mulsanne or Flying Spur and entered the garage via a red carpet walkway to view the complete Bentley model range. They also enjoyed an exclusive preview of spring trends in jewellery and couture. To add to the celebratory mood, hors d’oeuvres and fine champagne were served.

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A day of polo and glamour (fuelled by the finest French champagne) was on the agenda at the Veuve Clicquot Masters Polo event held in the glorious Cape Winelands. Fellow event sponsors Bentley South Africa demonstrated the full Bentley range to the event’s attendees and guests, while the two Cricklewood-era Bentley blowers kindly provided by their

proud owners also drew many admirers. Andy Green, holder of the land world speed record and a Bentley Mulsanne visionary, also attended the event and had the opportunity to explain to media and Bentley guests his ambition of setting a new 1000+mph land speed record on South African soil in 2016.

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The theme for the 35th Bangkok International Motor Show 2014 was “Beauty in the Drive”. This impressive exhibition attracted over 28 automakers and 1.8 million visitors, affording Bentley Thailand the opportunity to host guests and media alike. Bentley Thailand held a special VIP night for its guests on the March 24 and on the following day members of the press day were hosted by Ms. Katya Zavialova, Dealer Marketing Manager Asia Pacific with Khun Bhirabhol Israprasart, Bentley Thailand Assistant Chairman. The press day performance included an elegant Tango by dancers who performed beautifully to live piano music before welcoming journalists to the Bentley stand.

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Bentley World

The new GT V8 S was launched for the Middle East, Africa and India markets during a ten-day event based in Oman. A fleet of eight stunning Continental GT V8S models was made available to regional media as well as invited owners and guests, giving them the opportunity to drive the new

more agile and more dynamic 4.0 litre V8 grand tourer amid the picturesque landscape of Oman. The new Continental GT V8 S is the latest addition to the GT range and the first customer cars will be delivered at the end of the summer.

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The Villa, a private estate on Queensland’s Gold Coast, provided a spectacular setting for Bentley Brisbane’s annual Golf Day. Nestled along the Nerang River, The Villa was designed by Graham Marsh and is reputed to be one of the top luxury private golf courses in Australia. Over 60 Bentley clients enjoyed 18 holes hosted by Dealer Principal, Greg Willims, before retreating to the upper deck for refreshments and a driving range challenge off the rooftop. Winners on the day were E.Wollcott and G.Chapman and runners up A.White and A.Pitt.

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Bentley presented the world premiere of its Hybrid Concept Mulsanne at the Beijing International Automobile Exhibition, the leading public showcase in China for the world’s automotive manufacturers. Alongside the Mulsanne Hybrid Concept, Bentley gave the Continental GT V8 S, 15MY Continental GT Speed and Flying Spur V8 their China market debut. And in another first for China, the Bentley Collection was made available to visitors to the show stand as part of the Bentley Boutique.

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With the opening of the new Bentley dealership in Ekaterinburg, eastern Russia, the company now has four retail outlets in Russia. The dealership will serve the Ural and Siberian regions and occupies a premium location in the city centre on 15, Fevralskaya Revolutsia Street among other exclusive boutiques and retail outlets. The showroom presents the entire Bentley range and features a private personalisation area where customers can choose from the brand’s broad palette of exterior paints and leather options.

Bentley Singapore joined forces with Millionaire Asia at their 4th Private Jet Aviation Party and Luxury Lifestyle Show. The event was attended by over 200 guests who were invited to register for test flights on luxury aircrafts such as Luxaviation’s Embraer Legacy 600 and Dassault Falcon’s Falcon 7X Jet. As the Platinum Car Sponsor, Bentley occupied a prominent spot at the event venue, with three car displays flanking the main stage area. Guests were also treated to two fashion shows at the event staged around the Bentley vehicles on display, which included the Mulsanne, Continental GTC V8 and Continental GT Speed Convertible.

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Two exclusive brands combined to create a wonderful evening at Bentley Lugano. Bentley’s range of hand-crafted high performance cars was complemented by the equally desirable creations of Damiani Gioielli, an Italian Jewellery family that can trace three generations in the business. Around 100 guests enjoyed the tradition, passion, craftsmanship and attention to detail on display, whether in the form of a car or a diamond ring. During the evening the Italian master jewellers revealed the secrets of the diamonds on display, giving guests an insight into their history, treatment and value.

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Bentley World

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The ARQANA (www.arqana.com) August Yearling Sale in the picturesque setting of Deauville, France is one of the major events in the international thoroughbred sales calendar. If you would like to join us at this prestigious event, please contact [email protected]

Bentley’s new 4.0-litre V8 Continental GT3 racers will be contesting in the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series at some of Europe’s most legendary circuits including Paul Ricard on the French Riviera (June 29) Spa in Belgium (July 26 & 27) and the Nürburgring in Germany (September 21). And you can be at the heart of the action with Bentley hospitality packages. Guests will enjoy a private tour of the Bentley pit garages, meet the drivers and walk among the cars on the grid before each race. It’s then time to watch all the action, and enjoy fine food with spectacular trackside views. The Bentley Concierge team can also help guests to make the most of each circuit and surrounding areas. Other, optional services include helicopter transfers, luxurious accommodation and tickets to local events.

For more information: call +44 (0) 1675 445 945 or visit events.bentleymotors.com

Secret Britain is an exclusive collection of Bentley-chauffeured experiences, ranging from accommodation in London at the Rosewood Hotel, to a private tour of the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, and from a stay at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire, to a VIP Bentley factory tour. Visit events.bentleymotors.com or call the Bentley Driving team on +44 (0) 1675 445 945

A luxury two-night Bentley-chauffeured escape to the Champagne region of France, staying at the elegant Chateau Les Crayeres for a short break of charm, delicious food and exemplary company. Includes a private tour of the Bollinger chateau and hot air balloon ride over the vineyards. Visit events.bentleymotors.com or call the Bentley Driving team on +44 (0) 1675 445 945

From the exhilaration of The Power on Ice,to chilled champagne at the Bollinger Maisonin France, our events offer something for everyintrepid Bentley explorer. You’ll find all thedetails on events at: events.bentleymotors.com

Join an unforgettable car parade to the “Le Mans Classic”, the leading classic event where enthusiasts revive the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours racing tradition. Finest accommodation and hospitality is included as well as exciting motorsport experiences with Le Mans icon Derek Bell. For more information please contact [email protected]

Automotive icons and passionate enthusiasts meet at this renowned classic car event in Germany. It is held in the Schloss Bensberg park near Cologne, where the FIVA category A Concours d’Elegance presents some of the rarest classics in the automotive world. For more information please contact [email protected]

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EventsBentley World

Standing in a privileged position, moments from the River Thames, One Blackfriars is set to be a beacon of architectural brilliance.

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SPECTACULAR SHOW APARTMENTS NOW OPEN FOR VIEWING AT THE NEW MARKETING SUITE.

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Looking to the futureT H E N E W B E N T L E Y S U V

B Y R I C H A R D D U R B I N

IT’S UNMISTAKABLY A BENTLEY – AND EQUALLY CLEARLY, NOT ON A HIGHWAY. THE LATEST IMAGE OF THE NEW BENTLEY SUV REVEALS

A COMPANY SURE OF ITS DIRECTION.

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to the arrival of the Bentley SUV has begun. Several hundred Bentley craftsmen, designers and engineers are now completely dedicated to creating the world’s most luxurious and powerful SUV and a sense of excitement pervades the company’s famous Crewe headquarters.

“Everyone involved in building the SUV understands they are taking part in a key part of Bentley’s history and their passion and commitment is impressive,” comments Rolf Frech, Bentley’s Member of the Board for Engineering.

“Building the fi rst Bentley to be able to leave the highway is a project people are proud to be a part of and nobody needs to be asked to go an extra mile, it just happens!”

This glimpse of a specially camoufl aged Bentley SUV, undergoing one of the Crewe engineering team’s typically exhaustive test phases, illustrates the ever-gathering momentum behind the project.

Rolf Frech’s team of engineering specialists have already created their own ‘virtual cars’ that have undergone meticulous simulation tests as well as full, working prototypes that enable Bentley’s engineers to minutely evaluate the chassis and powertrains through to perfecting refi nement levels and assessing the car’s state-of-the-art electrical and safety systems.

Rigorous endurance and durability tests, covering thousands of miles over every kind of surface and in some of the earth’s most challenging climates, are now taking place in far-fl ung locations around the world.

Frech’s engineers will be looking for 50°C desert tracks where the cars will be driven from dawn til dusk for whole weeks at a time, and at the other end of the temperature scale, the camoufl aged SUVs will be taken inside the Arctic Circle and put through the same remorseless series of tests. And at one of Bentley’s secret circuits, the SUV will complete a grueling 100,00km high-performance test with a large percentage of that time dedicated to running the car at V-Max (maximum velocity).

“Whenever we build a new Bentley no stone is left unturned and we test, test and then test again because precision and quality is part of our culture,” explains Frech.

“However, we are raising the testing and evaluation bar even higher for our SUV because it must combine all the ruggedness and strength this kind of vehicle is renowned for with the luxury and performance cars like the Continental GT are respected for.”

Although Bentley’s chief engineer will not be drawn into disclosing in-depth details of what the SUV is like to drive, Frech can’t help offering a tempting glimpse into the progress made so far.

“All I can say is that we’re excited about where we are. The SUV drives like a pure Bentley, with effortless power whenever you want it and also that blend of immense performance and comfort that we have made our trademark. And when it leaves the road it is proving to be just as capable and exciting.”

For Luc Donckerwolke, Bentley’s Director of Design, the interior and exterior design process is even more advanced. His team is now focused on checking some fi ne details to ensure perfect levels of quality when production commences. Discussing the design aesthetic, Luc comments:

“The exterior design will blend muscularity with elegance; a Bentley should be athletic and powerful but always in a refi ned and understated way. I like to use the example of a dancer to explain the balance we wish to achieve with the SUV’s design. A strong dancer has incredible power and strength but their performance should never appear stressed. Everything should be effortless.”

“Bentley’s use of state-of-the-art metal forming, pioneered on the current Continental GT coupe and convertible, will enable us to achieve the same complex and acute shapes for the body that accentuate the appearance of power and movement. And of course, for the fi rst Bentley that can leave the highway there should also be a sense of function so there will be no ornaments without purpose and the right amount of metal brightware will be applied.”

Luc and his team’s overall vision is a Bentley that is self-confi dent – commensurate with its immense potential for power and performance – but which carries this strength subtly and without arrogance.

Touching on some key design inspirations for the interior, Luc explains that Bentley’s unique ability to combine modern technology (discreetly integrated into the cabin) with the fi nest, handcrafted materials will be at the heart of the experience.

“Luxury is about having everything you might wish for – all the possible technology, information and functionality – but offered in a way that means it is hidden until you wish to call upon it. The technology is always at your disposal and should not dominate or detract from the skilled work of the best British craftsmen and the beautiful materials they use.

“The overall effect will be of a pure Bentley. The signature and unique features we are admired for, such as the intricate use of knurling or organ stops to control airfl ow will continue to add character to the cabin, but we are also moving with the times in terms of the range of technology and use of new materials.”

The Bentley SUV will go into production in 2016 with a range of engines – including a plug-in hybrid option for 2017 – being offered to customers

T H E C O U N T D O W N

Home run2 0 1 4 B L A N C P A I N S E R I E S

B Y G A RY WAT K I N S

THE EIGHTY-TWO-YEAR WAIT FOR A BENTLEY VICTORY ON HOME SOIL IS OVER. IN ONLY ITS THIRD RACE, THE M-SPORT BENTLEY TEAM

CONTINENTAL GT3 TRIUMPHED AT SILVERSTONE, THE HOME OF BRITISH MOTOR RACING.

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T H E C H E Q U E R E D F L A G F A L L S ,

and it’s a Bentley that passes majestically underneath. The British marque takes its first race victory for quite a while. Eleven years have passed since the last of Bentley’s six wins at the Le Mans 24-Hour endurance race in France, but this triumph is on home soil and the wait for one of those has been much longer. Eighty-two years and five months to be precise.

It’s very much a case of then as now. The win for Jack Dunfee and Cyril Paul in October 1931 came at the then home of British motor racing, the long-since closed Brooklands concrete speedbowl. This win comes at the track that replaced it at the heart of motor racing in the UK. The place is Silverstone and the occasion is the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series, billed as the world’s greatest GT championship.

The similarities don’t stop there. Dunfee and Paul were racing a 6½ litre Speed Six, a racer born out of a road car. Latter day Bentley Boys Guy Smith, Andy Meyrick and Steven Kane, too, are driving a Bentley with its roots firmly on the production line in Crewe. The Continental GT3 is every inch a successor to the Speed Sixes and Super Sports of old.

Smith, Meyrick and Kane – and their team-mates in the second Continental GT3, Duncan Tappy, ex-Formula 1 driver Jérôme D’Ambrosio and Antoine Leclerc – drive for the factory team run by M-Sport. But the philosophy behind Bentley’s return to motorsport in the 21st century mirrors that of its early endeavours. The Continental GT3 is available to customers, whether they be professional racing teams or amateur gentleman racers looking to live the dream.

The GT3 category was conceived as a home for both. Bentley’s technical partner in the Continental race programme, M-Sport, is running a pair of cars in the pan-European Blancpain series – that includes the 24-hour classic at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, a race only one year younger than its French cousin – to showcase the car and continue its development. There is already an owner fielding a car in the domestic GT series in Britain, while an American team will begin racing on the other side of the Pond later in the season.

2 0 1 4 B L A N C P A I N S E R I E SH O M E R U N

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“We want to sell cars, and the racing appeals to our customers,” says Bentley Motorsport Director Brian Gush, the architect of the Continental GT3 programme, as well as the marque’s 2003 Le Mans victory. “This car is in the spirit of Bentley’s early racing exploits. The Bentley racing legend was driven by its customers.”

One of Bentley’s customers was, in fact, responsible for W.O. Bentley being bitten by the racing bug the better part of a century ago. Captain John Duff, a British-based Canadian and a veteran of the First World War, was a Bentley dealer who raced what he sold at Brooklands. He had heard about a new motor race in France called the Le Mans 24-Hour and decided to enter his Bentley 3 Litre in the inaugural running of the event in 1923.

W.O. didn’t like the sound of the idea. The Bentley founder was initially hostile, before relenting and giving his support. The car was prepared for the race at the factory, and he lent Duff his chief test driver, Frank Clement, for the event. The pair finished a solid fourth, despite at one point running out of fuel courtesy of a holed petrol tank. (Folklore suggests that the problem was resolved with a mad dash from the pits by bicycle with a replenishment of fuel.) Perhaps most important in the motor-sporting history of Bentley, W.O. made a last-minute trip to France to watch the race. His interest was well and truly piqued.

One year later, Duff and Clement beat the local entries to give Bentley its first Le Mans victory. Two years later, the British marque entered its own car. And four years later, it began a sequence of unbroken successes in the great race lasting from 1927 right up to 1930.

Bentley subsequently took a break from international motorsport that ended up lasting the better part of 70 years. It returned in 2001 with a three-year programme to win Le Mans again. It was bang on target and added to its tally of victories in 2003 with the SPEED 8, a purpose-built racer hewn from carbon fibre and powered by a bespoke racing powerplant. The victory coincided with the launch of the Continental GT road car, and a

pre-production model was demonstrated on the famous eight-and-a-half-mile Le Mans circuit ahead of that year’s race. And it is that car with which Bentley has chosen to make its comeback.

And about time too, reckons Gush: “Ten years without Bentley racing was hard and too long because racing and motorsport has always been very important to Bentley since the very start. The time is now right.”

The Continental GT3 racer is very much recognisable as a Bentley. And not just in its shape. The hallmarks of Bentley craftsmanship are carried over to the racing machine. In the name of weight saving, a lot of what makes the Continental GT an ultra-refined grand tourer isn’t.

More than a tonne has been shed from the road car in the making of its racing sister. The finely-stitched leather and plush carpets are gone. Ditto the sound-deadening double glazing, the wood and the chrome, not to mention approximately 50 electronic control units. The switch from four to two-wheel-drive, as mandated by the rulebook, is also significant in the Continental GT3’s diet.

That dramatic weight loss makes the Continental GT3 competitive in an arena such as the Blancpain series. Gush says that “he wants to win every race”, but this is only event three for the factory M-Sport team with the latest Bentley racer. The programme kicked off in the Middle East late last year with an impressive first-time-out fourth place in the Gulf 12 Hours in Abu Dhabi. That was followed by seventh and eighth positions for the two Continental GT3s in the Blancpain series opener at the Italian Monza circuit this year.

Hopes are building at Silverstone, especially when Kane puts the car fourth on the grid and then Smith leapfrogs to second at the start. But there’s a hitch. Smith, part of Bentley’s winning line-up at Le Mans in 2003, is one of eight drivers to receive a so-called drive-through penalty for a minor on-track misdemeanour. The penalty, as the name suggests, means he has to drive slowly through the pits, the resulting time loss dropping the car to seventh position. “I thought we were out of it,” says a disappointed Smith after the three-hour race. “I reckoned there was no way we were going to win from there.”

The Bentley Boys – both those behind the steering wheel and the mechanics in the pits – don’t give up. Meyrick makes rapid progress from fifth to second after taking over from Smith, and then Kane is sent out to chase the leader down for the final hour.

The Bentley mechanics play their part. They’ve been relentlessly practising pitstops since Monza, and their hard work pays off.

“We’ve all been up to M-Sport and just practised, practised and practised,” explains Smith. “We’ve been filming what we’ve been doing and also looking at what other teams do. The result is that the boys were absolutely amazing today. They played a big part in our victory.”

Driver skill and the outright pace of the Continental GT3

were key factors in the win at Silverstone – but so too was the impeccably drilled

teamwork of the Team Bentley mechanics, saving vital

seconds at every pit stop.

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The Bentley M-Sport racing programme allows others to live the Bentley Boy dream too. For £368,000 the team can prepare a race-ready Continental GT3 for customers.

Malcolm Wilson of M-Sport, which helps develop, build and race the cars, explains: “That cost is for the base car, with the weight stripped out of the bodyshell and equipped with everything you need to go racing. But of course every customer is different and has differing requirements so we can supply enhancements and additional options too, as well as deliver parts anywhere in the world.”

Part of the appeal of the customer GT3, driver Guy Smith reckons, is the easygoing nature of the car.

“When we started working on the car we wanted a car that has to be fast, obviously, but also one that is customer-friendly. It’s OK to be fast in the hands of a pro but it has to be fast in the hands of a gentleman driver, which is the nature of GT3 racing. I think that everyone that has driven the car has said how it is to drive, very progressive and consistent, and reliable too.”

So, a fast, reliable car is the first step of the Bentley Boy dream: all that’s needed now is a diamond mine or two, a string of pretty girls, the ability to drink many bottles of vintage champagne and to be first past the chequered flag…

Kane is 20 seconds behind, and the chase is on. The team calculates that he’s going to catch the leader in the last couple of laps. Then, the Bentley’s misfortune early in the race is evened out. A safety-car is dispatched while a stopped car is removed from a dangerous position. The field bunches up.

A three-hour endurance race turns into a 30-minute sprint to the flag. Kane is just under seven seconds behind, then five, then four. Three, two, one. With minutes of the race left to run, he gets alongside the leader into the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit’s last bend. The power and torque from the Continental GT3’s four litre twin-turbo V8, the same powerplant found under the bonnet of the Continental GT road car, gets him ahead before the cars cross the start/finish line.

There’s no stopping Kane. He edges away and takes the flag just over a second to the good. Bentley has only had to wait for three races to seal a first victory for the Continental GT3. For the British motor racing public, the wait was finally over

Gary Watkins is a motorsport journalist.

BE PART OF BENTLEY’S RETURN TO MOTORSPORT

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Engineered to make the heart race

C O N T I N E N T A L G T 3 - R

B Y N I C K S WA L L O W

THE NEW BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT3-R COMBINES RACE-BRED AGILITY WITH REAL-WORLD CIVILITY. AS NICK SWALLOW REVEALS, THIS LIMITED SERIES OF 3OO

IS AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET TO THAT PRO RACE DRIVER FEELING.

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O N A N O V E R C A S T , B R E E Z Y

spring day the wide-open expanses of Snetterton racing circuit, set in the flatlands of Norfolk, feel chilly and exposed. The grandstand, normally packed with enthusiasts on race weekends, is deserted. Onlookers are few: this is a practice session. But the hard-edged note of a fast-approaching high-performance V8 still turns heads.

In a second it is here – and gone. A blur of white and green, impossibly quick, carving a perfect line through to the apex and back across the full width of the track without a lift in the engine note. Whoever is at the wheel clearly knows what he’s doing – and the flash of black mesh grille and bullet-smooth silhouette says that the car he’s driving is a Bentley.

But not a racing Bentley. The two Team M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3s sit silently in the pits, awaiting their turn. And although the low, white Bentley out on track does bear a close resemblance to them, it has one distinctive feature. A number plate.

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The new road-going Continental GT3-R is the result of collaboration between Bentley’s product development team, led by Paul Jones, and the racing division, headed by Bentley’s Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush. Hence that Snetterton test session, when in between development work on the GT3 racing cars, works drivers Guy Smith, Steven Kane and Andy Meyrick took turns in driving the Continental GT3-R and offering their input. According to one team insider, “Racing drivers love developing Bentleys and their input is invaluable. Good drivers all have a built-in gyroscope.” The agility and precision of the new Bentley Continental GT3-R – the ‘R’ standing for ‘road’ – are a direct result.

Bentley’s return to the tracks for the first time since 2003, when the Speed 8 won Le Mans, marks another chapter in the company’s history. The Blancpain GT3 Series enables enthusiasts to enjoy cars that resemble their own in action on some of the world’s greatest racing circuits, driven by skilled professional racing drivers. Complex handicapping of weight, power and aerodynamic aids ensures close racing. Racing cars are, however, uncompromising machines designed for one purpose only – going very fast around a racetrack. So within Bentley, an unofficial working group formed to see if they could create a car inspired by the GT3, but one that could be driven across central London without needing the support of a pit crew. A Bentley with a racing heart – and a grand tourer’s soul.

Paul Jones, Bentley’s Director of Product Management, takes up the story. “Our aim was to create a Bentley inspired by the GT3, but not a thinly-disguised racing car. We wanted to replicate the feeling of instant response and agility, but with all the reliability and security owners would expect of a road-going Bentley.”

As he explains, there was a lot of discussion within Crewe before the final specification was agreed. “It’s a fine balance; we were aiming for authenticity but a true replica of the race car would be a nightmare to drive on ordinary roads. It would be harsh, noisy – and you’d lose the front splitter on the first speed bump you encountered. We don’t think many customers would want that – and just as important, we wouldn’t feel comfortable selling such a vehicle for road use.”

The new Continental GT3-R is certainly a car Bentley does feel happy to offer to performance enthusiasts. A limited series of 300, it’s the most dynamic Bentley road car ever, setting new standards in agility, response and handling.

It’s powered by a Bentley 4.0 V8, closely related to the engine that powers the GT3 racing car. High-boost twin turbo-chargers and a titanium exhaust system raise maximum power to 580PS with 700Nm of torque. This engine, driving through an eight-speed ZF transmission with shorter overall gearing, delivers ballistic acceleration. Official acceleration times will be released closer to the public launch date, but the team is confident that the Continental GT3-R will be the fastest-accelerating Bentley Continental ever made.

The Continental GT3-R is also the lightest road-going Bentley Continental ever. Forged 21” alloy wheels and a lightweight cockpit interior featuring carbon-fibre, leather and Alcantara™ help to bring the weight below 2200kg. It’s a pure two-seater, without the Continental GT’s rear seats. But as Paul Jones explains, it’s still a grand tourer. “Whether you’re on a long continental tour or enjoying a fast lap of the Nürburgring, you want to feel comfortable and in control.” Accordingly, the new sports seats are fully adjustable, with diamond-stitched centre panels in Alcantara™ and supportive leather-upholstered side bolsters.

Some options for the other Continental models won’t be available for the Continental GT3-R, in the interests of weight-saving. There’s no Naim for Bentley audio option, for instance. Jones imagines that the Continental GT3-R will be bought as a ‘Sunday morning’ car, to be enjoyed on the occasional track session or on a blast up into the hills. At such times nuances of audio performance matter less than the healthy sound of a Bentley V8 approaching peak power.

Unlike the racing GT3, the Continental GT3-R’s transmission is all-wheel drive, with a 40:60 torque split front to rear. Again, the team was confident that the real-world advantages of all-wheel drive make the Continental GT3-R more enjoyable, sure-footed and versatile for year-round use than rear drive. Torque vectoring technology – which applies a braking force to the inside rear wheel - gives astonishing cornering and turn-in. The ESC system has also been recalibrated to allow more slip and the tyre compound is devised for optimum grip rather than longevity.

From the outside, the new Continental GT3-R is distinguished by its white bodywork, green bodyline highlights and black-finished wheels and trim. The brakes are carbon-ceramic, with green callipers. At the rear a fixed carbon-fibre spoiler takes the place of the Continental GT’s smaller extending spoiler.

Inside, the cockpit is trimmed in Beluga leather and Alcantara™, with green highlights around the console, fascia and seat bolsters. Even the steering wheel is trimmed in Alcantara™ – another carry-over from racing practice – with a suede-like surface that absorbs perspiration and ensures a comfortable grip. The Continental GT3-R will be offered for sale in all the major global markets, which means it will be available in both left and right-hand drive and comply with all the relevant legislation – something that wouldn’t be true of the racing GT3.

The Continental GT3-R makes its debut at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, and if you bump into one of the M-Sport Bentley drivers there, feel free to ask for his verdict. He helped develop it, after all

Nick Swallow writes about cars, from their history, technology and design to the people behind them. He also writes about other stuff, but only to pay the mortgage.

C O N T I N E N T A L G T 3 - RE N G I N E E R E D TO M A K E T H E H E A R T R A C E

JONES IMAGINES THAT THE CONTINENTAL GT3-R WILL BE BOUGHT AS A

‘SUNDAY MORNING’ CAR, TO BE ENJOYED ON THE OCCASIONAL TRACK

SESSION OR ON A BLAST UP INTO THE HILLS. AT SUCH TIMES NUANCES

OF AUDIO PERFORMANCE MATTER LESS THAN THE HEALTHY SOUND OF

A BENTLEY V8 APPROACHING PEAK POWER.

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The Gender Agenda

B E N T L E Y G I R L S

B Y K R I S T I N T I C E S T U D E M A N

BENTLEYS HAVE ALWAYS SERVED UP A SEDUCTIVE COCKTAIL OF POWER, GLAMOUR, EXCITEMENT

AND SENSUAL CRAFTSMANSHIP – QUALITIES THAT APPEAL TO WOMEN JUST AS MUCH AS MEN. MOVE OVER,

BENTLEY BOYS…

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W H I L E I W A S G R O W I N G U P

in the San Francisco Bay Area, the first (and only) person I knew who drove a Bentley was a woman who was fabulously chic. I can still remember the car – it was a champagne-coloured Bentley Mulsanne with light, beige leather interior. And its owner was just as elegant. She was always dressed impeccably, stylish and on-trend, but not to a fault. The memory of riding in the car with her has never escaped me, and I had always hoped that one day I might get to be just like her, Bentley and all.

Miraculously, the fates collided and provided me that very opportunity this past March. (Well, at age 25, perhaps I am still working on becoming as exceptionally stylish as the aforementioned family friend, but the Bentley-driving portion of the equation became an attainable goal.)

When Bentley extended me an invitation to join them for a girls’ trip, I typed out a ‘yes’ response as fast as my fingers would let me. What the adventure would entail, I hadn’t the faintest idea, but I had no doubt it would be a glamorous one. I couldn’t have been more right about that.

When I land at Manchester, I am swept away from the airport in a Continental GT Convertible in Fender Sonic Blue. After a long, red-eye flight from New York City, it’s delightful to glide through the English countryside in complete comfort, with Bach serenading me in the background. (Let’s just say, it was the complete and total opposite of the gritty, taxi cab experience I am used to when I get picked up from John F. Kennedy International Airport). I am promptly dropped off at the Mews, the Guest House of Bentley Motors.

The Mews is a Bentley lover’s dream – the ultimate homage to the brand’s distinguished heritage. There are five different Bentleys parked out front. Inside, everything, from the walls to the bedspreads to the placemats, is stamped with something Bentley. Black-and-white photographs of the famous Bentley Boys line the walls. The dining table is made from the same type of burr walnut which is used in the veneers for many of the dashboards in different Bentley models. The corners of the bedspreads are discreetly marked with the signature Bentley logo.

A few hours later, Dr Ariane Reinhart, board member for HR, and Daniele Ceccomori, head of product design, join me and my fellow Bentley Girls at the house. Dr Reinhart might have been a model in another life. She’s tall, slim, and beautifully dressed. Ceccomori, for those out of the loop, is the man behind the newest member of the Bentley family – the Bentley handbags.

“As a designer it is important to preserve the integrity of the message of the design exercise,” says Ceccomori, who doesn’t have a background in fashion design, but applied his expert knowledge of car design to the handbags. “In this case, the message lies in replicating the experience that one would have by approaching the Bentley car and then discovering its interior. I wanted to convey the same story with the bag.”

The bags, available in two distinctive styles and five different colour-ways, manage to be exquisite and impressive at the same time. The Continental is a bit slimmer and sleeker, and it looks perfect for the office. The Barnato, named after Bentley muse Diana Barnato Walker (the first British woman to break the sound barrier in an aircraft and the daughter of the former Bentley chairman, Wolf Barnato), is more all-purpose. For a woman, like myself, who likes to carry a lot in her bag, it’s ideal. Fittingly, the shape of a Bentley car inspires the silhouettes of the bags.

“The key design lines are inspired by the horseshoe shape present on the rear aspect of the car and the winged shape buttresses of the dashboard for the split side panel,” Ceccomori explains. “The latter allows us to play with material and colour, and we can create a real bespoke feature, in true Bentley style.”

The true beauty lies on the inside here. When I open up the Barnato, to my delight, I find rich, quilted panels, and dedicated compartments for everything from keys, to cell phones, makeup, and even mini-umbrellas. Ceccomori and his team have thought of absolutely everything a woman could want in handbag.

Everyone, including HM The Queen. At last year’s Coronation Festival at Buckingham Palace, Dr Reinhart showed her a bag and she took the time to look inside and admire the quality.

The next day, I have the opportunity to witness the sacred inner-workings of the Bentley headquarters at the factory in Crewe and see the incredible craftsmanship at work first-hand. Watching the artisans put together a steering wheel, stitch-by-stitch, reminds me of a Couture house. One of the artisans reveals that it takes more than four hours to make one steering wheel. Over in the wood department, it smells as if you have walked into a forest. The aroma is a blend of various wood varieties, from Burr Walnut to Chestnut to Madrona. I’m awestruck by the attention to every single detail and walk out with a much greater appreciation for the cars (and the bags).

Over dinner and a glass of champagne later that night, Peter Cullum-Kenyon, Head of Colour and Trim, and Kevin Rose, board member for Sales

B E N T L E Y G I R L ST H E G E N D E R A G E N D A

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B E N T L E Y G I R L ST H E G E N D E R A G E N D A

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and Marketing, shed more light on the process of making a Bentley. What struck me most? The great lengths they go to when creating the colours. Cullum-Kenyon revealed that he has been asked by customers to match the car colour to just about everything, from a nail polish to a toothbrush. For new colour inspiration, he looks near and far, from art, to fashion runways, to yacht shows. The next day, my Bentley schooling all comes together on the race circuit at Thruxton in Hampshire, when I finally get to drive at great speed around a test track. What could be more adventurous.

As we drive up to the Thruxton Circuit, two figures standing in the parking lot are visible from a distance, silhouetted by the darkening, grey sky. When we get closer, we can see Bentley Motorsport drivers Guy Smith and Andy Meyrick, the modern Bentley Boys. Smith, who gave Bentley its first Le Mans win in 70 years back in 2003, has a movie star quality to him. He’s got ice blue eyes, a cheeky smile, and exudes confidence that manages to escape egotistical. Meyrick, who grew up not far from the Crewe factory, is dark-haired, fit, and has a natural sweetness to him.

Both have stories of racing around the world at unfathomable speeds – the type of tales that most men, and plenty of women, would kill to call their own. “How did you come to make this your living?” I ask Meyrick as we take a few starter, practice loops around the track in the Continental GT. As we go into the next turn, he says, “Well, I loved racing in go-karts and started getting good at that, and then one thing led to the next, and here I am. I guess I just preferred it a lot more than being in the classroom.” He grins, and then he puts his foot down on the gas pedal and we speed up to just over 100 mph.

He is still like a kid in a go-kart, only with a much nicer vehicle and a lot more speed. His passion for the car, and the sport, are quickly evident. I can see why just minutes into our first lap around the racetrack, I am hooked and ready to take my turn at the wheel. There’s that first jolt in the pit of your stomach when the car picks up some real speed – it’s the same sort of thrill that comes from “the drop moment” on a roller coaster ride.

When I am finally sitting in the driver’s seat, there is a moment of fear. First off, as an American, I am used to having the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car. Not to mention, I am a New Yorker and I never drive... anywhere. Thankfully, with Meyrick and Smith as my instructors, my hesitations quickly fade. (I’ll admit, putting on my new Bentley Girls’ racing jumpsuit also gave me a confidence boost. I felt official and as if I might be able to drive with the gusto of someone like Diana Barnato Walker.)

The feel of driving a Bentley for the first time is unlike any other. All of those handcrafted details come together to make this exquisite cocktail that is hard to stop sipping. The fine balance of the car that made me feel safe. And that wheel – gripping it was like holding the straps of a luxurious, leather handbag. While I certainly appreciate the elegant silhouettes of the exterior of a Bentley, for me, it’s the little details on the inside that I appreciate, similar to the Bentley handbags. It’s the ultra-luxe materials that make up the car, like the quilted leather and the beautiful wood veneer dashboard, and the additional functions that set it apart, like the massage chairs to the built-in sunglass case.

By my third lap driving around the track, I am ready for speed. If Meyrick lacks any confidence in my driving abilities, he (thankfully) doesn’t show it. Though I am already pushing 100 mph, the car feels so stable, it’s like we are simply on Sunday drive. By the day’s end, I’ve raced a Continental GT, and a Continental GT Convertible, and I don’t want to call it quits. “Do you think we could trade jobs for a bit?” I ask Meyrick and Smith. They respond, “At this point, I think you would do a lot better doing our job than we would do at yours.”

Unfortunately for me, they weren’t ready to give up driving just yet. Meyrick lets me take one last turn around the track, but only on the premise that he gets to drive next. “I have been letting you drive all day, I need to have my turn!” he says, eagerly. We fly around the track at speeds I won’t even mention (I think the numbers might scare my parents), and the feel of the wind hitting my face, my hair flying, and the sound of the car purring – it’s glamour at its finest.

I am back in New York now, and I have never felt so eager to drive again in my life. However, there’s one condition: I don’t think I can go back to driving any car that is NOT a Bentley

Kristin Tice Studeman is an American lifestyle writer based in New York. She writes stories about design and culture for various publications including The New York Times, ELLE.com, Style.com, and more.

With Bentley Boys Guy Smith and Andy Meyrick as her mentors, Kristin Tice Studeman discovers that the ultra-powerful Continental GT is poised and confidence-inspiring even at circuit speeds. Her racing career is still on hold, though.

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Forehand driveV I S I O N A R Y

B Y J E R E M Y H A RT

WHETHER ON COURT OR BEHIND THE WHEEL, VICTORIA AZARENKA LOVES TO FEEL IN CONTROL. A TENNIS SUPERSTAR, SHE ATTRIBUTES

HER SUCCESS TO HER MENTAL STRENGTH.

Commercial Disputes | Corporate and Commercial Law | Debt LitigationWills, Trusts and Probate | Employment Law | Family Law | Real Estate | Sports Law

www.cassellmoore.com

Cassell Moore is a trading name of Cassell Moore Law Limited. Cassell Moore Law Limited is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA Number 599476). Cassell Moore Law Limited is registered in England & Wales (Company No. 6909220) with its registered office at Edward Pavilion, Albert Dock, L3 4AF. Where the term “Partner” is used in any Cassell Moore correspondence, documents or materials, that term refers to a director of Cassell Moore Law Limited and does not denote a legal partnership. A list of directors is available from our registered office on request.

EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.

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geographically Manhattan Beach, California, is a world away from Minsk, Belarus. But both have been home to the tennis star Victoria Azarenka.

The austere former Soviet industrial city of Minsk was her home as a child. She lives in Monte Carlo but spends some time in the millionaire surf community of Manhattan Beach, outside Los Angeles, as a result of her success on court. And it is by the Pacific, the statuesque and California-tanned Azarenka is more likely to be found these days whenever she is not competing or home in Monaco.

“I maybe get back to Belarus once a year,” Victoria (or ‘Vika’ as she asks to be called) tells us, as she pilots a blue Bentley Mulsanne down Pacific Avenue, the oceanfront artery linking famous landmarks as Venice Beach and Santa Monica. “It is where my roots are and where many of my family still live.”

The blue of the Bentley is offset by a riot of hot pink and yellow Nike sports gear she is wearing. In the boot is a bag packed with tennis rackets and balls. We are on route to Venice Beach where Vika is the subject of the latest film in the Mulsanne Visionaries series – the Future of Performance.

In a world where the physical differences between the top stars are minute, winning Grand Slam tournaments (Vika has twice won the Australian Open – in 2012 and 2013) and keeping ahead of the opposition becomes harder and harder. Technology and science help players improve but the most crucial factor to improving performance and maintaining the winning edge comes from within.

“Performance will develop and grow more and more, but at the end of the day it’s all about the mental strength you have and how much work you’ll put into it. It all comes from within,” she explains, a steely glint in her eyes revealing the reserves of focus and determination she has in her mental arsenal. “The motivation, the inspiration, it all starts from there and then you build your physical ability so the most important is I think your passion in your heart.”

Vika is firing yellow tennis balls at a battleship-grey wall of a Venice Beach handball court. Muscle Beach is close by. She is replicating a childhood feat where she volleyed over 1000 balls at a Minsk wall. Her quest for performance perfection started early.

“I still feel that I play like a kid. Every time I step on the Court I get really excited. So in that way it didn’t change but I had to adjust and perfect so many more things – off court, to be better on court. I think that evolution is about the growth.”

Her drive and determination has meant a life of sacrifices. Leaving her family behind in Belarus aged 15 and setting out on the fast track to tennis superstardom in America was hard. And still is. But she thinks it has been worth it, for her and for them. Vika has no doubts how her family view her.

“I miss my family a lot. I don’t get a chance to see them so often and especially when I was growing up, it was a little bit more difficult than it is now but you know I had a dream and my parents respected that, they wanted me to do well. But I think the sacrifices that I made also helped me to be who I am today,” she considers, her cheery demeanour dropping for a pensive moment before a smile reappears. “I think they’ll always say that I’m very determined. I take care of my family. I’m very thoughtful. And I hope that they say I have a good sense of humour. Because that’s what I always love about people – they have a sense of humour.”

Azarenka’s dream of an Australian Open hat-trick in 2014 was thwarted by a foot injury. When we met in LA she was recuperating. It means her knock-about on the Venice Beach wall lacks the bounce that normally springs her around a tennis court. But her trademark grunt, which has courted controversy for putting off some opponents, accompanies her thwack of each ball. She hypes it up for the camera. This is Hollywood after all.

“At the end of the day we are still entertainers and we do create a show, so to just share this moment with a crowd, with the fans, I think they really appreciate it and it’s something that I also enjoy.”

Vika’s greatest passion away from the game is singing. She is permanently wired for sound and is quick to connect her phone to the Bentley’s audio system. Her partner is singer and DJ Red Foo and was front

V I S I O N A R YF O R E H A N D D R I V E

C U L T U R A L L Y A N D

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Currently recovering from a foot injury, former world

number one Victoria Azarenka is the fi rst Belarussian to win a

Grand Slam title. As well as two Australian Open singles

titles, her CV includes Olympic Gold and two Grand

Slam titles in mixed doubles.


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man of the electronic group LMFAO. He being based in LA was one catalyst for her move to the West Coast. Vika won’t sing for the cameras but earlier agreed to play piano for us. With crashing Pacific waves breaking behind her, the emotion of the Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet and the grandeur of the location make for a powerful combo. The fact our act is best known for using her arms to fire tennis balls at almost 100 mph, not nurture melody from a grand piano, only adds an element of the surreal.

Vika finishes the solo and pops out on to the balcony to fire off a ‘selfie’ for her thousands of Twitter followers. She has already posted about her drive in the Bentley. It turns out she is a petrolhead. Something she got from her dad.

“My dad used to teach people how to drive so I was introduced to driving at a very, very young age. That’s where it started and actually my toys when I was a kid were more cars than dolls,” Azarenka reveals, with an element of pride. “I just like speed. I like control, to be in control – so I think that’s why driving is really exciting for me. Adrenaline, you know. To feel that, you feel the wind, sometimes you feel invincible.”

With her car credentials established, she appraises the Mulsanne. For a sportswoman at the top of her game she looks right at home behind the wheel. She is


Away from the crowds and the autograph hunters,

Azarenka likes to relax with friends, visit restaurants or

go to the movies. For a global superstar, it’s a

remarkably grounded approach and it clearly pays

off for her.

“I JUST LIKE SPEED. I LIKE CONTROL, TO BE IN

CONTROL SO I THINK THAT’S WHY DRIVING IS

REALLY EXCITING FOR ME. ADRENALINE, YOU KNOW.

TO FEEL THAT, YOU FEEL THE WIND, SOMETIMES YOU

FEEL INVINCIBLE.”

ADVENTURE AWAITS IN THE LAND OF AWEADVENTURE AWAITS

IN THE LAND OF AWEADVENTURE AWAITS

IN THE LAND OF AWE

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in control. Not a chauffeur. “I think the first thing you think about the car is how fast it is. That always will come first and how fast it goes from zero to sixty, when you compare cars. But I like to be comfortable as well because sometimes you’re in traffic and when you have that sports seat, you know, then you need some extra time for your massage! So for me, comfort is very important.”

Driving gives Azarenka a sense of freedom when celebrity so often limits where the most famous Belarusian can otherwise go. She has cars in LA and in Monaco. But driving in the supersized city of LA and the minuscule principality are very different.

“I think I love driving most in the States because there’s so much space, when the roads are really wide and big. But in Monaco it’s pretty cool also – when there’s no traffic. The summertime is terrible, but when it’s winter you go on the highway or that road from Monaco to Italy, it’s pretty nice, up and down the hills,” she says. However there is one American city she would prefer to travel in the back seat. “New York is one of the worst places to drive – it feels like there are no rules.”

Azarenka’s life revolves around the tennis calendar of course. January means Melbourne and July is the month for Wimbledon, for instance. But in between she is fortunate to be able to lead the life of a normal not multi-millionaire 24 year old. Her likes are refreshingly simplistic.

“I like just socialising with my friends, doing something fun. One of my best friends is a tennis payer too, and we went with him to shoot hoops and play arcade games before (the Bentley filming) so it was fun and something different to do. Watch a movie. Go to some nice restaurant. Or just walk around, if it’s nice, and go somewhere along the beach. Or I listen to some music. I talk to friends on Skype, see what they are up to. Very basic,”

she says as she gets back in the Mulsanne and heads towards home. As the next tournament approaches, life takes on a different feel. She starves herself of fun to get ‘in the zone’ for competition. Motivation comes in all kinds for forms. Music can energise her. Or so too can a rousing conversation with her grand mother, who knows how to push Vika’s emotional buttons and light a fire in her – if that’s needed.

“I don’t normally think too much ahead,” she explains of her pre-tournament planning. “I always try to just focus on what’s the best way to prepare, to feel good, and about three days prior to my matches I kind of shut down all my activities, just to be focused, just to get a little bit bored, because I need to be bored before I play. So then I’m even more excited to get out.”

Her enforced sabbatical this spring to get over her foot injury has only added determination to Azarenka’s will to win. In the last two years she won two, and was runner up in two, Grand Slams. One of those was the US Open and it is her dream to finally win in the country that has become her adopted home.

“I take my job really seriously. It is a job. (Luckily) it doesn’t feel like a job but at the end of the day it’s your job; your job is to be professional, to be good at what you do. To try and win. To give the best performance I can. On court, you fight for something and you want to win so you do everything that will help you to do that.”

Jeremy Hart, contributor to The Sunday Times, Wired.com and Condé Nast Traveller.

www.bentleymulsannevisionaries.com


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TECHNOLOGY DESIGNED WITH THE BEST CAR MAKERS TO ENHANCE THE PERFORMANCE OF YOUR CAR.

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Rhapsody in blueS A O U T C H I K S P E E D S I X

B Y R I C H A R D C H A R L E S W O RT H M V O

AFTER COMPLETING THE METICULOUS RESTORATION OF A HIGHLY ORIGINAL ‘MATCHING NUMBERS’ SAOUTCHIK SPEED SIX, THOUGHTS

TURN TO PEBBLE BEACH – AND A COVETED AWARD.

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S A O U T C H I K S P E E D S I XR H A P S O DY I N B L U E

of this magazine we told the fascinating story of the restoration, more conservation perhaps, of the unique Saoutchik-bodied Bentley Speed 6 from 1929. Graham Moss of RC Moss Limited, the Bedfordshire coachbuilder charged with the weighty responsibility for this three-year project, described it as “Without doubt, the most challenging job in our 60-year history, particularly the craftsmanship required to restore all the fine silverwork.” The car is now complete, and as you can see from these pictures, is a glorious monument to an era of style and excess.

In August each year the focus of the automobile-collecting world is on the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Monterey, California. Now regarded worldwide as the most important single automotive event of the year, Pebble Beach attracts the finest classic cars from the collections of the most discerning collectors, who dream of achieving ‘Best of Show’. This accolade has so far eluded Bentley, despite having fielded a number of Class Winners. However, there is a popular view amongst a number of the major car collectors that 2014 could be Bentley’s year.

There are possibly two or three examples of the Marque which could achieve the ultimate accolade, but the Saoutchik Speed 6 is thought to have the best chance yet of taking the top spot. It is generally acknowledged that to achieve ‘Best of Show’, a car has to not only be the best example of its type, but should possess a certain ‘wow’ factor that sets it apart from the pack. Looking round this car you soon realise it has the ‘wow’ factor by the bucket load. There are so many Saoutchik signature elements, from the German Silver interior to the name on the rear fender. The fitted luggage matched to the double armchairs hints at romantic grand touring, something this 6 ½ Litre car would have been supremely capable of.

There is romanticism about Pebble Beach, so the story of the Saoutchik Speed 6 would seem to fit perfectly. It was in 1929, 85 years ago, that William Leib of San Francisco surprised his bride-to-be two days before their marriage in Paris, by ordering a unique Saoutchik-bodied Bentley Speed 6. Paris based Saoutchik only built bodies for two ‘Cricklewood’ Bentleys, and the other no longer exists as a complete car, so this example is unique, and one of only eleven original bodied open Speed 6’s to survive.

This car has lived a gentle life, so little has needed to be changed on the car over the years, meaning it is highly original. Graham Moss explains “This is not only a ‘matching numbers’ car, but absolutely everything was there, down to the chassis clips for the wiring. It is one of only a handful of completely original Bentleys I have ever seen.” It is the only Saoutchik- bodied car with the interior entirely furnished in German Silver, with no wood visible at all. A determination to get the details absolutely right, shared by owner John McCaw and Moss, has entailed members of Moss’s team travelling the globe to check the detail of other surviving Saoutchik cars.

One of the over-riding impressions you get when walking around the car is the sheer opulence of the design and materials. Whilst the extent of the German Silver used in the interior is the most striking detail, the solidity of all the switches, catches and locks is impressive, as is the brightware on the exterior. The upholstery is, by contrast, relatively refrained, which suggests a degree of practicality, or maybe it is just a way of allowing the silver to stand out. The cobalt blue paint, made more lustrous by the inclusion of a pinch of purple, will look stunning in the Californian sunshine.

As we recounted in the previous story, it is ironic that this coachwork was commissioned by William Leib only 19 days before the Wall Street Crash, when fellow financiers were facing ruin. It would seem that Mr Leib was better at his job as a stockbroker than many of his contemporaries, as he survived and flourished, enjoying the Bentley beyond the effects of the Crash. The car did not surface after Leib’s ownership until the 1950’s, and is reckoned to have had only four owners in its 85 years, so is sure to be one of the most fascinating entrants at Pebble Beach in August.

Under the expert guidance of Pebble Beach Chairman Sandra Button, there has been a sea change in attitudes at Pebble Beach over the last decade or so, and any entrant nowadays is expected to not just look good, but also to retain as much originality as possible. Gone are the days when an owner could build a modern recreation of an important car, with no regard for original parts. Whilst it is much more costly to re-work than replace, it is undoubtedly better for the long-term future of the collector car world that important cars such as these retain their originality.

Another positive development in the last decade or so has been the introduction of the Pebble Beach Tour. On the Thursday before the Concours, all entrants are invited to take part in a drive along the legendary Californian coastline, taking in Big Sur, and exploring inland gems of this beautiful part of the world. It underlines the sometimes forgotten fact that these machines were built to be driven, not just look good. A Bentley in particular is a driver’s car first and foremost, so the fortunate owner can look forward to letting the 6,597 cc, 160 bhp straight six engine propel him and his privileged single passenger effortlessly along the PCH.

It goes without saying that, as always, there will be a number of cars that will be serious contenders for the coveted class wins, and a few that will be aspiring to take the Best of Show Trophy, and the plaudits that go with it. Maybe this year could be Bentley’s year, and if so there could not be a more fitting car than this striking Speed 6 that, on paper at least, has all the attributes of a Pebble Beach winner. The team of specialist and honorary judges that make up the panel are the most knowledgeable in the world, and it will be their judgement that will decide who takes the laurels.

One thing we can be sure of is that, win or not, this glorious Saoutchik Bentley will once again help maintain the enviable reputation the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance has for providing visitors with the finest array of classic automobiles to be found anywhere in the world

Richard Charlesworth MVO has the privilege of looking after the Bentley Heritage Collection and is a Pebble Beach regular.

I N T H E S P R I N G E D I T I O N

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Gateway to AdventureC O M P E T I T I O N

B Y J U L I A M A R O Z Z I

RIDING, CLIMBING, RAFTING, DRIVING… THE GATEWAY CANYONS RESORT & SPA IS THE PERFECT LOCATION. EVEN IF YOU SIMPLY WANT

TO RELAX AND TAKE IN THE STUNNING COLORADO SUNSETS.

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Today in Telluride, a plaque commemorates the site of the original San Miguel Valley Bank which the real Butch Cassidy and three others robbed on the afternoon of June 24, 1889. The old west lives on in both films and the architecture of county courthouses, banks and bars.

To the west of Colorado lies Utah, and it is here on the border that Gateway Canyons Resort & Spa sits cradled in the shadow of the monolithic Palisade rock formation. You might not be dressed to the nines in “silver-studded bridles, spurs, saddles and artillery, five-gallon hats, red bandanas, flashy shirts, chaps and high-heeled cowboy boots,” like our favourite outlaws, but you will be right at home in the adobe-style buildings which fit perfectly into the canyons where cowboys once roamed. The resort was created by John Hendricks, founder of the Discovery Channel, who owns a ranch nearby. With his love of the great outdoors, commitment to nature and appreciation of dramatic settings, he has designed a one-of-a-kind resort that marries ultra luxury inside the buildings with outstanding adventure outdoors. This is the world’s first and only ‘discovery’ resort, created to spur guests’ sense of curiosity through interaction within a naturally stunning and intriguing environment. Part of the Noble House Hotels & Resorts collection, Gateway Canyons is a place where the earth opens up to tell its story, inviting guests to explore the wonders of the natural world – whether the highest concentrations of dinosaur fossils on the planet, or the 6,000 acres of primitive natural splendour.

This is one of the only locations in the world where Precambrian rock is still visible to the human eye. Steep, narrow, north-trending mountain ranges separated by wide, flat sediment-filled valleys characterise the topography. The ranges started taking shape when the previously deformed Precambrian – more than 570 million years old – and Paleozoic – between 570 million and 240 million years old – rocks were slowly uplifted and broken into huge fault blocks by stresses that continue to stretch the earth’s crust. The Precambrian

A S F A R B A C K A S T H E 1 9 2 0 s ,

the reputation of Colorado started with cowboys, railroad robber flicks and various other movies set in the Wild West. In more recent years, who can forget Butch Cassidy and Sundance, the two leaders of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. When the two rob a train once too often, a special posse begins trailing them over giant rock formations, through dusty, one-road towns, and across cascading rivers. As well as studio shots and interiors, much of ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ was filmed on location in Colorado and Utah, two bordering states. As Robert Redford (Sundance) said: “We had the best locations possible, to my mind. We had Zion National Park in Utah; Durango, Colorado... You rode through that, it was a joy.”

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history of the region is best revealed at the south end of the Grand Canyon where exposed rocks have ages that span almost 2 billion years. The only living things were single-celled aquatic microbes. Not even dinosaurs had made an appearance, yet alone gun-toting outlaws.

Here, guests take a temporary pause from the mayhem of modern life, take a deep breath of fresh air and become inspired by a sense of wonderment – while posing their most simple but deep questions about life and nature and appreciating the quiet authenticity of the landscape they can make their own discoveries.

Whether spending an evening discovering the galaxies, nebulae and star clusters under one of the darkest night skies on the planet, or an afternoon driving through the scenic rural byways of the American West, the resort awaits travellers ready to awaken their adventurous spirit.

As a child John Hendricks’ father would tell him tales of the beautiful red rock country in Colorado, and while it took some time to finally see it with his own eyes, when he and his family first came to Gateway in 1995 they were moved by the beauty and history of the area, as well as by the spirit of its people. He has said many times that the American West, specifically the red rock country of Colorado, is the most beautiful place on earth.

After buying property in the small community of Gateway Hendricks immediately began enjoying family vacations in the area. In his never-ending quest to make science and the wonders of the universe accessible to everyone, he felt compelled to share this special place with others. So he began to develop the concept of a unique lodging experience focused on luxury accommodation mixed with adventure activities and educational programming.

The only resort in the world situated at the convergence of five majestic canyons, Gateway Canyons Resort & Spa is the result of his original concept. Located an hour southwest of Grand Junction, Colorado, and minutes from the renowned Moab Desert of Utah, it is a cloistered world unto itself, resplendent with adobe-style southwestern architecture, tall cottonwood trees and irrigated green fields contrasting the red walls of the canyons that were once home to the ancient Puebloans.

Opportunities for enjoyment are boundless and, most importantly, adventures are open to guest customisation. Active thrill-seekers explore nature in its most primitive state through the Adventure Centre. This has everything an adrenaline junkie would wish for, and is a total immersion in exclusive and ultimate experience. Area maps and expert guides can share their knowledge of the region, so visitors choose from a selection of daily and seasonal excursions including rafting and tubing, hiking, climbing and rappelling, off-road tours, mountain biking and fly-fishing – to name a few.

Climbers looking for the ultimate challenge are invited to conquer the iconic Palisade rock formation, towering more than 2,000 feet and composed of layers upon layers of sedimentary rock laid down over millions of years, while energetic guests can participate in a 50-foot rappel off the Cutler Formation, followed by a relaxing hike down Dynamite Trail.

If that sounds too frenetic, head out with a guide into the vast high-desert Ponderosa Pine forests or take a leisurely solo-trek through Gateway Canyon’s Emerald Desert Ranch, exploring a variety of trails and terrain across the vast, rugged canyon country surrounding the resort.

If you feel that bikes are your preferred mode of transport then enthusiasts can have their pick of high-performance mountain bikes, accompanied by their choice of trail maps or expert guides to ensure the ultimate biking adventure, whether cruising along the Dolores River on the Wildflower Trail or embracing the incredible hut-to-hut biking adventure along the San Juan Mountain Hut Systems to Telluride.

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Personally I prefer horseback riding, which at this resort is world class. Set in 500 acres of well-marked Colorado trails in the heart of Unaweep Canyon, The Stables provides visitors with an authentic introduction to western horseback riding. Not at all like the European kind of riding, this is more John Wayne than Zara Phillips. You can enjoy the Native American traditions of painting horses through a hands-on horse painting experiences, exploration through the base of the Uncompaghre Plateau on a trail ride guided by expert wranglers, as well as lessons on balance, with a guided series of yoga exercises on horseback.

There is luxury accommodation available for guests’ own horses, with the choice of five private box stalls located at The Stables, as well as both dirt and pasture Open Air Corrals. All lodging is complete with clean, fresh bedding, water and choice of feed or hay. During their stay, horses are loved and cared for by The Stables’ experienced staff, who are eager to feed, bathe or accommodate any needs the horse may have during its stay – at no extra cost to the guest.

For those in a different frame of mind, cruising down Scenic Byway 141 or following the 83 mile stretch through Moab down Colorado 90, auto-enthusiasts can follow the open road to the renowned, award-winning Gateway Auto Museum, which features the Hendricks family’s pristine collection of rare and classic American cars, valued at tens of millions of dollars.

From Henry Leland’s elegant 1906 closed Classic Model H Coupe, to the very first 2006 Ford Mustang Stallion customised by Chip Foose, the Gateway Auto Museum showcases nearly 50 of the most prized cars in the country, capturing over 100 years of automotive history. Among the other cars are a 1906 Cadillac Model H Coupe and the 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 concept car that Hendricks bought at an auction for $3.24m.

Whether navigating the open road behind the wheel of a Bentley Supersport, or pushing the envelope of off-road adventure in a Pro-Baja racing truck, the new Driven Experiences programme at the resort invites guests to enjoy privileged access to a luxury fleet of high-performance vehicles

– such as a Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, Bentley Continental models, Mercedes-Benz SL550 Roadster and Corvette ZR1 Coupe, to name a few, in addition to professional driving instruction and training classes, allowing for an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime driving experience.

Once they have conquered the great outdoors, guests can rest and relax at The Spa, featuring treatments tailored to soothe sore muscles. With expansive windows that reveal breath-taking views of the canyon, senses are rejuvenated through intimate body pampering. The full-service spa provides a soothing atmosphere with four spacious treatment rooms and a variety of services, including massages, body treatments, and facials.

While the resort is big - 225 acres - the footprint of the lodges, museum and other buildings is small. There are 58 guest rooms and 14 suites, all generous in size, with comfortable beds, quality linens and details such as deep tubs and spa-quality bath products – all offering views of the majestic rock formations from every window.

Recently completed, the Kayenta Lodge features 20 beautifully-appointed rooms ranging from 475 to 650 square feet, complete with custom-crafted Peruvian furniture and king-size SpringAir pillow-top beds, 400 thread count Bellora Egyptian cotton sheets, a 42” flat screen TV, fireplace, complimentary Wi-Fi, work station, mini-fridge and coffeemaker. All rooms include a private outdoor balcony or patio with freestanding gas fire bowls, with two Signature Rooms featuring an oversized private outdoor courtyard with in-ground hot tub and gas fire pit.

Set apart in tranquil seclusion on the resort grounds, each of the 14, newly completed Palisade Casitas offer the ultimate private retreat. Featuring 875 to 2,075 square feet of luxurious living, each Casita boasts custom artisan furnishings and handcarved doors from Peru, blended seamlessly with rugs imported from Turkey and custom-designed textiles created to reflect the crystal blue skies and turquoise shades that are ubiquitous in the American Southwest. Emphasizing quality and fine taste, each Casita boasts vaulted open beam ceilings, separate master bedroom(s) with a king-sized bed, five-fixture bathroom with free-standing tub and outdoor garden shower, private outdoor patios with fire pit and large, tall windows for maximum views of the awe-inspiring Palisade rock formation.

The focus at the resort is on fresh, imaginative fare in both the fine dining and the casual restaurants. The Entrada Restaurant and Lounge, where guests often come casually dressed, features dishes using locally grown ingredients. Expect anything from bison carpaccio to polenta-dusted Colorado striped bass to Colorado rack of lamb. Head to the Kiva Cafe for more casual fare, ranging from buffalo meatloaf and Angus burgers to salads with a Southwestern flair. Sophisticated palates indulge in a distinctive blend of savoury cuisine under the direction of Executive Chef Stephen Belie known for his fusion of fresh seafood, regional meats and locally sourced produce combined with a Cuban influence of spice and flavour.

If it all sounds like a far cry from those early westerns with their jerk beef minimalist suppers and strong coffee round a camp fire circled by coyotes, it is. But while the characters and the comfort change, the landscape stays the same. And ‘awesome’ would be just the right word to describe it

SET IN 500 ACRES OF WELL-MARKED COLORADO

TRAILS IN THE HEART OF UNAWEEP CANYON,

THE STABLES PROVIDES VISITORS WITH AN

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Your personal partner for over 30 years in:

· Legal Representation

· Legal Counselling and Contract Design in addition

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and IP Boxes

Your reliable support in:

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68

No stone unturnedB E N T L E Y O W N E R

B Y N I C K F O U L K E S

GLENN SPIRO DOESN’T LOVE JEWELLERY. HE LOVES BEAUTY. AND WHEN HE FINDS IT IN AN EXCEPTIONAL PRECIOUS STONE, HE GIVES IT THE

SETTING IT DESERVES.

69I T ’ S H A R D T O D I S L I K EG L E N N S P I R O

At least I found it hard to dislike him. I had of course seen him around town, usually at those wonderfully shiny gatherings of the international rich where men are slightly too tanned and women have the sort of fl awless, creaseless skin that looks as though it has been ironed onto their skulls. To be fair to Glenn,he is not conspicuously tanned but he has that air of confi dent open-necked tycoonery that leaves one with the strong impression that his aeroplane is parked just out of sight around the corner.

He has the teeth of a rich man – a little spirit-level straight wall of gleaming pearlescent ivoryand as he is a friendly chap who smiles a lot you see a fair bit of them.

He also has a rich man’s offi ce – a fi rst fl oor in Mayfair with pretty well-spoken young women sitting behind large Apple computers, and before you get to his own sanctum you have to pass through one of those ‘shock and awe’ fi rst-fl oor drawing rooms that are about the size of a small church, and which could belong to a hedgie or an art dealer but in this case belongs to a jeweller.

Around the room are arranged cabinets... but here’s the thing that is interesting... these cabinets do not display his wares but instead they contain items of vintage Cartier displayed as in a museum.

70It is a serious collection put together by someone who has both a discriminating eye and a fat wallet. These are objects collected for their beauty rather than as part of the semaphore of success. After all,in the world of private jets, matte black supercars and basement swimming pools I would venture that there are not so many people who would be impressed by, say, a complete Belle Epoque tortoise-shell dressing table set, far less go to the expense of having it painstakingly restored bristle by bristle until it is in the same state as it was when it left the Rue de la Paix a century ago. And this, so he says, is just a small selection of what he has collected over the last 30 years, just half the tip of the iceberg.

It seems as though I will have to throw away my St Barth’s-St Moritz stereotype and start again. Spiro is a sort of British JAR. It is not a comparison he invites but nor is it one that he dismisses; he is at once a sociable man, outgoing and engaging and he has changed his invitation-only rules to allow his jewellery to go on sale in Harrods – the owner is a client and a friend – and yet he maintains an air of mystery. In his interviews he makes a point of telling his interlocutor not to mention the address – and this encounter with the Fourth Estate is no different.

“It is for discretion,” he explains.“Or mystique?” I suggest.He smiles that winning smile. “It’s been a long, long journey,” he says of a career has taken him from Barking, where he left

school aged 15, to Berkeley Square where, last year aged 51, he drove his blue Bentley Continental GT convertible out of Jack Barclay’s showroom. But in the meantime he has been around the world countless times, in and out of the private planes and palaces of the people to whom he sells some of the most remarkable jewellery made in the world today.

B E N T L E Y O W N E RN O S TO N E U N T U R N E D

71This and previous page: For Spiro, jewellery has to have the ‘wow’ factor that causes heads to turn – like these pearl cuffs and the (previous page) ruby drop earrings Above: Glenn Spiro at work, constantly searching for ‘the goods’.

He began his working life in Cartier’s London workshops, which explains his passion for the historic produce of the maison. “I went there and served a full apprenticeship, and then I opened my own workshops. We used to make for the principal jewellers in the UK, Mappin & Webb, Garrard, Boodles... then we sold that business in ‘89 to a big group.”

That was followed by a spell at Christie’s in Geneva to develop the jewellery department and where in the early 1990s he opened his workshop along with workshops in California. “And my whole business has been basically acquiring gems for no rhyme or reason but purely because I like them. I got lucky on a few occasions on a stone that turned out to be something else when I put some work and effort into it, and found the real treasure that was in there. But what I decided to do was store these gems, and we decided then very carefully to try and create things that have interest.”

From this grew a very discreet, very high-net-worth private client business and a very lucrative private label business, selling to some of the world’s best-known brands. And now he is stepping out from behind his international man of mystery pose – just a little – he still doesn’t want his address to be known, but if you want you can go along to Harrods where they would be pleased to show you the collection. The reason for this change of strategy is, like most decisions in his life, an emotional one: his son Joe has joined him in the business and he felt that the time was right to become more public about what he does; he now hopes that his three daughters, Talia, Sienna and Skyla, will join him too.

“I am not a lover in general of jewellery,” he says a trifle disingenuously, “it has to be something that triggers an interest. That doesn’t mean that I want to be disrespectful to my industry because it’s been very good to me and has given me a very privileged life. But the gems really dictate the jewels. We certainly don’t say ‘Let’s design something’ and then find the gems – we find the gems and create the jewels. We have no fixed style either really. However, it has to have impact.”

“For me, a piece of jewellery has to have someone across the table say, ‘Please may I have a look at what you’re wearing because that is something special.’ They may not want it, they may not love it, but it will catch their eye. Someone in the art market said to me, ‘I can’t believe you don’t love jewellery,

72

B E N T L E Y O W N E RN O S TO N E U N T U R N E D

Right: An ear for harmony: diamond earrings and ear cuff.Below: Glenn Spiro spotted his Bentley in the Jack Barclay showroom and instantly felt at home behind the wheel.

73

and that’s the business you’re in.’ So I said, ‘When you go to Frieze, do you really walk in there and go ‘wow’ to everything, or do you walk out with just half a dozen things that stay in your head?’” There is no doubt that he makes jewellery that catches the eye and stays in the mind. Throughout our early evening chat, he gets up from behind his 1940s verdigris marble-topped desk and yanks open one or other of the three safes in the room to pull out ever more impressive pieces. From time to time when he cannot lay his hands on the piece he wants he becomes agitated and calls one of his assistants from behind her Mac to come and rifle through the safes until the relevant box is found. Once he opens the lid a centimetre or so and peers inside to reassure himself that it is still there he relaxes back into his easy, smiling geniality. We start off with a tray of about half a dozen rings worth a piffling couple of million and we work through various necklaces, rings, brooches, earrings and bracelets until one last pale dusty pink leather covered box remains unopened.

If there is one thing that Glenn is better at than making jewellery... it is selling it.

For about half an hour that box just sits there, mutely demanding to be opened, and in the end I cannot stand the tension any longer. Glenn smiles his perfect smile and then opens the lid on something even more sparkling than his teeth – a ring featuring a sapphire of such intense blue that one thinks immediately of Yves Klein. Well not quite immediately, the first thought to go through the mind is about the size of the thing – were this stone any bigger you would need planning permission to wear it. Think of a small egg cup and you get the idea.

And then, while you are still stunned by the size and the brilliance of the thing, he begins to reel you in.

Glenn the salesman takes over from Glenn the jeweller and tells you why it is so special. “This is just under 70 carats. I wanted to make the world’s best sapphire and diamond ring. Look at the work. You see the shank? This is one piece of sapphire, and it’s the same material, same colour, same saturation. And if you look underneath, you see the stone that touches your finger? That’s a three-carat stone in itself, just so you feel nice about it on your finger.” It is light too, it is made of titanium, not that you can tell, such is the setting of the stones. “There’s no metal between each stone. It may not be everyone’s taste, but it is a perfectly executed ring.”

“The detail for us is very important. I’ve always been a fanatic about the finish and a fanatic on the quality of a piece. I can’t stand a piece that’s badly made, or that’s not finished properly. And I must say that continues through what I do in my life. Whether it’s clothes – I like clothes that are finished properly - or furniture or houses or cars... it’s the same with a Bentley.”

But while finish is important, Glenn’s true passion has always been acquiring the world’s finest and most precious gems. His choice of pronoun is revealing, a stone is not ‘it’ but ‘she’. Glenn is a romantic and when he buys a stone he says that he has to fall in love with it first, which is why he says he dislikes modern diamonds because they are analysed and cut with the soulless scientific perfection of 21st century technology. He needs to be knocked off his feet, bowled over by things. “I love the colour blue, I love blue. I don’t just like any blue, I like a blue that has something special,” only this time he is not talking about his giant sapphire but about his Bentley.

“I’ll never forget it, I was going to get a coffee and walking past Jack Barclay, and in the window was this Bentley. I had a coffee in my hand, but I went in. I put the coffee on the table. I sat in the Bentley. I put two hands on the wheel. Then a very classic Bentley representative came up and said, ‘Good afternoon sir.’ I said, ‘Good afternoon.’ He said, ‘May I say how fabulous you look in that car, sir, and it suits you.’ To which I absolutely agreed, and he said to me, ‘You know some people, sir, the car just suits.’

“I fell right in his trap and I said, ‘Yes you’re probably right, I do feel like it suits me. Thank you very much.’ And he said to me, ‘Do you know the price sir?’ I said, ‘I do not know the price.’ He gave me the price of the car, and said, ‘Do you think it’s very expensive?’ I said, ‘Actually I don’t.’ I don’t mean to say that whatever he quoted was not a lot of money, but I said if that car is ranked amongst the top cars in the world, if a man or a woman can buy that car and enjoy that machine for 365 days a year, rain, snow, sleet or shine, can get in that car, roof up, roof down, put the kids in, get the kids out and enjoy that car for year on year on year on year, when I think about the work that goes into that car, the paint, the wheels, the technology, the leather, the wood, the engine, the roof, the smell...

“I looked at it and I looked at it and I said. ‘If you put that pro rata against what I do for a living, or what an art dealer does, actually I think it’s cheap. And not only that, if I owned Bentley I’d probably say you should double the price of the car, make it much more exclusive, and make it much more desirable, because at the moment I think it’s too cheap for what it is.’”

Clearly a man with an eye for a bargain and, having sold himself the car, Glenn was not going to let it escape him at just half the price he felt it should have been.

Transaction complete he was told to come back at 3pm when the car would be ready to drive away.

“I asked my mother – not my wife Arabella”, who Glenn openly states he owes a lot of his success to, “not my children, but my mother, who has never sat in a Bentley – ‘Would you like to meet me for a cup of tea, and pick up my new car, which is a Bentley?’ She had her hair done, put her best clothes on, and met me. When we walked to Jack Barclay the car was proudly sitting in the street with the engine running. She had a tear in her eye.”

I went, ‘Wait there.’ I went in to the man and I said, ‘Listen, I have a little bit of a problem.’ He said, ‘But everything’s perfect.’ I said, ‘Would you mind if I came back to get the car at 4.30?’ He said, ‘But it’s there.’ I said, ‘I need you to reverse the car back in the garage, and I need you to open that double door, because for the last 10 years I’ve seen these Bentleys come out and do that, plop, plop, as it lands off the kerb in the street, and I would like to drive out of the showroom with that new Bentley and do the plop, plop in the street.’ And he said, ‘Seriously?’ I said, ‘I cannot tell you how serious I am.’”

The car went back into the showroom, Glenn and his mum went for a cuppa, and maybe a scone or two, “we came back, and the car was waiting in a central position, doors were open we got in and we were off. We drove out and it went plop, plop, and I cannot tell you that plop, plop made my day. I drove off, and it was lovely. And that was that, now I owned a Bentley. And I love it.”

For a moment he seems lost in pleasurable contemplation of his car, turning it over in his mind, admiring it in his imagination from this angle and from that angle. He comes out of his reverie “I don’t know what that’s got to do with jewellery,” he pauses, “well it is actually all part of the same world, it’s all part of luxury, it’s all part of enjoying it.”

Earlier on in our meeting he told me that his motivation for buying stones or ‘goods’- as precious stones are known to those who work with them – was an emotional response to an object. “I love the goods, I don’t own anything I don’t want to own.” And what is true for precious stones seems to hold good for cars as well

Nick Foulkes is a contributing editor to The FT’s How To Spend It Magazine, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair; and luxury editor of British GQ. He is the author of over 20 books. His latest book Swans is published by ASSOULINE.

Harrods, Fine Jewellery RoomTel: +44 20 7225 5714 www.glennspiro.com

I ASKED MY MOTHER - NOT MY WIFE ARABELLA, WHO

GLENN OPENLY STATES HE OWES A LOT OF HIS SUCCESS

TO, NOT MY CHILDREN, BUT MY MOTHER, WHO HAS

NEVER SAT IN A BENTLEY - ‘WOULD YOU LIKE TO MEET ME

FOR A CUP OF TEA, AND PICK UP MY NEW CAR, WHICH

IS A BENTLEY?’ SHE HAD HER HAIR DONE, PUT HER BEST

CLOTHES ON, AND MET ME.

74

Electrifying performance

H Y B R I D

B Y J A M E S F A L K I N G H A M

ZERO EMISSIONS IN TOWN, BREATHTAKING ACCELERATION ON THE OPEN ROAD. THAT’S BENTLEY’S TAKE ON PLUG-IN HYBRID TECHNOLOGY –

AND IT’S COMING TO A BENTLEY SHOWROOM NEAR YOU.

75

W I T H A 6 ¾ L I T R E V 8

engine under the bonnet developing a mountainous 1020 Nm of torque, you might imagine that the last thing the Bentley Mulsanne needs is even more power. But the Mulsanne-based Bentley Hybrid Concept, its distinctive copper highlights glinting beneath the blazing lights of the Beijing Motor Show, is here to prove you wrong.

Neatly integrated between that magnificent Bentley V8 and the Mulsanne’s transmission sits another motor, able to deliver an additional 25% kick in power at full throttle. It’s an electric motor, and as well as being able to supplement the petrol engine’s power it is also capable of powering the Mulsanne without the V8’s assistance. Travelling in eerie silence, and producing zero emissions, the Mulsanne can thus glide around town in all-electric mode for 30 miles or more.

So if your mental picture of hybrid technology is of a compact city car with a small engine and a supplementary electric motor – frugal, sluggish and more than a little dull – the Bentley Hybrid Concept will shatter your preconceptions. And put a smile on your face, too. Who wouldn’t want a Bentley that can offer as much as 25% more power on demand, together with up to 70% reduction in emissions? A Bentley that can be driven in all-electric mode in zero-emission zones, before switching seamlessly to the reassuring beat of V8 power once you reach the open road? It has to be the best of both worlds.

It’s a combination that has so many advantages that Bentley has announced a major commitment to plug-in hybrid technology for its next generation of vehicles, starting with the eagerly-anticipated SUV. The Mulsanne-based Bentley Hybrid Concept at Beijing is simply that – a concept – but it’s there to prove the technology works and is viable. By the end of the decade, according to Bentley, around 90% of Crewe’s production will be available as a plug-in hybrid.

Why such a bold commitment? First, for any plug-in hybrid to be a true Bentley, the company’s engineering team is adamant that there can be no compromise in performance – it should both accelerate and exhilarate as ably as its petrol-only equivalent. At the same time, the company is sure that many Bentley customers will find real benefit in a silent, all-electric range of around 30 miles. Increasingly so; the major cities of the world are growing, and over the next few years an increasing number of inner-city areas could become zero-emission zones. With a plug-in hybrid powertrain, customers will be free to drive to the theatre or the office in electric mode, yet still enjoy that familiar growl of a Bentley petrol engine once they reach the city limits.

There is a further performance advantage to the hybrid powertrain. Take the Mulsanne’s V8 engine: it produces maximum torque at 1750 rpm. For a conventional petrol engine that’s an exceptionally low engine speed; it is one of the reasons the Mulsanne’s power feels so effortless. But an electric motor produces 100% of its peak torque from zero rpm, so it supplements the petrol engine’s characteristics perfectly.

76

Although the Mulsanne won’t initially be offered with a plug-in hybrid powertrain as a production model, there was a clear message in making it the focal point of the company’s keynote speech at Beijing, delivered by CEO Dr Wolfgang Schreiber.

“Plug-in hybrid technology is true to Bentley’s values of outstanding luxury and effortless performance.” he told the assembled media at Beijing, following the unveiling of the Hybrid Concept. “We’re proud to be pioneering these developments in the luxury sector.” Bentley claims to be the first luxury automotive brand to present a plug-in hybrid vehicle.

The additional hardware of the plug-in hybrid powertrain includes a charging point, a high-capacity lithium-ion battery, an electric motor (integrated within the transmission) and energy recovery components (for capturing braking energy). Even though the Beijing show vehicle is simply a one-off demonstration of the technology, it would be hard for anyone to see where the additional hardware has been accommodated, so discreet is the installation. It’s still a Mulsanne – a spacious and beautifully-crafted luxury flagship.

As a showcase for Bentley’s bespoke craftsmanship, the Mulsanne Hybrid Concept at Beijing has a number of unique styling features. Bentley’s design team chose copper, a colour suggesting the car’s electrical veins, as a visual clue to the additional source of power. The headlamps, radiator shell, brake callipers and badges have copper highlights, while within the opulent interior there is a copper inlay on the fine wood veneer fascia with the word ‘hybrid’. Copper also appears as a highlight within the instruments, switches and bezels. Even the gearlever has a subtle copper ‘B’ atop the familiar Bentley knurling.

With so much to admire, it could be easy to overlook the discreet hinged flap within the rear wing, but it’s this component – the ‘plug in’ part of ‘plug-in hybrid’ – that holds the key to Bentley’s future technology.

Here’s why. Most current hybrids are termed ‘full hybrids’; they have a petrol engine, a battery, and a small electric motor. But the power for the electric motor comes from the battery, and the power to charge that – apart from a limited amount generated under braking – comes from the engine. As a result, you can’t drive a full hybrid very far on electric power alone before the engine cuts back in.

In contrast, with Bentley’s plug-in hybrid, owners can charge the high-performance lithium-ion battery from a static charging point at home, at the office or wherever a charging point is available. So they can genuinely travel into town and back on electric power alone. At the same time the owner of a Bentley plug-in hybrid would always have the capacity to travel long distances with the petrol engine, free from range anxiety.

The Hybrid Concept on show at Beijing is a full working vehicle but there are no immediate plans to offer a plug-in hybrid option for the Mulsanne. The company chose Mulsanne as a statement of intent, showing that hybrid technology has a place at the pinnacle of luxury and performance, but the biggest advantages come when you design a vehicle from the outset with plug-in hybrid in mind. And that’s why the next generation of Bentley vehicles will be engineered for plug-in hybrid technology – starting with the SUV.

Bentley engineers are working to ensure that plug-in hybrid technology will be smart technology, too. Thus if you program the satellite navigation for an inner city destination, your Bentley will know it needs to travel the final part of the journey on electric power and the car’s systems can ensure the battery is fully charged by the time you get to the city. Alternatively, if you’re cruising along the motorway and come to a small gradient, the electric motor could silently cut in to maintain your speed without using extra fuel. Other ideas for the next generation of Bentley hybrids includes an app for smartphone or tablet that will allow you to control the charging rate or even ensure that your Bentley is warm and ready for you on a cold winter’s morning.

For Bentley customers, the prospective reduction in running costs will simply be a bonus, rather than the raison d’être of choosing plug-in hybrid technology. The main benefits will be the sensation of effortless, near-silent in-town travel combined with the delightful prospect of an extra 25% of full-throttle power when petrol and electric motor work as one.

For a company which has produced and sold pure petrol-engined cars for the past 95 years, the step into hybrid powertrains represents a fresh challenge for Bentley Motors. Yet the combination of silent low-speed running, flexibility and effortless performance that plug-in hybrid technology offers would have delighted the company’s founder, W.O. Bentley. He wrote in ‘My Life and My Cars’: “Every engine we built was conceived with an eye first on reliability, then on smoothness and silence, and lastly on sheer power output.” A Bentley that can travel in total silence yet offer exceptional performance and response would have delighted W.O. More importantly, it’s sure to delight owners of the next generation of Bentley cars as the company powers into its second century

Industry insider James Falkingham has been tracking the technology of luxury for many years. He has worked with Bentley on several projects including the Crewe Lineage exhibition.

H Y B R I DE L E C T R I F Y I N G P E R F O R M A N C E

77

Copper accents on the exterior and interior hint at the Mulsanne hybrid’s advanced powertrain with its electrical ‘veins’; the rear wing features an additional ‘filler flap’ to enable the battery to be connected to a static charging point.

78

Trappings ofoffice

N I C K F O U L K E S

TIM JEFFERIES HAS RUN ONEOF THE UK’S FOREMOST PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERIES SINCE 1984. BUT IT’S HIS OFFICE, RATHER THAN THE MASTERWORKS ON DISPLAY, THAT INSPIRESSLACK-JAWED ADMIRATION FROM OUR COLUMNIST.

I don’t know if you know Tim Jefferies, his gallery Hamilton’s is conveniently located just up the road from the Connaught hotel, around the corner from Berkeley Square. Lean out of Jack Barclay and you can almost (but not quite) see his front door.

In his day a great ladykiller, there was a time when, if you happened to be a supermodel, being seen with Tim was as much a part of the job as being shot by Mario. But as well as a ladies’ man, Tim is a man’s man and of course a man about town. In fact he is overburdened with natural gift, but is such a very nice guy that even an envy-consumed monster such as I am can forgive him most things.

I can forgive him for being older than me but looking younger.

I can forgive him his charm.I can forgive him for his ease with the

opposite sex. I can forgive him for having far snazzier

watches than mine on his wrist.I can forgive him the immense radius

and impossible circumference of his circle of acquaintance: as well as the women there isTom Ford, Sir Elton John, and of course this issue’s Bentley owner, Glenn Spiro.

I can forgive him for being a far better shot than I am, he can hit woodcock on a windy day with a .410, I by contrast have trouble hitting a stationary barn door with a blunderbuss.

I have even forgiven him for owning my very favourite car, a late model Bentley Continental R; I had to sell my Bentley a decade ago and, even though the roads are safer without me behind the wheel of two tons of high speed Crewe-built metal, I have not been able to get over the pain of the separation.

However, I am fi nding it hard to forgive him for his offi ce. Bumping into Tim over the fi rst few months of the year I would hear about the construction project taking place at Hamilton’s and would receive regular updates on the works. And then I was leaving Harry’s Bar one day when I bumped into him, looking tanned and relaxed (but then I have never seen him otherwise) and he said his offi ce was fi nished.

Tim has an offi ce that hovers somewhere between a large squash court and an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and it is one of the wonders of London’s West End. It was always impressive, the volumes alone were signifi cant – you can comfortably fi t a terraced house into it (rather irritatingly my terraced house) – but this time he has really gone to town and I could only gawp in slack-jawed wonder like some pygmy who just out of a rainforest is confronted with his fi rst jet aircraft.

First there were the doors – heavy slabs of anthracite coloured wood with gleaming brass furniture and hinges; they shut with that satisfying ‘thunk’ you only fi nd in Bentleys and the sort of bank vaults you see on fi lms. Then there is the desk, I have seen smaller ping pong tables; a sheet of plate glass that could cover a full-sized billiard table, on which a Richard Hudson bronze stands alongside a token Apple computer with a home multiplex-sized screen. This is the only vaguely work-related equipment in the whole roomscape... and even then he uses it to show me pictures of his Continental R.

It is not the desk to which one’s eyes are drawn, but the gigantic Picasso. My admiration of late Picasso is far from unalloyed, but it is hard to disagree with a painting like this, and I have to say that it did rather put the pair (yes that is right the pair) of dining-table sized Basquiats to shame.

An offi ce like Tim’s is all about decorative effect, so, even though it was summer when I popped by (or perhaps precisely because it was a traditional damp London summer day) the fi re was blazing merrily away beneath the Picasso, while the mantel, punctuated with a few verdigris Etruscan planters of rare orchids, reached like some marble competition diving board almost from one side of the room to the other terminating in a bookcase at one end and a space where a climate-controlled, restaurant quality wine cellar will be. Doesn’t your offi ce have somewhere to stash your Cheval Blanc? Nor does mine and funnily enough my local branch of Rymans was out of stock.

Of course, Tim needs a wine cellar in his offi ce because he has a dining room; well of course he has a dining room. To be truthful it is a more a dining alcove, and sits just eight or 10 people, perfect for gallery lunches. And so it goes

79on... sofas, low tables, everywhere the eye alights there is something of beauty and taste on which it can linger.

In fact Tim’s office is the perfect example of one my favourite laws of luxury. I call it the law of elegant futility – namely that once an object is liberated from its apparent and stated function it is freed to become a trophy, an ornament, and an object with which we can distract ourselves from the futility of human existence.

It has happened with the wristwatch. Once it was separated from the function of giving the time (a commodity now freely available from our cookers, computers, cars and cell phones) it became a cult object. The same is true of pens; with the ubiquity of electronic communication there is something deliberately charming about going to the effort of uncapping your fountain pen, getting your fingers slightly ink-tainted and covering a sheet of Smythson paper with cursive script.

Having seen Tim’s workspace I now feel that I can apply the law of elegant futility to the office. In these days of flexible working hours, telecommuting, instant electronic connectivity,

cloud storage and mobile technology; the role of office has diminished in importance.

It was the notion of hot-desking which arrived, if I remember about 10 or 15 years ago; that set the death knell tolling for the traditional office, with its hat stands, its tea trolleys, its typing pools, its filing cabinets and its general physical presence. Unless you happen to be making something there is really very little need to have an office at all, even call centres are being rendered extinct thanks to the automated caller management systems that deter even the most persistent of us.

However as the physical relevance of the office has diminished, so its ceremonial importance has soared. Which is why of course visiting an office like Tim’s is such a treat.

I would say that it is like he has decided to star in his own Bond film and built himself the perfect film set... only Tim is far more charming and suave than 007

ONCE AN OBJECT IS LIBERATED FROM

ITS APPARENT AND STATED FUNCTION

IT IS FREED TO BECOME A TROPHY, AN

ORNAMENT, AND AN OBJECT WITH WHICH

WE CAN DISTRACT OURSELVES FROM THE

FUTILITY OF HUMAN EXISTENCE.

The talented Mr Jefferies has many enviable attributes and possessions... not least his late model Bentley Continental R, a classic in the making.

80 Ride-on BlowerT O Y M O D E L

B Y R O B C R O S S A N

YOU COULD FOSTER A LOVE OF BENTLEY HISTORY BY GIVING A LUCKY CHILD THIS MODEL RIDE-ON BENTLEY BLOWER. OR YOU COULD KEEP IT

FOR YOURSELF…

81

A F R A M E D P H O T O

sits proudly on an otherwise unadorned bookshelf in a small room overlooking a verdant back garden in the bucolic outer suburbs of London.

A genial looking, tall man with a long nose, a navy blue suit and the last vestiges of grey hair curling slightly behind his ears is leaning forward in front of a small model of one of the greatest pieces of technology of the 20th century.

The diminutive knot of the tie and the moderately stern facial expression dates the photo, yet the model standing in front of Sir George Edwards looks as fresh as it did almost half a century ago.

“My grandfather was the leader of the British team that brought Concorde to fruition,” says Clair Jeffreys as she picks up the photo and hands it to me. “He had a lifetime love and a belief in the power and class of British manufacturing.”

Edward’s incredible career in engineering design also included working with Barnes Wallace during the Second World War to make the Dambusters bouncing bomb actually bounce. He also designed the VC10 airliner and Britain’s first V-Bomber, the Valiant. He was knighted in 1957 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1971.

It was with her grandfather’s influence in mind that Clair has teamed up with Bentley Motors to continue the family tradition of celebrating iconic British craftsmanship and design.

Formerly working in the property market, Clair, who has also competed as an event rider for Team GB in the 2011 CIC** European Championships, decided to quit her day job when she stumbled upon a small model of an MG car in her house.

“I just thought – ‘I can do better than that’,” she tells me. With quite startling speed, her idea spun into action and ‘GRE Classics’ (named after her grandfather’s initials) was born. Inspired by the 1920’s Bentley Blower, Clair went about finding skilled craftsmen who could create models, big enough to be used as a child’s toy, of cars all based on Sir Henry Birkins iconic 1920s vehicle.

Raced by Birkin himself, an aristocrat with a family fortune made from the Nottingham lace industry, his trademark silk neckerchief became known on racecourses throughout Europe in the 1920s as his car (of which only 55 were ever made), a souped up version of Bentley’s four and a half litre car, broke lap records at Brooklands and finished second in the French Grand Prix before a serious burn injury hastened his premature death, by this point penniless in a London nursing home in 1933.

Reviving the blower as a model toy car for children to ride involved Clair finding a small group of specialised craftsmen who were able to match up to her high-end design aesthetics.

“To make one of these cars,” Clair tells me, “I have a furniture maker who makes the body, a CNC specialist machines the wheels, a metal worker who looks after the fabrication and an upholsterer who makes the real leather seats and steering wheels. From start to finish the process takes about six weeks and every single part of the finished product is made in Britain.”

Available as a racer, the distinctive vintage Bentley look is obvious: from the snub nose (with recessed chrome grill) and rubber twin exhaust pipes to the mounted Bentley wings, engraved wheel spinner nuts, blackened racer steering wheel and spoke effect alloy racing wheels.

At a shade over £3,000 each to buy, Clair is also keen to point out that this is much more than just a children’s toy.

“Of course this is an absolutely beautiful toy for children but it’s also a talking point and a beautiful addition to a company office or as a decoration

Clair’s grandfather, Sir George Edwards, was one of the giants of the British aviation industry in the 20th century. His descendant may not be thinking on such a large scale, but she still has high ambitions for her enterprise.

in an adult home,” she tells me. “One of my first customers told me that he had no plans to let his children anywhere near it – he wanted it to be on display in his orangery!”

The official tie-in with Bentley came during a random encounter at GRE’s first ever exhibition when Clair had a stand at Goodwoods Festival of Speed in 2013.

“I’d already started making these cars which were loosely based on the Bentley Blower,” Clair tells me. “So when a man called Daniele Ceccomori came on our stand and told me he was the head of product design at Bentley I immediately got worried that he wanted to litigate against me. I was just amazed when he told me that he adored the model cars I was making and wanted us to work together.”

Taking over 60 man hours to complete and with 118 parts, the Bentley Blower now on sale also comes with a wooden play garage resembling an old English barn with a tiled effect roof, slatted sides and some unique characteristics including bird droppings on the roof and moss growing up the sides!

“Every car is unique,” says Clair. “each model we make comes with its own Unique serial number plaque mounted underneath. Plus, if a child plays with their Blower a little too harshly, we can repair the Tulipwood body and do a new paint work job too so it can always be returned to its original immaculate condition.”

As for the buyers of these unique cars, Clair has plans over the next few years to take the cars to the burgeoning markets in Russia, China and the

Middle East. “These British designs have such a strong international design caché,” she says. “This small-scale British craftsmanship is internationally renowned so it’s going to be wonderful to think in years to come of the Blowers gracing offices and homes everywhere from Dubai to Moscow and beyond.”

Sir George himself died in 2003 at the age of 94, just missing out on his grand-daughter’s incredible creations. Before leaving, I ask Clair what she thinks her grandfather would have thought of the GRE Classic range were he around today. “Well, he was quite a stern man. As a child my brother and I were quite scared of him”, she admits. “But other family members have told me that, were he around to see what I’d done, he’d be absolutely tickled pink!”

Rob Crossan is a London-based travel and lifestyle writer whose work appears regularly in publications including Condé Nast Traveller, Sunday Times and CNN Travel.

For more info on the GRE Classics Bentley Blower range go to www.greclassics.co.uk or phone +44 (0)7919 338075

T O Y M O D E LR I D E - O N B L O W E R

Each model takes around 60 person-hours to complete and is exquisitely finished. Bentley’s head of product design, Daniele Ceccomori was an instant convert when he saw one at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

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The case of the unruffled traveller

L U G G A G E

B Y M I C H A E L TAY L O R

AS YOU ALIGHT FROM YOUR MULSANNE AT JOURNEY’S END, A TAILORED SET OF SCHEDONI LUGGAGE WILL EARN YOU THE ADMIRATION OF EVEN

THE HAUGHTIEST CONCIERGE.

86

of Schedoni luggage is not just a matter of unclicking a clasp, or unzipping a piece of leather. It’s more like walking through a door into a magic realm where the unfolding history of hand-crafted leather is older even than Bentley itself.

The Italian luxury luggage maker, which has recently started weaving its mastery for Bentley’s Mulsanne customers, can trace its origins to 1880.

These two storied pedigrees – one a British luxury car maker of impeccable racing and Grand Touring heritage, the other an Italian company steeped in the finest and rarest leathers in the world – have finally found a way to join forces, with Bentley and Schedoni collaborating on an exclusive, hand-made luggage set for the flagship Mulsanne model.

Designed jointly with the same Bentley designers responsible for the Mulsanne itself, the six-piece luggage set has been painstakingly hand-crafted – so painstakingly that only one set of luggage a week emerges from Schedoni’s factory in Modena, Italy.

O P E N I N G A S E T

L U G G A G ET H E C A S E O F T H E U N R U F F L E D T R A V E L L E R

With two large suitcases, two garment bags and a pair of smaller suitcases, the luggage set joins the ultra-exclusive world of Schedoni’s automotive masterpieces, made with 120 hours of the best efforts of sometimes fourth-generation artisans.

Though Schedoni can now be found in a 1970s industrial building on Modena’s outskirts, the family-owned firm began making high-end shoes in neighbouring Formigine four generations ago.

But as famous and sought-after as Schedoni shoes were, footwear looked as if it was a limited business in 1970s Europe. So Schedoni’s third-generation leader, Mauro, moved the family firm towards other leather goods, including luggage. It was the right call, and the business grew and grew, without losing its exclusivity or its reputation for attention to detail.

It’s a difficult thing to grow up in Italy’s Valley of Motors and not love motorsport. Four generations later it can still be found in the heartland of Italy’s Valley of Motors and its love of Italian sports cars is still reflected in the many customers it attracts from the industry.

When it came to luggage for the Mulsanne, key styling elements from the inner door paneling of Bentley’s pinnacle model itself were destined to inspire the design of the range.

Look closely to see the frame surrounding the main side panels to see echoes of the main feature frame of the Mulsanne door, with its characteristic twin ridge. With a shape reminiscent of the dashboard buttresses, the frame also serves to neatly guide the luggage into position in the boot of the car while at the same time protecting the handle.

It takes 120 hours of hand-work by experienced artisans and more than 20 square metres of leather to produce the complete six piece set. Offered to match the colour combinations of Mulsanne upholstery, the set is the perfect accessory for those travelling for work or leisure

A 20-year veteran of the industry, Michael Taylor writes news, features and road tests on European cars for English-language publications and websites around the world.

SCHEDONI’S THIRD-GENERATION LEADER, MAURO, MOVED THE

FAMILY FIRM TOWARDS OTHER LEATHER GOODS, INCLUDING

LUGGAGE. IT WAS THE RIGHT CALL, AND THE BUSINESS GREW

AND GREW, WITHOUT LOSING ITS EXCLUSIVITY OR ITS

REPUTATION FOR ATTENTION TO DETAIL.

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“S I M O N E S C H E D O N I

“In 1880 my great grandfather built a leather-working business in Formigine.

“My father, the third generation, stopped making shoes and started with other leather goods. We are now the fourth generation of the business in this region. We have been in Modena for 32 years, but we didn’t start here. We bought the factory in 1988 from a leather-working company. We also have a factory near Campo Basso in central Italy. We love it. It’s in our blood. Plus it’s still a small family company where tradition, passion and quality work together. Me, my father, my brother-in-law, my sister are here. Every day there is something different to do.

“In 1976 my uncle bought a Ferrari 308 and wanted to take it for a 10-day journey with his wife. He said to my father that as we produced luggage why don’t we measure the car and make luggage to fit it perfectly to take up all the space? My father made the luggage, and then my uncle showed it to Enzo Ferrari and that’s where it started with the automotive business for us. We did the 400i after that and the luggage for the 512 BB. We did it all. Since then every time Ferrari made a new car we did the luggage.

“In 1983 we started to co-operate with the Formula 1 team at Ferrari to cover the structure of the racing seats. They set the mold for each driver in stiff carbon-fibre and it gets covered in suede leather by us. By using suede the grip effect is very tight and the leather absorbs any perspiration. The leather we selected is for weight as much as anything else. It’s pig skin. Light specific weight and it’s elastic. In Modena we don’t throw anything away from the pig. We use it all.

“We have machines that are 60 years old from my grandfather’s shoe-making business and we still use them every day. They don’t make machines to last 50 years any more, but we make our luggage to last 50 years and more. Some tools are 25 to 30 years old and we use them every day, too, because the materials they used to make them are better and that means it’s more accurate and creates a better product.

“After 38 years of working with Ferrari customers, they know that the luggage is valuable and they know what it is and what’s available. The problem for Bentley was that they didn’t know about it. We started discussions with Bentley when it was still with Rolls-Royce as part of the same company. We offered our services then, but it wasn’t until I had a casual conversation with former CEO and chairman Dr Franz-Josef in Geneva at the Motor Show one year that the relationship really developed.

“We co-design the luggage with Bentley. We see the cars that are developed before they come to market because we need to measure, to match the styles and designs. It depends on the company the luggage is co-designed with – the car designers – as to whether a piece can work. I would say that working with Bentley is a different approach to an Italian approach. The approach is that if it does not go through the validation process it can’t be done because they don’t know for sure if it’s good enough.”

88

“Our suppliers are in the region here. Around Modena and close to Bologna. The Bentley leather comes from a company called Pasubio. This is the leather for the Mulsanne luggage and we buy the same leather that Bentley uses in the Mulsanne itself. We have 22 sets in production for the Mulsanne model, and these sets are included in the price of the car. The very first thing we do is to highlight the defects in the hides. We need to make sure the defects are not included in what we use in the luggage. Whoever cuts the leather checks that there are no problems with it. We minimise waste to avoid the marks.

We have a supplier from whom we order the Bentley linings, using Bentley’s exact logo specifications. The colour combinations are getting wider and wider because the markets are getting wider and wider and the customers are getting younger. It was once the case that the customers for this level were European and American, but the tastes of other markets, like the Chinese and the Russians, are broadening the options.

The Bentley Mulsanne luggage is the most complicated set of luggage we have ever produced and we have been producing luggage for more than 33 years. We start with an ABS. It’s similar to plastic then we start to apply a thin foam to it. There are two leathers that are next to each other but you never see the stitching where they join. Then there are the plates and each set is numbered. All the metal parts are solid brass, CNC machined, drilled and palladium finished. The set is made in six pieces. To produce six pieces of luggage for the Mulsanne is 120 hours of work. More than 20 square metres of leather for the set. Everything we produce has a Schedoni logo as well.

F E A T U R E S• Sliding handle support with knurling detail• Leather handle with metal finishers• Side handle with memory position for

optimised handling in boot of the car• Bentley metal zip pulls• Monogram Bentley lining• Embossed Bentley logo on main panel

M A I N C A S E• Main case inner panel for partial capacity

management with twin belt adjust• Zip pocket

G A R M E N T B A G• 3-fold construction• Complete flat opening for ease of suit and

dress loading• Coat hanger rack with 5 positions• Belts and elasticated pocket for optimised

garment management

S M A L L C A S E• Single volume with secondary

elasticated pocket

There is an option to personalise each case with a Sterling Silver plaque which could be engraved with the owner’s details.

One or two-tone luggage.70cm x 44cm x 15cm70cm x 44cm x 22cm45cm x 30cm x 20.5cm

L U G G A G ET H E C A S E O F T H E U N R U F F L E D T R A V E L L E R

”

There is a meeting here every morning and we know which set of luggage goes into production and in what sequence. We take pictures of every single set we ship out. We have an archive on hand for everything we have ever done. All the cuts for all the materials we have been using. We produce a set of luggage a week. By the end of the year we will be able to do 2.5 sets a week.

For the Mulsanne there is only one sewing machine and a press and everybody else is working by hand on it. We have 25 sewing machines but it’s all about the passion of the artisans. They are detail-oriented to assemble it in the best way. If in the process the sewing needle scratches the leather then we discard it and start again from zero.

The Mulsanne collection is more about the quality of the materials and the selection of the materials and the accessories. The Bentley Mulsanne luggage is two big suitcases, two garment bags, two small suitcases, all matching the colour of the Mulsanne upholstery. It fits into the boot like a glove.”

The very first thing we ask of our workers, after three weeks in the job, is whether they enjoy it then it’s better for them, and for us, to stop, even if they’re doing a good job. Every single step the people check whether the last person did it correctly. Perfectly. We show how to do it, what colour, what paint, and thread and leather and pattern. We keep samples of the leather and threads and the paper document says when it was ordered and when it was delivered, even down to the zips. In 10, 15, 50 years from now we can go back and check who worked on it, how many hours it took, what materials were used.

All the Mulsanne clients can visit the factory, and we are planning to introduce luggage for the Continental GT and Continental Flying Spur in higher volumes. Our business with Bentley could match and become bigger as a business than what we have with Ferrari.”

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On the Road

OLYMPIC EQUESTRIAN THOMAS VELIN IS SEDUCED BY BENTLEY’S PAST AS WELL AS ITS FUTURE. A CONTINENTAL GT OWNER, HE’S INTRIGUED BY

THE PROSPECT OF THE NEW BENTLEY SUV.

The first time I rode in a Bentley was when I was being picked up at an airport in England. I am a show jumper, a horse rider, and I was going to try a horse in England. The people who owned the horse sent their driver to pick us up in their Bentley.

It was the first time I ever had such a feeling... like a new experience; the smell of the car, the sound of the engine – it was different from any car I’d been in before.

I was very young at the time, and found the car too “old fashioned” for me.

Later, when I was going to buy a car, I knew I wanted a fast car, a special car. I wanted a car with a particular feeling, and it had to be a car to drive every day, not just on Sunday. When the Continental GT arrived from Bentley, I fell in love and said, that’s the one I want!

I bought my GT in 2008. It’s the Continental GT 60th Anniversary model, the Diamond series in Moroccan Blue. I remember when I first sat in my Bentley, the first words that came to my mind were, “Bentley Boys.” I thought: Hmm, now I am part of something different from a normal brand. I was addicted!

There’s a special feeling when you sit in a Bentley. You can have a feeling of good quality when you sit in other cars, of course, but you don’t have the feeling of being part of something. You have the feeling of being part of something other than a brand.

After I drove my car home I did some reading and learning about the history of Bentley. I even bought some books to learn who Bentley is. What is Bentley?

I have not been to Crewe yet but am looking forward to going there and seeing how the car is assembled. I cannot imagine Bentley coming up with a car where you don’t have a feeling of being part of the Bentley Boys. This is the root of the company and they are giving this to each car.

Of course, the next car for me will be another Bentley. I would like the new Flying Spur and then the next after that is the Mulsanne. Step by step, I’m only 39. For me, the Mulsanne is still a few years to come.

What I like about the Flying Spur is that you have everything you have in the GT but with a bit more legroom. It’s the perfect car. I saw the Flying Spur this year and I fell in love with it immediately. It drove like a four-door racecar!

But if I think with my brain, I should go for the new SUV that is coming from Bentley. It would fit with my everyday life. I live north of Copenhagen and drive my car often, and the SUV would be ideal. I have seen the new SUV and, yes, it looks like another dream car!

You see, once you are part of being a Bentley owner you are there for a long time. You buy it, you drive it and have the feeling you are part of something special. And you don’t find anything else like it!

As told to Avis Cardella

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On the RoadT H O M A S V E L I N

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Documents

Bentley Magazine