​Bentley Speed Six Continuation debuts at Goodwood

Just a fortnight after the thunder of 70 vintage Bentleys shook the tarmac at Le Mans, Bentley re-launched the mightiest racer of all – the Speed Six. The first new example in 93 years made its global debut at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. The model is the most successful Bentley racing car, triumphing at Le Mans in 1929 and 1930 after the 3-litre and the 4 ó-litre had won the two years previous. The newest Speed Six, Car Zero, will be used in a development programme consisting of real-world durability and track based testing, before being retained by Bentley ahead of the build of 12 customer cars – all of which are already sold.

For Bentley, this is a continuation car rather than a replica, built to the same designs and using the same processes as the original car. The Speed Six is the second pre-war Continuation Series by Mulliner, Bentley’s bespoke coachbuilding division, following the Blower Continuation Series. As many original drawings have been used as possible; with 80% of the originals found via the WO Bentley Memorial Foundation. The drawings have been supplemented by original mechanics’ notes that detailed the changes between the 1929 and 1930 races, alongside data taken from the 1930 Speed Six in the Bentley Heritage Collection and an original 1930 Le Mans racer, known as Old Number 3. The first customer car will start build in October of this year; the series of 12 customer cars is due to be completed by the end of 2025, each car taking 10 months to complete.