Blue Train Bentley
Encyclopedia
The term Blue Train Bentley refers to two Bentley
automobiles, based on the high-performance 6½ litre Bentley Speed Six
model, which became known for their owner Woolf Barnato
's involvement in the Blue Train Races
of 1930.
was introduced in 1928 as a more sporting
version of the Bentley 6½ Litre. It would become the most-successful racing Bentley, claiming victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
in 1929 and 1930 with Bentley Boys
drivers Woolf Barnato
, "Tim" Birkin
, and Glen Kidston
.
However, the Speed Six was also fitted as a conventional road car, and many were indeed used apart from racing for everyday transportation. Bentley Motors Chairman Woolf Barnato
used them with various bespoke
bodyworks from British coachbuilder
s as his personal automobiles. Two saloon-bodied Speed Six even served as patrol cars for the Criminal Investigation Department
of the Western Australia Police
.
gained a worldwide reputation when it was the first successful participant in the Blue Train Races
, a series of record-breaking attempts between automobile
s and train
s in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It saw a number of motorists and their own or sponsored automobiles race against the Le Train Bleu
, a train that ran between Calais
and the French Riviera
.
One evening in March 1930, at a dinner at the Carlton Hotel
in Cannes, talk around the table had swung round to the topic of motor cars; in particular to the advertisement by Rover claiming that its Rover Light Six
had gone faster than the famous "Le train bleu" express. Woolf Barnato contended that just to go faster than the Blue Train was of no special merit. He raised the stakes by arguing that at the wheel of his own Bentley Speed Six
, he could be at his club in London
before the train reached Calais and bet 100 Pound Sterling on that challenge! The next day, the 13 March 1930, as the Blue Train steamed out of Cannes station at 17:45h, Barnato, with one of his friends who had gallantly offered to act as a relief driver, took to the mighty Bentley and set off at the double. From Lyons onwards they had to battle against heavy rain. At 4:20h, in Auxerre, they lost time searching for a refueling rendezvous. Through central France they hit fog, then shortly after Paris they had a burst tyre, requiring the use of their one and only spare. And yet, racing non-stop through the night along the bumpy, 1930s Routes Nationales
, they reached the coast at 10:30h, sailed over to England on the cross-Channel
packet, and were neatly parked outside The Conservative Club in St. James's Street
, London, by 15:20h - four minutes before the Blue Train reached Calais. He won the bet, whereupon the French authorities promptly fined him a sum far greater than his winnings - for racing on public roads.
-bodied Bentley Speed Six formal saloon during the race, which became known as the Blue Train Bentley. Two months later, on 21 May 1930, he took delivery of a new Bentley Speed Six streamlined fastback "Sportsman Coupe" by Gurney Nutting
. Barnato named it the "Blue Train Special" in memory of his race, and it too became commonly referred to as the Blue Train Bentley. The H. J. Mulliner-bodywork was stripped off the original car's chassis to make place for a bespoke replacement, as was common practice for automobiles at that time.
With growing historical distance to the event, the Gurney Nutting-bodied car was regularly mistaken for or errouneously referred to as being the car that had raced the Blue Train. This was reiterated in articles and various popular motoring paintings depicting that car racing "le train bleu". Even in 2005 for the 75th anniversary of the race, Bentley's promotional material continued this depiction as the rakish coupe and the related daredevil Bentley Boys
mythology
symbolised the brand
image
Bentley was asked to project as a marque of the Volkswagen Group
much better than the rather staid formal saloon bodywork by H. J. Mulliner.
Thanks to research efforts and a massive automotive restoration by Bruce and Jolene McCaw of Medina, Washington
– who became owner of the Gurney Nutting-built "Blue Train Special" – this long-time mistake became finally more widely publicised. The original H. J. Mulliner Blue Train Bentley bodywork was also reconstructed, so that both cars are now in fully restored existence. They are currently owned by Bruce and Jolene McCaw.
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
automobiles, based on the high-performance 6½ litre Bentley Speed Six
Bentley Speed Six
The regular Bentley 6½ Litre and the high-performance Bentley Speed Six were Bentley cars in production from 1926 to 1930. They were created out of the desire for more engine power by Walter Owen Bentley by adding two cylinders to the straight-4 engine used in his Bentley 4½ Litre car. The Speed...
model, which became known for their owner Woolf Barnato
Woolf Barnato
Joel Woolf Barnato was a British financier and racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s. He achieved three consecutive wins out of three entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.-Early life:...
's involvement in the Blue Train Races
Blue Train Races
The Blue Train Races were a series of record-breaking attempts between automobiles and trains in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It saw a number of motorists and their own or sponsored automobiles race against the Le Train Bleu, a train that ran between Calais and the French Riviera...
of 1930.
Overview
The Bentley Speed SixBentley Speed Six
The regular Bentley 6½ Litre and the high-performance Bentley Speed Six were Bentley cars in production from 1926 to 1930. They were created out of the desire for more engine power by Walter Owen Bentley by adding two cylinders to the straight-4 engine used in his Bentley 4½ Litre car. The Speed...
was introduced in 1928 as a more sporting
Sporting
Sporting may refer to:*Sport, recreational games and play.It may also refer to a sporting club:*Sporting Clube de Portugal, a sports club from Lisbon, Portugal.*Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut, a sports club from Beirut, Lebanon.*A.O...
version of the Bentley 6½ Litre. It would become the most-successful racing Bentley, claiming victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
in 1929 and 1930 with Bentley Boys
Bentley Boys
The Bentley Boys were a group of wealthy British motorists who drove Bentley sports cars to victory in the 1920s and kept the marque's reputation for high performance alive...
drivers Woolf Barnato
Woolf Barnato
Joel Woolf Barnato was a British financier and racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s. He achieved three consecutive wins out of three entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.-Early life:...
, "Tim" Birkin
Henry Birkin
Sir Henry Ralph Stanley "Tim" Birkin, 3rd Baronet was a British racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s.-Background and family:...
, and Glen Kidston
Glen Kidston
George Pearson Glen Kidston was a record-breaking aviator and motor racing driver from Britain. He was a member of the well known Bentley Boys of the late 1920s, and possibly the wealthiest of that already wealthy set. His father, A.G. Kidston, was a grandson of the original A.G...
.
However, the Speed Six was also fitted as a conventional road car, and many were indeed used apart from racing for everyday transportation. Bentley Motors Chairman Woolf Barnato
Woolf Barnato
Joel Woolf Barnato was a British financier and racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s. He achieved three consecutive wins out of three entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.-Early life:...
used them with various bespoke
Bespoke
Bespoke is a term employed in a variety of applications to mean an item custom-made to the buyer's specification...
bodyworks from British coachbuilder
Coachbuilder
A coachbuilder is a manufacturer of bodies for carriages or automobiles.The trade dates back several centuries. Rippon was active in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards, Brewster a relative newcomer , formed in 1810. Others in Britain included...
s as his personal automobiles. Two saloon-bodied Speed Six even served as patrol cars for the Criminal Investigation Department
Criminal Investigation Department
The Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...
of the Western Australia Police
Western Australia Police
The Western Australia Police services an area of 2.5 million square kilometres, the world's largest non-federated area of jurisdiction. In 2008, its 7,526 employees included 5,647 police officers.-History:-Early history:...
.
Blue Train Race
In January 1930, the Rover Company's Rover Light SixRover Light Six
The Rover Light Six was a mid-size formal saloon produced from 1927 through to 1932 by the Rover Company of Coventry.- Overview :The Rover Light Six was one of the first Rover cars manufactured under the aegis of Spencer and Maurice Wilks who introduced new management practices and engineering...
gained a worldwide reputation when it was the first successful participant in the Blue Train Races
Blue Train Races
The Blue Train Races were a series of record-breaking attempts between automobiles and trains in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It saw a number of motorists and their own or sponsored automobiles race against the Le Train Bleu, a train that ran between Calais and the French Riviera...
, a series of record-breaking attempts between automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
s and train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
s in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It saw a number of motorists and their own or sponsored automobiles race against the Le Train Bleu
Le Train Bleu
Le Train Bleu , officially the Calais-Mediterranée Express, was a luxury French night express train which operated from 1922 to 2007. It gained international fame as the preferred train of wealthy and famous passengers between Calais and the French Riviera in the two decades before World War II...
, a train that ran between Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
and the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
.
One evening in March 1930, at a dinner at the Carlton Hotel
Carlton Hotel, Cannes
The InterContinental Carlton Cannes is a 343-room luxury hotel built in 1911, located at 58 La Croisette in Cannes on the French Riviera and listed by the Government of France as a National Historic Building...
in Cannes, talk around the table had swung round to the topic of motor cars; in particular to the advertisement by Rover claiming that its Rover Light Six
Rover Light Six
The Rover Light Six was a mid-size formal saloon produced from 1927 through to 1932 by the Rover Company of Coventry.- Overview :The Rover Light Six was one of the first Rover cars manufactured under the aegis of Spencer and Maurice Wilks who introduced new management practices and engineering...
had gone faster than the famous "Le train bleu" express. Woolf Barnato contended that just to go faster than the Blue Train was of no special merit. He raised the stakes by arguing that at the wheel of his own Bentley Speed Six
Bentley Speed Six
The regular Bentley 6½ Litre and the high-performance Bentley Speed Six were Bentley cars in production from 1926 to 1930. They were created out of the desire for more engine power by Walter Owen Bentley by adding two cylinders to the straight-4 engine used in his Bentley 4½ Litre car. The Speed...
, he could be at his club in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
before the train reached Calais and bet 100 Pound Sterling on that challenge! The next day, the 13 March 1930, as the Blue Train steamed out of Cannes station at 17:45h, Barnato, with one of his friends who had gallantly offered to act as a relief driver, took to the mighty Bentley and set off at the double. From Lyons onwards they had to battle against heavy rain. At 4:20h, in Auxerre, they lost time searching for a refueling rendezvous. Through central France they hit fog, then shortly after Paris they had a burst tyre, requiring the use of their one and only spare. And yet, racing non-stop through the night along the bumpy, 1930s Routes Nationales
Route nationale (France)
A route nationale, or simply nationale, is a trunk road in France. Trunk roads are in France are important roads which cross broad portions of the French territory, as opposed to secondary or communal roads who only serve local areas....
, they reached the coast at 10:30h, sailed over to England on the cross-Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
packet, and were neatly parked outside The Conservative Club in St. James's Street
St. James's Street
St James's Street is one of the principal streets in the central London district of St James's. It runs from Piccadilly downhill to St James's Palace and Pall Mall...
, London, by 15:20h - four minutes before the Blue Train reached Calais. He won the bet, whereupon the French authorities promptly fined him a sum far greater than his winnings - for racing on public roads.
The Blue Train Bentley Controversy
Barnato drove a H. J. MullinerH. J. Mulliner & Co.
H. J. Mulliner & Co. was a well-known British coachbuilder operating at Chiswick in West London.The Mulliner family can trace their coachbuilding history back to 1760, building coaches for the Royal Mail in Northampton....
-bodied Bentley Speed Six formal saloon during the race, which became known as the Blue Train Bentley. Two months later, on 21 May 1930, he took delivery of a new Bentley Speed Six streamlined fastback "Sportsman Coupe" by Gurney Nutting
J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited
J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited was an English firm of bespoke coachbuilders specialising in sporting bodies founded in 1918 as a new enterprise by a Croydon firm of builders and joiners of the same name...
. Barnato named it the "Blue Train Special" in memory of his race, and it too became commonly referred to as the Blue Train Bentley. The H. J. Mulliner-bodywork was stripped off the original car's chassis to make place for a bespoke replacement, as was common practice for automobiles at that time.
With growing historical distance to the event, the Gurney Nutting-bodied car was regularly mistaken for or errouneously referred to as being the car that had raced the Blue Train. This was reiterated in articles and various popular motoring paintings depicting that car racing "le train bleu". Even in 2005 for the 75th anniversary of the race, Bentley's promotional material continued this depiction as the rakish coupe and the related daredevil Bentley Boys
Bentley Boys
The Bentley Boys were a group of wealthy British motorists who drove Bentley sports cars to victory in the 1920s and kept the marque's reputation for high performance alive...
mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
symbolised the brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
image
Image
An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
Bentley was asked to project as a marque of the Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen Group is a German multinational automobile manufacturing group. , Volkswagen was ranked as the world’s third largest motor vehicle manufacturer and Europe's largest....
much better than the rather staid formal saloon bodywork by H. J. Mulliner.
Thanks to research efforts and a massive automotive restoration by Bruce and Jolene McCaw of Medina, Washington
Medina, Washington
Medina is a city located in the Eastside, a region of King County, Washington, United States. Surrounded on the north, west, and south by Lake Washington, opposite Seattle, Medina is bordered by Clyde Hill and Hunts Point, as well as the satellite city of Bellevue. The city's population was 2,969...
– who became owner of the Gurney Nutting-built "Blue Train Special" – this long-time mistake became finally more widely publicised. The original H. J. Mulliner Blue Train Bentley bodywork was also reconstructed, so that both cars are now in fully restored existence. They are currently owned by Bruce and Jolene McCaw.