In 2001 Bentley embarked on a three year program to win LeMans for the first time since 1930. Bentley was the dominant team at the LeSarthe circuit in the 1920s but after the financially troubled company was taken over by Rolls-Royce in 1931 Bentley withdrew from motorsport. In 1998 Bentley was bought by the VW-Audi group which at that time was embarking on a new Audi sportscar racing project known as the R8. The Audi R8 used a turbocharged Audi V8 and proved very successful, coming 3rd at LeMans in 1999, and subsequently winning the race in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004. Initially in 1999 there were two versions of the Audi R8, the R8C coupe developed by Audisport UK, and the R8R open car which went on to great success. The Coupe R8 did not perform as well as the open car and it was not developed further as an Audi.
Instead it was used as the basis of the new Bentley sportscar project, the Speed 8. Using a similar turbocharged V8 as in the Audi R8, the Speed 8 proved competitive at LeMans in 2001 and 2002, finishing in 3rd place in 2001 and 4th in 2002 (both times behind the winning Audis). In 2003 the Bentley team achieved it's goal finishing in 1st and 2nd place. Driving the winning No7 car was Tom Kristensen, Ivan Capello and Guy Smith. They completed 376 laps over the 24hrs, 2 laps more than the 2nd place Bentley. This was Danish driver Kristensen's 5th LeMans win, and in 2004 he went on to win his 6th LeMans (in an Audi), equaling Jacky Ickx's record for the most LeMans wins for a driver.
2003 was the final year of Bentley's three year LeMans program and they did not return to defend their win in 2004.
AUTOart have released the 2003 LeMans winning Bentley Speed 8 as part of their new "Motorsports" range. What is different about their Motorsports range is that all the models are sealed, without opening doors or engine covers. They do have detailed interiors, but lack any engine detail whatsoever. AUTOart initially announced that the Motorsports range would be cheaper to compensate for the lack of opening features, but in my experience they cost pretty much the same as a regular AUTOart release. Unfortunately more and more of AUTOarts new racing car models are sealed which is very annoying indeed. Even when there is a similar non-sealed roadgoing version of the model they seem to go for a sealed release. The Aa representative on the website I often frequent (http://www.diecastxchange.com/forum1/index.php?act=idx) has been well and truly told that these sealed models are genuinely disliked by many collectors and he has promised to pass our views on. Whether it will change their policy remains to be seen!
Overall it gets 69% by my own rating scale, which is a high mark considering it scores a zero for engine detail (as it hasn't got one!), and a low 4/10 for the bodywork, which looks accurate and is to scale but has no opening features. The wheels and brakes details look very good indeed which brings the overall mark for this model up. A must have for LeMans collectors (as any model of a LeMans winner is!).
69%
