Description
A Brooklands Portfolio, Compiled By R.M.Clarke, Hardbound, 320 Pages, A-BN90QPHC, ISBN: 9781855206427
Limited Edition of 500 Copies
A portfolio of articles drawn from international motoring journals covering Bentley and Rolls-Royce production between 1990 and 2002.
Models reported on include Bentley: Turbo R, Brooklands, Continental R, T, SC & Azure, Arnage R, T & Red Label plus Rolls-Royce: Silver Spirit, Silver & Flying Spur, Silver Dawn, Silver Seraph & Corniche
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Our first 'road test' book, which was published over 45 years ago, was The Vintage Bentley Book. It contained articles solely from Autocar and Motor, ran to 66 pages and was duplicated on a small hand-cranked mimeograph machine which, itself, was 30 years old at the time. Some months later it was joined by a yellow covered companion volume - Rolls-Royce in the Twenties and shortly after by ... in the Thirties. There followed ten books on Rolls-Royce and Bentley, some of which are still in print today. It is with some pride and a lot of nostalgia that I return to these marques and am able to publish a book containing over 300 pages, drawing comment from 19 magazines, which in turn represents the views from four continents.
Brooklands, as a company, is very fortunate in having the support of the worlds leading motoring journals who generously allow us to reproduce their copyright articles in reference works such as this. In this instance our thanks go to the publishers of Autocar, Automobile Magazine, Car, Car and Driver; Car South Africa, Complete Car, EVO, Fast Lane, Modern Motor, Motor Sport, Motor Trend, Motor Trend Buyer's Guide, Performance Car; Road & Track, Sports Car International, Top Gear; Top Gear Special, Wheels and World Sports Cars for their many kindnesses.
Our thanks also go to Simon Towle of the Bentley Drivers Club for his help and advice in compiling this book and also for his words of introduction which follow.
R.M.Clarke
Hard Cover Edition
ISBN 185520 6420 Ref: A-BN90QPHC
Soft Cover Edition
ISBN 185520 6412 Ref: A-BN90QP ( Also available from Automoto Bookshop )
INTRODUCTION
In hindsight the development team at Rolls-Royce and Bentley could legitimately claim to bac prepared their new models exactly for the changing market forces. This came as a result et a suggestion made by Sir David Plastow, Chief Executive between 1971 and 1980. He asked them to try forced induction of the venerable V8 which was to have appreciable effects on both marques, especially the Bentley. Crewe's customers were clearly feeling more inclined to enjoy the experience of driving themselves rather than being driven and the traditional trade of chauffeuring descended into further decline.
By the 1990s, the period covered by this excellent international collection of contemporary press reports, the Company had mastered the technology of turbo-charging. In addition it had also successfully incorporated the other essential technological developments necessary to cope with the increase in performance, including ABS and active ride. The balance was palpably shifting from one marque to the other. At last one could clearly see daylight between the two sister marques in terms of the mechanical specifications reflecting their diverging customer base.
The ratio of articles in this publication of over 3.5:1, in favour of Bentley, more or less reflects that of sales experienced by the Company at the time.
The last five years covers the launch of the four-door Arnage which was initially fitted with a BMW V12 engine. It was also during this period that there was a takeover battle and split resulting from the brief, but turbulent, struggle for control fought between VW and BMW in 1998.
Since that time Rolls-Royce has been marking time until such point that BMW were able to stamp their own interpretation on that marque. In the meantime VW made their intentions clear very early on with the appearance at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show of the Hunaudieres concept car in an impressively short space of time. They quickly made the Crewe facility an important cog in their worldwide empire; reintroduced the V8 to the Arnage (to universal relief); initiated a works racing team to re-capture their Le Mans crown after more than seventy years; and announced the all new two-door model, the Continental GT, for launch in 2003. Undeniably, these are exciting times for Bentley and the tone adopted by the press during this period reflects the anticipation now accepted as commonplace in connection with the Bentley marque.
If you are a true aficionado of both marques you will appreciate this opportunity to possess a compendium of the best press articles from this period.
A period that has seen the re-defining of Rolls-Royce and the re-birth of Bentley, both momentous developments. We get so used to retrospective appraisal that it is refreshing to remind ourselves how these cars were perceived at the time they were in production, and how they fitted into a wider concept.
Simon Towle.
Executive Director
Bentley Drivers Club
