What a Difference a Day Makes – Benjafield’s 24 Hour

24 little hours. It may not seem like a particularly large chunk of time in the grand scheme of things but you can achieve rather a lot in 1,440 minutes, should you put your mind to it, and we can think of no better way to spend said period than by thrashing a pre-war classic around one of the best F1 racing circuits in the world, and for those of you keeping abreast of our various classic car capers, you may remember a rather special weekend last summer involving our Bentley 3/4½, a certain famous French race track and a bunch of like-minded and all together bloody nice chaps. That was the Benjafield’s Racing Club centennial celebrations at the Le Mans Classic in honour of 100 years of Bentley at the Circuit de la Sarthe and we were chuffed to be able to take part.

As far as the old bucket list goes the Benjafield’s race was right up there at the very top and so when the chance arose to partake in another Benjafield’s event, this time a full 24 hour slog at Portimão in Portugal (or the Algarve International Circuit, to give it its official title), arms were duly bitten off and promptly fully dined upon.

This particular Benjafield’s adventure all started with a jolly to Bicester Heritage in March, which in turn always leads to us dropping in at Kingsbury Racing Shop to see Ewen Getley and the team to chat all things vintage Bentley. Not only do we have a shared interest as well as shared experiences (Ewen and his two daughters were also competing at Le Mans in July) but he helps us rather a lot when it comes to the more technical aspects of owning, running and racing a 100 year old classic. As it turned out, our timing couldn’t have been better, frankly, as Ewen was on the look out for another driver to help pilot his own 1924 3-litre Speed (running a 4½ just like ours) at the upcoming and aforementioned Benjafield’s 24 hour race in Portugal, and instead of reaching out to somebody who actually knows what they’re doing, he asked us instead. And we didn’t even have to bribe the man! We were as shocked as you but we of course said yes on the spot.

Life, as we’re sure you’ll agree, moves at quite the pace and we soon found ourselves at Donnington for a test day to put Ewen’s family heirloom through its paces. Now, if you were to drop someone not particularly au fait with pre-war Bentleys into a Benjafield’s Racing Club paddock they could be forgiven for thinking that all of the pre-war Bentley’s parked up were essentially the same, and while this may be true of the cars’ exteriors, the same definitely cannot be said for what lies beneath, and Ewen’s car is very much a case in point.

Our own Bentley isn’t slow by any stretch, but Ewen’s is in another realm altogether, mainly thanks to it being almost a tonne lighter than our trusty steed. Weighing in at just 1,000kg as oppose to our 1,800, Ewen has definitely applied the Chapman school of engineering to the thing, stripping out the heavy wooden floors and replacing them with much less lardy aluminium, among a host of other clever weight saving methods. Add to that a set of flat springs – essentially the ’20s equivalent of running Spax all round – and you have a recipe for success at the track, something that was well and truly proved during our time at Donnington, with our Tom exclaiming: “It’s the closest thing to spitfire piloting I’ll likely ever get”.

The modern day Bentley Boys – L-R: Tom Wood, Anthony Galliers-Pratt, Ewen Getley and Lewis Fox

Along with Ewen himself, our team was completed by Anthony Galliers-Pratt, known for his track time behind the wheel of a Lola T70 at various historic competitions, and Lewis Fox – an ex-Mercedes F1 mechanic, all of whome made us feel a little out of our depth, despite having a good chunk of track time under our belt by this point. But as Benjamin Franklin once famously said: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn”, and we were very much looking forward to the challenge.

Before we knew it, race day was upon us and Benjafield’s proved once more that they really know their onions when it comes to putting on a top tier event. Ten years on from the racing club’s first 24 hour race at Portimão, this meeting, much like at the classic earlier in the year, marked the centenary of Bentley’s very first win at Le Mans, with 25 cars turning up to take part in the re-enactment, including the gaffer, Ivan Dutton as a last minute entry.

The race, run to original 1920s rules and complete with Le Mans start as well as kicking off with hoods up, got underway with Tom taking the first stint in Ewen’s car, numbered 99. All 25 Bentleys managed to get away safely, further evincing the rugged usability of these old Edwardians and after ten laps with the roof up, it was time for the first pit stop, allowing us to get the hood down and swap drivers. The race had gotten off to a dream start for the boys, and Anthony was next up in the driver’s seat, but things were about to take a turn for the disastrous…

Just a few laps into Anthony’s stint a rather hefty shunt from behind put us in the gravel, which as we all know, is not the ideal location for a race car. Luckily, Anthony’s skill and experience, combined with a large dollop of dogged determination that those original Bentley Boys would have been proud of, allowed him to extricate the car from the beach, re-join the track and limp back to the pits so the damage could be assessed, all the while nursing a couple of busted ribs. Hero status well and truly achieved.

Don’t forget though, we’re not talking professional race teams here. The grid is made up of privateers with only one car per group so if you’re out, you’re out. Night night. Game over. Sayonara suckers. As serious as the accident was though, causing a bent rear offside halfshaft in the process, these old tanks are built strong! It also helps considerably when you have the boys from Kingsbury Racing Shop in your corner and Lewis had a new shaft installed (kindly donated by William Medcalfe from team 46, the bloody legend) in ten minutes flat. Before anyone could say “blimey, that was quick!”, old number 99 was buttoned up and ready to get back amongst it, which really does speak volumes as to just how well these cars are put together. Little did we know, however, that this was just the tip of the iceberg…

With the car “fixed” we were still very much in the race and we cracked on with climbing up the leader board, but as day turned to dusk, and with Ewen now at the helm, we soon discovered the problem with period lighting. Despite being a professional, modern F1 circuit, the floodlights at Portimão remained off for the duration of the race and with candles for headlights, combined with the undulating nature of the track and its many blind exits, a whole lot of faith was required to keep our toe in and push on under cover of darkness. We all dug out our big boy pants though, and with the car on form and our night vision adjusted, we forged ahead and really began to enjoy ourselves, racking up some fastest lap kudos points in the process.

We know we keep harping on about this but it’s key to remember that these cars are 100 years old and aside from a bit of light spannering here and there to keep things torqued, nobody was breaking down and nothing was falling off. Or so we thought…

As it turns out, our previous off was worse than we initially thought and continuing the Chapman theme we spoke about earlier, we started lightening the car even further, albeit unintentionally, beginning with the exhaust, closely followed by two wings and then the spokes from the offside rear wheel. It seemed that at every pit stop something else had liberated itself from the car and the Marshalls quickly learned to come to us first with every piece of debris found on track, doing their best Black Friday Amazon delivery driver impression. But the brave Bentley soldiered on regardless. What a car!

Car 99 taking the chequered flag

After what seemed like forever, the sun rose once more over the Algarve and boy what a sight for sore (and very tired) eyes it was. Battling on through a rather serious oil leak we finally arrived at the chequered flag in P1 with the most distance covered under our shredded tyres, having completed the full 24 hours after what was arguably the best session of the entire race. The car may have been a little worse for wear (think Topper’s landing at the end of Hot Shots) but the engine and brakes were just as strong after 20 hours as they had been after 20 minutes.

As celebrations continued long into the night at the particularly Gucci Vila Vita Parc hotel, who very kindly put us all up for the night, we remained in a reflective mood, impressed not only with the car, the Kingsbury Racing team and the track, but also with Benjafield’s Racing Club, who continue to do a fantastic job of keeping the spirit of classic racing alive. So if you’re feeling inspired to get involved, there’s no better place to start your search than right here on Car & Classic. You can check out the full video here on our YouTube channel and who knows, maybe we’ll see you at the next Benjafield’s event…