ABSTRACT
On June 17, 2001, the world witnessed the first fruits of Bentley’s “Project Barnato,” when a factory-sponsored team returned the Bentley marque to the podium at Le Mans after a 71-year absence. They only finished third, however, and it was another two years until another team added a sixth Le Mans victory for Bentley to add to those of 1924 and from 1927 to 1930. The 2003 celebratory dinner was held at London’s Savoy Hotel, and the guest of honor in the banquet hall was the winning automobile, squeezed with difficulty through the front doors. Not coincidentally, the 1927 celebratory dinner was also held at the Savoy, and the guest of honor then too had been the winning automobile, also squeezed with difficulty through the front doors. Clearly, Bentley in 2003 was determined to exploit an image that it had acquired from its founding in 1919, to its demise as an independent company in 1931.
