| The 24 hr Endurance Record,
the most demanding test of any vehicle. Every car companies
dream, a record that guaranteed sales. Hotly contested for the
1920/30's the speed rose as did the acclaim and fame for the
drivers. In 1932, John Cobb purposefully built the Napier
Railton to attempt the 24 hr record and had great success. |
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| The first aero-engine car to hold
the record, started a fierce competition between the Brits and the
Americans. Ab Jenkins, the most successful 24 hr driver also changed his
Duesenburg engined car to a Curtiss Conqueror aero engine and hence
started the aero engined battle.
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| Fiercely contested for many years, Ab Jenkins
remained the holder in 1940. The outbreak of War brought an end to the
24 hr record and to this day Ab Jenkins and his Mormon Meteor car hold
the record at 161 mph for 24 hrs. |
| In the 70's Mercedes and Chevrolet both had
factory attempts at the record failing dismally, as did Paul Newman and
his Newmanhass race team. Outlining the
achievement of Ab Jenkins and the difficulty of beating such a record. |
| Having stumbled across the record, I decided at
the age of Twenty eight to build an aero-engine Bentley to bring the
record home to England. Having studied the other aero-engine cars and
taking the best attributes of each, I have built the car pictured here
on this website after two years of careful design and manufacturing,
displaying the skills available in our workshop.... THUNDERBOLT |
| Using the best aero engine England
has to offer, the Merlin 27 Litre V12 and the strongest Vintage chassis,
the Speed Six Bentley. We plan to attempt to break the World record in the
true spirit of the event. The car has completed comprehensive tests and is
nearing its first record attempt. |
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