Here’s a an excellent and fast-moving history of one of Britain’s greatest cars, including the story of its celebrated creator, Walter Owen Bentley. 

Produced in 2001, this 10-minute film explores the origins and racing exploits of Bentley Motors, one of Britain’s most storied automotive marques. Bentley originally made its name in the automotive world with big, brutal race cars that dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driven by a group of equally colorful British aristocrats called the Bentley Boys. But before that, company founder Walter Owen Bentley, forever known simply as W.O., made his personal reputation with a series of brilliantly engineered rotary aircraft engines that flew in World War I, powering the Sopwith Camel and others.

Bentley won at Le Mans in 1924 and then, with rail-schedule regularity, repeated the feat four years in a row from 1927 through 1930. It was with more than a touch of jealousy that the famed French-Italian car maker Ettore Bugatti said, “Mr. Bentley—he builds fast trucks.” But W.O.’s car company, based in Cricklewood in the northwest suburbs of London, failed to thrive financially and was taken over by Rolls-Royce in 1931. This video dwells mainly on the pre-Rolls years. Enjoy.