Bentley Blue Train

The above pictured Bentley “Blue Train” has quite a story. We’ve seen Top Gear races between a train and a car, but the “Blue Train” may be the car that started it all.

It was this legendary Bentley that 85 years ago raced an express train. At the time Captain Woolf Barnato, then Chairman of Bentley Motors, was staying in Cannes when he accepted a wager that not only could he beat the Calais-Mediterranée Express (or “Blue Train”) back to Calais, but that he could be at his club in London before the train even reached the English Channel.

For more about the Bentley Blue Train click past the jump (or scroll down if you came directly to the full article).

It was this Gurney Nutting two-door fastback coupe that was believed to have races and beaten the train, hence the name “Blue Train”. However, some evidence has surfaced that suggests that Barnato drove his Mulliner saloon-bodied Speed 6. Either way this is the car that is most associated with the event.

This Bentley is not only a winner in the real world (that is if it did actually race the train) but it has just taken home four awards at one of Europe’s most prestigious concours, the Schloss Bensberg Classics in Germany.

The Speed Six “Blue Train” coupe, owned by Mr Bruce McCaw, had a dominate win at the invitation-only event. It was named ‘Best in Class: The Style of Speed’; ‘Best of Show: Public Vote’; ‘Best of Show: Jury Vote’; and ‘Best in Special Category: Pre-War Closed Models’.