Picture, if you will, a member of the Bentley Drivers Club. There’s a sort, isn’t there? You’re probably imagining him now, blazer-clad with a glass of claret, his plummy Home Counties accent booming cheerfully in or near a T-Series on a sunny lawn in July.

You’d be completely wrong, though, as I was before I joined the final leg of the ‘Extraordinary Drive’. This three-week road trip, held to celebrate Bentley’s centenary year, began in the very north of Scotland, and is about to conclude on the remnants of the banked circuit at Brooklands, south-west of London. On it are dozens of Bentley owners, reflecting not just the brand’s international appeal, but also its staggeringly varied 100-year history. All eras of Bentley are represented here, from the very start to the present.

Diverse the crowd may be, but it’s relatively easy to match car with owner. The Grey Lady, better known as the ‘Downton Abbey car’, is being driven by an elegant couple celebrating their 53rd wedding anniversary, and who knew company founder W.O. Bentley himself. The 4 ½ Litre with tour stickers from several European countries is being driven by a Swiss gentleman sporting a velvet jacket and, later, flying goggles. Sharing our table at the penultimate dinner, held in the fabulous Ladies Smoking Room of the St Pancras Hotel, are California-dwelling South Africans, Bedfordshire-dwelling Romanians and Germany-dwelling Scots.