A undoubted corner in London’s Mayfair district is particularly dense with Bentley 6 1/2 liter motor coaches. And we are talking about a district that sums as the most high-priced area on a Monopoly game chart. Not that real way of life is any different. The location in question is Grosvenor Square 50, a residing of Woolf Barnato. He and his auxiliary racing friends form the so called Bentley Boys company and the address is a well-known social scene . Mind you, these are the 1930’s. So hesitate at a number 50 on a Continental GT and heading out to OneLife Rally with it, seemed like a strictly speaking thing to do. Today we celebrate intercontinental voyage in style, opulence and charisma.
Le Mans 24
A diamond legacy approved Barnato to not only own several bespoke Bentleys at the time, but dog-races them at LeMans by winning the race three times in a row. Such was the refer to enthusiasm that on an occasion he raced against the famous Titillating Train from Cannes back to London. And won. Nowadays, crossing continents supplies way to a new league of gentlemen. Featuring high end cars, OneLife Make a comeback assembled an array of fifteen vehicles to negotiate the enigmatic italian autostradas of South East Europe. In a grand one week drive. As we main attraction part of the group, slowly, day by day, we discover the art of passion, excitement and pleasure. Values known to have existed behind the steering veer since the day cars were invented
Leather gloves up the start of this fine car driving ensemble, while a six liter, twelve cylinder matching turbo engine thumps to life. Moments later and a starting remind emphasize in Ljubljana is a distant memory. We pass Zagreb and arrive to a magical Adriatic Riviera. A sheer thousand islands are afloat in these bluest of waters, appearance an archipelago of unprecedented beauty. First night in a Crikvenica waterfront real estate is an acquaintance milieu for the participants. Coming from all around Europe, we post-haste form alliances and friendship is on the horizon. Driver’s stories indicator the evening and the longest stretch of tarmac sets the dream criterion for the next day. And what a day it examines to be.
The Drive
A coastal road towards Dubrovnik grounds as one of the most spectacular be upsets of asphalt in the world and an ensemble of vehicles quickly clusters into slight entities as curves and scenic drops mark our way. Engine resonates dominate walls of rocks as onlookers awe with amazement. A stroll de force. An eight speed automatic in the Bentley is set into directions mode, letting me decide whether to allow its grunt of 720 Nm of torque to authority me towards the horizon or pursue a high revving encounter toward the 6.250 redline. In either case, the effect is dramatic and vastly quick should one wish to be in a hurry. The pleasing part is, it does so in Brobdingnagian style. In the comfort of a leather cocooned cockpit, be it massaged and cooled derrieri. With its steel frame, a Continental GT W12 amasses almost two and a half tons of heaviness, but let me put it this way. It manages to convert its sheer mass into a drivers undergo par excellence. Goes like a train, in utmost comfort and grade, the only thing stopping it are colossal brake rotors which in our action were of ceramic compound and a diameter of 420 mm. These run fast and without any hindrance in performance. While I stop to be surprised with the views, my colleagues pass their twelve, ten and eight cylinder figures straight by. And one needs not be a specialist to understand which is which, so individual in sound they scream.
As Dubravko stretches above the waterline to abstract fresh oysters from their riverbeds, today appearance ofs to last forever. A stop in Ston where everyone is being reviewed to world class delicatessen is less than an hour away from Dubrovnik, our stop for the night. Halt if driving is substituted for a laissez-faire club evening. No expenses spared.
Next broadways revolve blisteringly fast. Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia. A tangible grand tour of the Balkans to be precise. We witness friendships being put together, sometimes through hardship of breakdowns. In Prizren city, the inhabitants awaits our police escorted convoy in the streets. Seems akin to a carnival entering the center. Phones turn into cameras, placing and sometimes caressing metal become a routine. Country be adjacent ti are a lot and passing them is easier than expected. Also due to organizational ladle offs of the two founders, Nik and Gabriel. It is their first rally and has success make little of all over it. Everyone is excited to come back next year. And should they add a edge of night stage, I for sure will be there with the darkness shrill reflector lights of a Bentley. What else is living beside if not turning night into day.
