YESTERDAY WE BEGAN DISCUSSING Classic & Sports Car’s article by Simon Hucknall about Bentley YW 5758, one of the legendary cars participating in the marque’s 1-4 dominance of the 1929 Le Mans.
A Passenger May Squirm; Ballast Shouldn’t. Hucknall describes drama at Le Mans: “Other than the Rubin/Curzon car retiring after three hours with an electrical fault, the only real drama affected Clement in YW 5758. At one point the car was second behind the Barnato/Birkin Speed Six, when its ballast—required in this ‘touring’ car to represent a passenger’s weight—shifted. It caused the body to foul the brake rods beneath it, with one rod breaking.”
Hucknall continues, “Clement was driving and forced to pit, saying later: ‘Of course, I had to get that thing [the ballast] back – it’d got to go back in its bolts, then I had to put an adaptor on the end of the brake rod.”
“[Bentley mechanic] Hassan told me what I had to do,” Clement said. “He was very wonderful.’ ”
Frank Clement and the Bentley 4 1/2 at Le Mans, 1929. Image from WOBMF via Classic & Sports Car.
A Pause at Café de l’Hippodrome. Hucknall cites WO’s admonishment that “his cars be driven just quickly enough to lead”—and no further. Following WO’s orders and leading decidedly in the 1929 race, Dunfee stopped off for a drink at the Café de l’Hippodrome part way down the Hunaudières straight.
The Café de Hippodrome was itself a classic. This, of course, was long before the Auto Club de l’Ouest installed the two chicanes to slow the cars down. The last time I drove les Hunaudières, I recall there was a Chinese restaurant on the site.
A Pause on the Brooklands Banking. YW 5758 had adventures at Brooklands as well. Hucknall reports, “It rounded off its season in grand style at Brooklands with an outright win in the 500 Miles Race—at the time the world’s fastest long-distance event [1929 Indy win: 97.585 mph], and the first held by the British Racing Drivers’ Club—driven by Jack Barclay and Frank Clement. Fitted with a streamlined body, the car very nearly came to grief, though: Barclay was at full pelt on the Members’ Banking when it went into a high-speed slide. “
Image from the Brooklands Museum.
“The moment was captured in a still,” Hucknall observes, “with the Bentley at an angle to the banked track and apparently driverless: Barclay, expecting the car to roll, had ducked below the scuttle to prevent decapitation. Disaster was somehow averted, however, and Barclay and Clement drove on to victory at a spectacular average speed of 107.32 mph.”
At the Wheel of YW 5758 Today. “And then,” Hucknall recounts, “we’re behind the hemp-wrapped, 20in steering wheel with which Clement and Barclay would have wrestled at this very location, 95 years ago. Twin magneto switches are located to your right, and no fewer than seven dials are dotted haphazardly across the rest of the dash, the largest of which is a Jaeger tachometer redlined at 4000rpm.” (Or is it just a tad less?)
Hucknall says, “… a majestically loud burble erupts from the straight-through exhaust. Engage first in the H-pattern, inboard gate next to your right knee and press gently on the long, floor-mounted centre throttle: the 4½ Litre moves away at little more than a fast idle. Take your time with the four-speed crash ’box and the gears mesh with well-oiled ease.”
“Only in the genuine article,” Hucknall concludes, “can you come so close to experiencing such a thrill, and there is no better example of that than YW 5758.”
A lucky fellow, Simon Hucknall. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024