EX5 continued - Bentley Media

No.37 SPRING 2011

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Spring 2011
Contents: Issue 37
54
46
16
16 CHASING THE SUNSET
Andrew English explores Cornwall, a land of
wild beauty and independent souls, in the new
Continental GT.
28 NEVER OUT OF FASHION
Mary-Adair Macaire’s career in the fashion industry
has given her a taste for the finer things in life –
like her S2 Bentley. Francesca Fearon meets her.
35 LUXURY OF CHOICE
Bentley’s latest luxury collection of accessories and
gifts entrances Natalie Theo.
40 VENTURING OUTDOORS
Charles Finch is taking on the giants of beachwear
and mountain wear with his brand Chucs.
Nick Foulkes finds out how and why.
43 DEVELOPING RELATIONSHIP
Stanhope Gate offers the ultimate in perfectionist
property refurbishment. Julia Marozzi meets the
partners who make it work.
46 INSPIRED LINES
A new exhibition at Crewe, entitled The Unbroken
Line, explores the world of Bentley design.
Francesco Boccone pays a visit.
54 AT HOME WITH LUXURY
Furniture makers and interior designers Clive Christian
have built an enviable reputation. Julia Marozzi meets
the team behind the name.
60 CHAMPAGNE ON ICE
Juha Kankkunen has broken his own world ice
speed record, reports Alexandra Felts. At the wheel
of a Bentley, naturally.
68 LAP OF HONOUR
Nick Swallow previews the highlight of the Bentley
Drivers’ Club 75th anniversary, a spectacular monthlong
tour of Britain.
74 NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
Neil Davey savours the contrasting attractions of
New York City and the upstate Hudson Valley, at the
wheel of a Continental GT.
80 BENTLEY WORLD
Bentley and its dealers around the world celebrate
the arrival of the new Continental GT. Meanwhile in
China, two new dealerships open their doors.
88 WONDER ROOMS
It’s time to ditch the traditional hotel room, suggests
Avis Cardella.
For information regarding any articles please refer to page 87.
front cover
New Bentley Continental GT in Thunder
with Saffron and Brunel interior, shot by
Richard Morris on location in Cornwall, UK.
8

60
28
Editor
julia marozzi
A former features editor, news
editor and Weekend editor at the
FT, Julia has worked in Toronto,
Hong Kong, Montreal, Miami and
London for a variety of national
and international publications,
including the South China Morning
Post and the Sunday Times.
Contributors
andrew english
Andrew English is a freelance writer
writing for motoring and travel
magazines and The Daily Telegraph.
He is also a member of the
European Car of the Year jury.
He lives on the Surrey/Sussex
borders with his wife, two children
and Zephyren, the 11-month-old
black Labrador.
francesca fearon
Francesca Fearon lives in London
and writes about the fashion
world for a range of international
publications, but does try to sneak
off sailing when she can.
natalie theo
Natalie Theo is a Fashion Editor
and blogger who believes that a
pair of great heels conquers all.
For more tips visit
www.thefashionchronicles.com
Welcome to the spring 2011 issue of Bentley
magazine. While most of us were looking
forward to the warmer weather, Alexandra Felts
travelled north to a frozen stretch of the Bay of
Bothnia, where she witnessed former World
Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen smash his
own ice speed record in the Continental
Supersports Convertible. The temperature was
around -40 Celsius, so we can be confident he
didn’t attempt it with the hood down! You can
read all about the modern-day Bentley Boy and
his amazing feat on page 60.
Back in Bentley’s homeland, Andrew English
takes a Continental GT to Cornwall, England’s
westernmost county; Nick Swallow previews
Britain by Bentley, an anniversary tour by the
members of the BDC and their magnificent
machines; and Francesco Boccone reviews a
new exhibition at Crewe, showcasing the secret
world of Bentley designers.
Together with our customary insights into
the worlds of property, travel, interiors and
style, it’s an issue with something to interest
every Bentley owner. Enjoy your reading – and
have a great spring.
9

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16

CONTINENTAL GT
Chasing the sunset
THE SEA-GIRT PENINSULA OF CORNWALL IS THE FURTHEST WEST YOU CAN DRIVE ON
ENGLISH SOIL. ANDREW ENGLISH EXPLORES A LAND OF WILD BEAUTY AND INDEPENDENT
SPIRITS IN THE NEW CONTINENTAL GT >
17

Left and right Cornwall
is a land dotted with
harbours and fishing
towns, of changing skies
and sudden downpours.
The Bentley’s sumptuous
cockpit and all-wheel
drive transmission makes
light of fickle weather.
Chasing the sunset continued
In more than 30 years of travelling to the West Country my undisputed world
record stands at three hours 18 minutes. I might have broken the speed limit,
but I was young, there were no speed cameras and it was a VW Golf with a
very big engine. My friend who joined the Fleet Air Arm recounts that on full
reheat, his McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom could get to Cornwall from
Norfolk in just over 10 minutes.
It’s not just me in a hurry to get to Cornwall, even fictional characters get
their toes down. Maxim de Winter drove hard through the night when he
learned his wife had lied to him in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. He was too
late to save the blazing Manderley, though. Or what about those whizz-bang
TV chefs, Jamie Oliver or Rick Stein, anxious to see how their stables of West
Country restaurants are faring?
My wife’s grandparents and friends used to race through the night to
Cornwall from London. Nicknamed the ‘Jet Set’ they arriving on the north coast
in the wee small hours to play endless rubbers of bridge fuelled with neat gin.
They used to say that when the tangerine Cornish sun dipped behind the last
wave at dusk you could see a momentary green flash, although I suspected
this was a version of sunset seen through a green bottle of Gordon’s gin.
Not true. I recently discovered the phenomenon was real, caused by the
earth’s atmosphere bending the sun’s rays, with the blue/green wavelengths
the last to sink beneath the horizon. Good grief! So the green flash does exist.
Time to travel west to see this mythical phenomenon.
Despite almost biblical rain, the Bentley Continental GT starts (naturally) in
imperious fashion. There’s only one route to Cornwall, the A303 across the
pillowy downs of Salisbury Plain, with Cranborne Chase’s multicoloured fields
spread like a summer picnic to the south.
My dad’s split-cane rods are in the boot. Last time out they hooked a little
sea bass in the Camel estuary. I’m not sure who was more surprised, but I let
him fight another day and I’m looking for a return match.
The cathedral city of Exeter funnels traffic into the mutton-leg shaped
peninsula, which stretches so far into the Atlantic Approaches that it gets its
weather days before the rest of England. The high road skirts Dartmoor to the
north, the low road heads south to Plymouth. We take the high road for
Okehampton and the new Continental barely stirs a gear as its 6-litre, twinturbocharged
12-cylinder wafts past Exminster and onto the A30. The new
W12 engine produces more power than its predecessor and packs a wallop
matched by few. It murmurs along at low revs in top, sounding like the
wind in the pipes. Prod it, however, and the kickdown is speedy and the
response massive. Far hills become imminent inclines and overtaking is
contemptuously easy. Fiercely independent, with a long history of exploitation
(of land and people), Cornwall is defined by its isolation and a close
relationship with the sea. The local radio station has two weather forecasts an
hour, plus shipping and inshore waters forecasts, and separate reports from
a harbour master and a coast guard; it’s a blast.
18

CONTINENTAL GT
FISHING, TOO, USED TO BE A BIG EMPLOYER AND AS A FORMER LONG-LINE FISHERMAN, I’VE
NOTHING BUT RESPECT FOR THE MEN WHO WORK THE NETS AND LINES FAR FROM SHORE IN
ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS INDUSTRIES THERE IS.
19

20
SURFING, ONCE A SPECIALIST SPORT, IS NOW A MINOR INDUSTRY, WITH SURF SCHOOLS
IN EVERY NORTH COAST BAY. THE EDEN PROJECT, TATE ST IVES AND VARIOUS LUXURY
DEVELOPMENTS HAVE EXTENDED THE SEASON AND BECOME GO-TO DESTINATIONS FOR
VISITORS WHEN THE WEATHER ISN’T CLEMENT.

CONTINENTAL GT
Above The combination
of beautifully tailored
soft-touch leather,
crisply defined planes
and wood veneer of
glowing colour and
lustre makes the
cockpit of the new
Continental GT a deeply
satisfying place to
spend a long journey.
Chasing the sunset continued
Celtic and largely untouched by the Roman occupation, the Cornish have
worked the tin and copper deposits as well as china clay over hundreds of
years. Mournful disused mine engine houses dot the landscape, which, like the
clay-spoil mountains at St Austell, bear witness to harsh economic realities.
Local man and St Ives-school artist, Peter Lanyon, has just been the subject of
a retrospective at Tate St Ives. The power of his 1953 painting St Just bears
witness to the sufferings of the tin miners whom he described as ‘napalmed
out’ by mine owners and hazardous working conditions, which claimed many
souls. Lanyon’s painting commemorates the 1919 Levant tin mine disaster
when 31 men were killed and many injured after the main rod on a beam
engine broke.
Fishing, too, used to be a big employer and as a former long-line
fisherman, I’ve nothing but respect for the men who work the nets and lines
far from shore in one of the most dangerous industries there is. Lifeboat crews
who selflessly venture out in all weathers to rescue seafarers are held in
special regard in Cornwall and rightly so.
Life in Cornwall can be hard. The county’s population of just over half a
million suffers low wages and high unemployment as well as the vicissitudes
of the tourist industry, government and armed forces cutbacks and the
weather, which they seem to get more of than anyone else. One poignant car
sticker reads: ‘Mining’s crap. Fishing’s crap. Farming’s crap. Best be back to
wrecking me hearties.’ It’s been a while since the Cornish drove their cattle
along the cliff tops with lanterns hanging from their necks to lure
unsuspecting sailors onto the ragged rocks, but you never know…
Given all that, you might expect a simmering resentment against the ethos
of gadabouting leisure and careless privilege that a Bentley might conjure,
but the natives turn out to be friendly.
“What a beautiful car,” says one man when we stop to take photographs.
“Just two for me please, boys,” says another.
“What colour would you like?” we joke back.
“Oh, as they come, as they come,” he grins as he disappears into the gloom.
While the traditional bucket-and-spade tourist market has kept the wolf from
the door, there’s something of a renaissance in a different style of tourism these
days. With Rick Stein’s Padstow Seafood Restaurant in the van, the new breed
of foodie tourism attracts well-heeled sybarites to stylish eateries. Surfing, once
a specialist sport, is now a minor industry, with surf schools in every north
coast bay. The Eden Project, Tate St Ives and various luxury developments have
extended the season and become go-to destinations for visitors when the
weather isn’t clement.
At this time of year, the off-season, the hotels are being refurbished,
primped and preened. In some parts of the county the local language could be
Polish and we struggle to park the Bentley amongst the battered Transits and
Travis Perkins wagons laden with sand and cement. Typical of the new class of
hotels are the Bedruthan Steps and its newer sister, the Scarlet.
21

22

CONTINENTAL GT
THE BENTLEY’S WIPERS SWISH AWAY AND BIG TYRES SPLASH THROUGH SMALL LAKES. SNUG IN THE
GORGEOUS CABIN, THERE’S A CHANCE TO APPRECIATE CREWE’S CRAFT SKILLS. THE COMBINATION OF
LEATHER-SWATHED DASHBOARD, COMPLEX WOOD-VENEERED FACIA AND THOSE ERIC GILL MECHANICAL
TYPEFACES ON THE INSTRUMENT DIALS IS DELIGHTFUL AND LASTING.
23

CONTINENTAL GT
Chasing the sunset continued
We take tea at the Bed Steps, a former army barracks owned by the
Whittington family for over 50 years. This is a family hotel in an unrivalled
position overlooking the granite rocks and golden sands of Mawgan Porth on
the north coast. My father-in-law took me to supper there 30 years ago when
the menu was all prawn gateaux and Blackforest cocktail. We drank neat gin
as the sun went down. I didn’t see the green flash.
The Bedruthan Steps is in the middle of a major 24-month refurbishment,
but it seems pretty modern and comfortable to me. Whittington daughters,
Rebecca, Emma and Debbie, have created an airy, light atmosphere, which
exploits the building’s long, narrow architecture, with an emphasis on eco
tourism. With the Bentley taking a well-earned rest out, Suzie Newham,
sustainability manager for both hotels explains.
“We try to use the hotels’ unique position to live up to the ecological aims
of the family,” she says. Solar panels heat water for the newly revamped Spa,
grass roofs reduce visual impact and small details such as the all-day
complimentary room service at the Scarlet mean that 47 tiny mini-bar fridges
and kettles are not draining the national grid.“It also means you get fresh milk
rather than those horrid little sachets,” says Newham. Using locally sourced
food is a given (Cornish loose-leaf tea is surprisingly good), but Newham also
scours the supply chains of wasted energy and resources. “We’ve reduced
the amount of packaging and we try to reuse it where possible,” she says.
The kitchens use induction hobs rather than fossil-fuel gas and extensive
composting keeps the gardens verdant and reduces the impact of any
restaurant waste.
Before checking out the Scarlet, there’s time enough to drive down to
Redruth, then on to Falmouth to pick up my daughter Scarlett from the
art school. Falmouth is a working port at the end of the A39 and river Fal.
It’s one of my favourite places, mainly because of its raffish,
unselfconscious charm, its student vibe and its geography. Here lies the third
deepest natural harbour in the world and there’s always something
interesting with a big, white Plimsoll line being repaired in the dockyard or
moored in the drowned river valley of Carrick Roads. This wide and deep
stretch of water was deemed so strategically important by King Henry VIII
that he had Pendennis Castle built to defend it. The King Harry chain ferry
across the Fal has been connecting the Roseland peninsula with Falmouth and
Feock since 1888 and saving folk a 26-mile detour. Such is the confluence of
estuaries in this area, it is one of the few places in England where a boat is
more useful than a car.
Above Newly refurbished
Bedruthan Steps hotel
aims to achieve luxury
and sustainability;
features include grass
roofs and solar heating
for the Spa.
Right The Scarlet’s no-kids
policy, outstanding cuisine
and stylish decor attract
an international clientele.
25

REINVENTION THROUGH
EVOLUTION
Chasing the sunset continued
History books will recall the GT as the car
that saved Walter Owen’s quintessentially
British car maker. Identifying an orphan
market sector, Volkswagen refurbished the
Crewe factory at a cost of £500 million,
reworked the bespoke production lines
and set the world alight with the £110,000
two-door coupé. Pre-launch publicity used
William Blake’s famous 1794 verse, The Tyger:
‘Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright, In the forests
of the night…’
Design head, Dirk van Braeckel’s fearfully
symmetrical work on the GT’s coachwork
was an instant hit and the order books were
full before the car officially went on sale.
It established the old marque as a major
player in the luxury market and spawned
convertible, saloon and sports versions,
which combined, took Bentley production
from 1,000 cars a year in 2002 to an
unprecedented 10,000 plus in 2007.
The car I’m driving is the second generation
GT, launched last year with a brand-new
bodyshell, different enough to mark it out
but similar enough not to alienate the
existing owners. The uprated engine produces
567 horsepower and almost as much in
pounds feet of torque; in the words of a
previous Bentley owner, “it’s sufficient.”
How sufficient? The top speed is 198mph, it
gets from 0 to 60mph in 4.4 seconds and
the combined economy works out at 17.1mpg.
The Bentley’s wipers swish away and big tyres splash through small lakes. Snug in the gorgeous
cabin, there’s a chance to appreciate Crewe’s craft skills. The combination of leather-swathed
dashboard, complex wood-veneered facia and those Eric Gill mechanical typefaces on the
instrument dials is delightful and lasting. You’d never tire of sitting in this car. And, with this
new model, there is now a general entertainment and sat-nav system worthy of a Bentley.
Through the gloomy sea fog, it negotiates me round the tortuous tree-lined back roads with
ease – the Scots call days like these ‘drek and drear’.
Back at last at the Scarlet we’re barely in time for supper. No sunset, no green flash and the
view from the spacious dining room is of majestically pregnant clouds. While the Bedruthan
Steps has a family hotel, the Scarlet is for adults.
“That adult-only thing? Just what’s really going on there?” asks one local when I tell him
where we’re headed. Not a lot is the answer, but the car park filled with expensive German
machinery might point to a clientele that is ever so slightly pleased with itself. No reception
desk, just a welcoming host, although as daughter Scarlett points out, “those sub-Star Trek
uniforms are plain weird.”
While the endless floor levels on the cliff-side hotel give the impression of being in a
hotel designed by M.C. Escher, there’s also a home-from-home cool about the place. Charming
details such as hand-made lamp shades and sparse wood furniture are comfortable as well
as modern. The dining area is well thought out, with good acoustics so you are not part of your
neighbours’ conversations.
And the fish… While I’ve posed no danger to Cornwall’s gilled inhabitants on this trip,
Scarlett’s sea bass is succulent and delicious, with a rich ratatouille that highlights the fish’s
flavours. The last time I ate sea bream in Cornwall, it was at a rival restaurant and this underrated
and delicate fish was murdered on a bed of noxious vegetables. The Scarlet’s chefs turn in
a pan-fried fillet so perfect it restores my faith in cheffery and all its nonsensical foibles. To think
I almost passed up this dish because I didn’t like the sound of an apple accompaniment; who’d
have thought that combo would work so well?
What’s more, the following morning the Scarlet passes the fiercest test yet devised of a
kitchen, the perfect boiled egg – try it some time – with chunky soldiers of The Chough bakery’s
best sourdough bread. Perfick.
And what would you know? The day we have to leave the Duchy, the weather clears and
presents us with a cerulean blue sky filled with Toy Story clouds. We dawdle back across the
Tamar thinking of green flashes unseen, fish uncaught and big waves unridden.
We’ll be back, but then Cornwall gets to you like that
Andrew English is a freelance writer based in
the UK, specialising in automotive and travel
journalism and writing for The Daily Telegraph
newspaper and a number of magazines in
England, Europe and America.
26

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PARIS - 50, rue Pierre Charron, Tel: +33 (0)1 47 20 72 40
www.arije.com
Ocean Dual Time watch

Never out of fashion
MARY-ADAIR MACAIRE’S CAREER INCLUDES HEADING CHANEL’S GLOBAL
MARKETING DIVISION AND THREE YEARS AS THE CEO AT PRINGLE. SHE TELLS
FRANCESCA FEARON ABOUT HER INSTINCT FOR TIMELESS ELEGANCE,
EXEMPLIFIED BY HER 1963 S2 BENTLEY >
28

MARY-ADAIR MACAIRE
29

Never out of fashion continued
A polished 1963 Bentley in mint condition being driven along
the streets of Manhattan is going to attract attention with the
greatest of ease, but when there is a chic, auburn-haired lady
at the wheel heads are turned. Bus drivers open their doors
at traffic lights to engage the driver in conversation and
New Yorkers stop and ask questions about the car whenever she
parks on the sidewalk.
This was the experience of the car’s somewhat younger and
melodiously named owner, Mary-Adair Macaire from the
moment she first bought the car in 1995. “I think people are
genuinely happy to see something that old still on the road,” she
enthuses, recalling her 10 years of driving around and about
New York, “especially in a city where it is all about the latest,
greatest thing. They would get really excited.”
Now living in Belgravia, Macaire is the dainty but dynamic
American who has just stepped down as CEO of Pringle of
Scotland, where she has worked for the past three years
repositioning the fashion-led luxury brand for the knitwear
company’s Hong Kong-based owner. Previously the global
marketing boss at French fashion house Chanel, Macaire had
moved to Paris from New York in 2005 and put her car into
storage. “At that point in time I did not know how long I would
be in Europe and originally I had her stored for what I thought
would be just a year or two. When I moved to London I realised
I would be staying longer and brought her over.”
Last summer the Bentley, which given its left-hand drive, had
probably spent all its life in the United States, was motoring
down English country lanes for the first time. Macaire took her
to Bath and also to the Goodwood Revival in September, where
the ever stylish Macaire, dressed in a pretty 1940s dress, found
herself parked in one of the main fields alongside “the most
fantastic vintage cars”.
Mary-Adair Macaire is a lady who has always preferred vintage
over modern when it comes to cars. “I have a real love of old cars:
the post-war years, cars from the 1950s, ’60s and early ’70s.
The designs were so fantastic; they had great individuality at
30

MARY-ADAIR MACAIRE
Left Pringle’s move to a
higher echelon of luxury
was masterminded by
Macaire, whose fashion
nous took the company
into the designer end
of the market.
Right Macaire’s 1963
Bentley exemplifies
her love of quality
and longevity.
the point in time. You could tell what model and make it was just
by looking at the leather on the seats. Now when I rent a car I
lose them in the parking lot!”
Dainty as a bird, chic and classy in a little black dress, with
her long auburn hair swept to one side to reveal pale feline eyes
and gloriously defined cheekbones, Macaire is dwarfed by the
chrome grille and voluptuous curves of her 1963 Bentley.
Make no mistake though, this lady may like vintage but she also
likes speed. Sporty by nature, she raced with her former
husband in La Carrera Panamericana, a classic car rally through
Mexico in a Porsche 356, developing a taste for rallying which
she hopes to continue with the Bentley by doing the Mille
Miglia and the Monte Carlo Vintage Rally. She possesses a
steely, determined streak to do well, whether in business or
behind the wheel of a car.
Prior to purchasing this car she owned a 1977 Mercedes SE
with a 6.9-litre engine (“the largest engine they made at that
time”) and an Alpine A110. However, for a long time she had a
Bentley on her mind.“Bentley was a marque based on real quality
and longevity and I thought if I am going to get something that
is that old I want to make sure that it is built to last.”
She had been hunting for about a year and it was on a
business trip to Florida that she found what she wanted. She knew
what model she was looking for and discovered this one looking
through a local auto trader. “They are not easy to find and not
easy to find in good condition. She had never been in an accident
and she did not have any rust.” Immediately charmed by the car,
she test drove it and was smitten.
“I love the smell of the car: the mellowed leather with the
patina and having to rap the glass to get the fuel indicator to
work. Although that is an easy thing to fix.” She admits there are
bonuses to driving a modern car. “I remember recently renting
a car and as I came out of the garage it was raining and the
windscreen wipers started automatically, and I thought ‘fantastic’.
There are things you do without having a vintage car, but
the Bentley does have air conditioning.” No doubt a necessity
in the heat of the New York and, before that, Florida summers.
Even before you read her curriculum vitae you get a sense
that Macaire has an innate appreciation of brands with heritage.
“Bentley has a great story and has been able to make itself
relevant to its audience for most of its lifetime. It is the same
for Pringle. It has always been known for quality products
and there’s a feeling of comfort about the brand.” Macaire
remembers people saying ‘Oh gosh! I’ve worn Pringle sweaters
for ever.’When the actress Tilda Swinton, who is an ambassadress
for the brand, brought in her grandmother’s cashmere Pringle
31

Below In 2010 Mary-
Adair Macaire’s S2
Bentley was driven on
British roads for the
first time in 47 years.
It’s capable of
impressive speeds –
but the left-hand drive
layout poses a challenge
when overtaking.
Never out of fashion continued
sweater, which she was wearing, Pringle re-conditioned it for her.
“Who does that today? Nobody, but it’s the price you pay for
producing something that you are proud of.”
Pringle was bought from its Scottish owners by Hong Kong’s
Fang family in 2000 and has been repositioning the brand for the
best part of a decade. The knitwear label had built a reputation for
quality and innovation in its craft, yet somewhere along the line it
got lost on the golf course. Now the Fang brothers are trying to
recast it as a fashion-led, luxury brand. Their first two CEOs were
unable to push the company back into the black despite opening
shops and moving into the designer end of the market, unveiling
the new collections at the Milan and London fashion weeks.
Macaire, a lawyer by training, who is tough but glamorous, was
the first of the Pringle bosses with a real luxury-brand pedigree.
Timing admittedly wasn’t brilliant. She joined the company
just as the stock market crashed in September 2008 and the
global recession began. Macaire relished the challenge, however,
regarding the brand as a seamless connection between old and
new, where heritage items like the classic Argyle sweaters and
twin-sets sell side by side with more directional fashion. It was not
lost on her that while Chanel has made a fortune selling twin-sets
in fact it was this Scottish cashmere company that invented them.
Macaire was born the eldest of four siblings in a Philadelphia
family with Irish-Scottish roots. Her career path was not what she
originally envisaged when she signed up to study maritime law.
After clerking for a law firm she rebelled. “I needed something
that worked both sides of my brain: one creative, one analytical.”
So she got a job in advertising working for Tiffany’s, the jeweller.
During the Christmas season she worked on the sales floor and one
client was so impressed she offered Macaire a job. The customer
turned out to be head of distribution for Chanel in America.
Macaire joined in the late 1980s just as Karl Lagerfeld’s
collections for the label were starting to have an impact.
She went on to run Chanel’s clothing business in America before
taking on global marketing, based in Paris. That is until Pringle
came knocking.
Meanwhile, the Bentley, originally bought as her get-out-oftown
car, driving up and down the freeways to Massachusetts,
Washington, even driving her friends to their weddings, gives
Macaire her freedom. “She is lovely on the highway. I shouldn’t
say this as I am supposed to keep to the speed limit, but she is
very comfortable doing 100mph. The only issue is that weighing
in at 4,200lbs you have to drive her responsibly.”
Although Macaire is an enthusiastic sportswoman (she hikes,
rides and plays squash), she says what “washes my mind” is getting
behind the wheel of her car. “The reason I brought her over here is
that England is incredibly beautiful and the distances aren’t that
tremendous, so you can experience a lot of it.” The only thing that
bothers her, she laughingly admits (given the Bentley is a left-hand
drive), “I will never be able to pass anyone on the highway!”
Francesca Fearon is a London-based freelance fashion editor who writes
about luxury designer brands for a host of newspapers and magazines in
the UK, Far East and Australia.
32

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THE BENTLEY COLLECTION
Luxury of choice
BENTLEY’S LUXURY COLLECTION CAPTURES THE ESSENCE OF THE BRAND IN A RANGE OF
DELIGHTFUL ACCESSORIES AND GIFTS. AFTER A CONTINENTAL GTC SPEED, THEY’RE TOP
OF NATALIE THEO’S PERSONAL WISH LIST >
35

THESE ARE THE TYPES OF PIECES TO GET ANYONE IN THE BENTLEY MOOD AND WHAT I’D
LIKE TO KNOW, BUT DON’T ASK, IS, “WHERE WAS THIS COLLECTION WHEN I NEEDED IT
MOST – MY FRIENDS’ AND RELATIVES’ BIRTHDAYS?”
Right Bentley is rather
good at leather…
so when it comes to
the wallets, iPhone
cases and notebooks
in the collection, each
and every stitch has
to be up to the mark.
Leather specialist
Ettinger of London is
one of the luxury
collection partners.
36

THE BENTLEY COLLECTION
Below Bentley Boys
espresso cups are
among the highlights
of the luxury collection.
They’re issued as a
limited edition of 500
numbered sets, after
which new archive
images will be chosen.
Tempted to collect the
complete set?
Luxury of choice continued
It starts the minute I arrive in Crewe and step into the gleaming
Mulsanne beckoning to me outside the station. I rest my head against
the sumptuous leather of the seats, sink my heels into the plush velvety
carpets and stroke the glossy veneer of the walnut tables so smooth I’d
very happily eat caviar straight off them.
And everything around me is whispering ‘Bentley Experience’. Gosh,
I’ve even chosen my car (Continental GTC Speed), selected the racing
green colour, tossed up ideas for leather interiors and walnut veneer
combinations and I haven’t even arrived at the headquarters yet.
It’s there on the pristine factory floors, in the car bodies suspended in
mid-air, in woodwork, in the design room, among the craftsmen, who have
that look of knowing pride on their faces that comes from a quiet sense
of belonging. It’s about living Bentley. Racy, exciting, reeking of quality
craftsmanship, rooted in heritage and utterly unique. Not something I can
quite put a finger on. Unless of course I’ve visited the factory. And then
bought my car. And that’s not about to happen. Just yet.
I’d like to come away with a car, really I would, but in the meantime
I’ll have to make do with something else. Like a cashmere scarf.
Or cufflinks. OK. But when I think about it, they’ve really got to be very
Bentley. And quite frankly, how can a product capture that Bentley-ness,
that glamorous motoring spirit and luxurious made-in-England
heritage, if it’s not, well, a Bentley?
“You have to be true to the brand,” explains Lindsay Weaver, Director
of Licensing and Branded Goods, as he talks me through the re-launch of
The Bentley Collection. “I would never produce any product that would
damage the brand. That’s key. I have to make our collection relevant to
people’s lifestyles. A beautiful handmade leather wallet, made in England
like our cars – yes. This captures craftsmanship and fine materials.”
It’s exactly like visiting the Chanel Haute Couture salons, watching the
skilled seamstresses who spend weeks hand-stitching spectacular
garments from fine-spun fabrics and coming away with a Chanel lipstick,
or pair of sunglasses. Instead of that dress. But I still feel like I’ve just
died and gone to an automotive version of Chanel heaven.
The understanding of Bentley is so integral to the creation of these
products that all Bentley partners are taken through a two-day brand
immersion. “Every partner is taken on a journey that starts with a tour
of Lineage and the production facilities,” says Weaver. “They spend time
with our Styling Team. They talk to them about materials and finishes
and most importantly the design ethos and what makes a Bentley a
Bentley. Finally we spend time with both the Product and Marketing
departments. When they leave Crewe they understand the brand and
our values. They become Bentley.”
Weaver has shaped the collection into a range that has an anchor and
identity. And I’m gazing at a tidy selection of sterling silver cufflinks
and soft leather iPad cases, a model car and a very Bentley mug, to name
but a few. I don’t know what it is about that simple mug but it looks like
a solid steering wheel. If I drink from it I just know I’m one step closer to
my car. These are the types of pieces to get anyone in the Bentley mood
and what I’d like to know, but don’t ask, is, “where was this collection
when I needed it most – my friends’ and relatives’ birthdays?”
“Each product has integrity as it has been designed and critiqued
by the same people who design the cars. These guys know the brand.
They know what is Bentley and what’s not Bentley,” says Weaver.
Sitting within the new Bentley Collection is The Bentley Boys range,
deeply steeped in the brand’s heritage and racing history. I think back to
those glorious boys of yore, the infamous ‘Bentley Boys’ who lend their
name to this category. The likes of Woolf ‘Babe’ Barnato, Sir Henry ‘Tim’
Birkin and Baron d’Erlanger. These pieces evoke motoring history, exciting
races along the French Riviera, sipping champagne aboard yachts on
the Mediterranean, speed, fearlessness and fabulous cars.
37

Luxury of choice continued
They capture the spirit of adventure of these wealthy aristocratic racing
enthusiasists who drove Bentley to victory in the Le Mans races of the
1920s. They’re aspirational, they’re fun and desirable.
“What is Bentley famous for?” Weaver muses so passionately that
I want to come and work at Bentley. “Everyone knows about the
Bentley Boys.They epitomise all that was glamorous in the ’20s.They were
fearless and really living that playboy glamorous lifestyle. And I’ve felt
within our Bentley collection we’ve never celebrated that enough.
“We talk about it when you come here on a factory tour. You walk
into our Reception and there are photos on the walls of them; all our
visitor rooms are named after the Bentley Boys. It’s a really important
part of our brand’s heritage. I’ve gone back to an era that was cool
and unique so that we can make some individual items that
reference back to those times.”
The wheel spinner key rings and cufflinks are replicas of the 8 Litre
Bentley wheel. An elegant leather billfold wallet has a classic Bentley
Boy print (chosen from the extensive archives), of Tim Birkin, as does
the Bentley Boys printed id/card holder. “Tim Birkin was one of the
most famous of the Bentley Boys and we wanted to honour him for
the first collection.”
There is a flying helmet and goggles for those who want to feel
the thrill of open-top driving. There’s a luxurious leather race bag.
But the Bentley Boys piece that appeals to me and that I really want,
other than a car, is the four-piece espresso coffee cup set with iconic
images of the Bentley Boys racing that pay homage to that bygone
era. These sets are limited editions, in that only 500 numbered sets of
each will be produced. When they are all sold, Bentley will make the
next 500 using different archived pictures.
I’d still like my racing green Continental GTC Speed. In the meantime
I’m going to buy that espresso set and when I sip my coffee and gaze at
the picture of Tim Birkin flying off the ground, my mind floating off
to the French Riviera, I’ll simply be practising for when my hands are
wrapped around a hand-stitched leather Bentley steering wheel, rather
than the delicate handle of an espresso cup
The new collection will be available from Bentley Dealerships and
www.bentleycollection.com from May 2011.
Natalie Theo is a fashion consultant and writer. She has her own blog
www.thefashionchronicles.com and is a Fashion Editor at Dressipi.com, a site
offering unique online shopping recommendations tailored to each user’s
silhouette and style.
Right Understated
branding with the
Bentley wings is one
of the ‘in the know’
features of the
collection, exemplified
by this Heritage
cashmere scarf.
Above Birkin leather
billfold wallet depicts
the great man in action.
38

nick foulkes:
Venturing outdoors
Displaying typical audacity, Charles Finch is taking on the giants of beachwear and mountain
wear with his collection of finely crafted creations under the brand name Chucs.
Johnson’s famous definition of remarriage as
‘the triumph of hope over experience’ often
springs to mind when I think about my friend
Charles Finch. I met Charles at a luxury goods
conference, of course, where I was speaking,
moderating, panelling, round tabling or whatever
it is that I do from time to time, when in a weak
moment I consent to address a crowded room.
After my ordeal had finished we chatted and
discovered that we shared more or less the same
views on all the important things in life, viz, that
authentic legitimate luxury was founded on a solid
base of craft skills and that he and I both liked
wearing nice suits, Charvet shirts, bespoke shoes
and so forth. There were minor points of
disagreement, such as his stated preference for the
Rolex Submariner and my preference for the early
model Rolex GMT 1675 without crown guards, but
these are petty cavils.
Charles is son of the noted actor Peter Finch,
best known for his posthumous Oscar for Network,
and the grandson of George Ingle-Finch, scientist,
mountaineer, pioneer of oxygen-assisted climbing
and, so Charles says, inventor of the Puffa jacket.
Charles more than lives up to his ancestors; he is
someone for whom the epithet larger than life
is simply too pusillanimous.
You see Charles is lucky enough to possess
that great virtue of charm. It is a quality that he
possesses in abundance and dispenses with ease
and largesse. Seldom does one meet men as
naturally charming as Charles and it is a joy,
remarkable to behold. This sort of thing cannot
be learned in a cognitive behavioural way by
reading a Dale Carnegie or Desmond Morris and
consciously changing the way you interact with
your fellows. This is something more fundamental.
I suppose if I were a New Age spiritualist I would
describe it as a personal energy, but whatever the
secret it works like a sort of witchcraft, like a
40
powerful illusion that, however hard you may try
to resist it, weaves its magic around you.
He has been, is and I am sure will be, many
things: he has made films; he has played
backgammon against Jimmy Goldsmith; he has
gone into PR; he has forged links between the
worlds of art and commerce (most notably getting
Kevin Spacey to write a play for watch brand IWC);
he has launched a quarterly newspaper; and he
has now opened a shop selling bathing, beach and
mountain wear.
First I have to explain that I launched a
newspaper for him, it is called Finch’s Quarterly
Review. It is best described as a journalistic soufflé
that leaves you ever so slightly better informed
about the better things life has to offer (be they lofty
charitable endeavours, Carry On films, high jewellery
or where to go diving in Cuba – all of them out now
in the spring edition). But like the best soufflés,
it does not leave you feeling so stuffed full that
you find it difficult to move. It gets sent out to my
and Charles’ friends and, good friends that they
are, they are kind enough to say they enjoy it.
Anyway, having conquered the world of print
journalism, it was natural that he would seek out,
like the Alexander of Antiquity, ‘new worlds to
conquer’ and his eye alighted on the garment
business, and this is where the hope over
experience thing comes in. There are people who
do this for a living and have large shops around the
world, huge headquarters, rich backers and
sprawling factories in countries across the globe.
Charles by contrast has an overdraft, an office in
Heddon Street and a small shop on Dover Street,
about the size of a walk-in wardrobe, selling
bathing costumes with side adjusters, natty
T-shirts and little woollen hats of the sort you
might wear were you climbing the Matterhorn in
about 1952 or taking on the role of a World War II
commando in The Guns of Navarone.
Not content with taking on Messrs Vilebrequin on
the issue of beach attire, Charles felt he might as
well open up on a second front and have a go at
nicking a bit of market share from mountain wear
brand Moncler. And that is what I like about
Charles, he is fearless: anybody else would succumb
to the paralysis of market research and be daunted
by the expense of (i) designing a range of garments
(ii) having them made (iii) locating a shop (iv)
staffing it (v)… well you get the picture.
There is something romantic about the way
that he goes about things; he is an individual in a
world that seems to be increasingly filled with
corporate time-servers who make the Barnacle
family who staff Dickens’ Circumlocution Office
seem positive models of productivity. Instead he
just charges ahead like some character out of a
novel by Walter Scott or some heroic Victorian
poem: cannon to the right of him, cannon to the
left of him, cannon in front of him and so on.
But to view Chucs as just a place to buy a pair of
bathing trunks for the summer or a little woolly
hat for the next time you have to storm an enemy
gun installation is to miss the point. Chucs is a
little bit of Charles that you can wear on the
beach or at base camp and to ‘get’ Chucs you have
to ‘get’ Charles, which is the way that the best
brands should be.
Charles is a friend. I wish him well and I
hope that in a few years a Chucs store will
become the sine qua non of a chic beach resort or
ski station
Left and centre Chucs mountain and beachwear brings
a touch of glamour into the adventurer’s wardrobe…
although it’s just as suited to lazing around.
Right Charles Finch.

HERITAGE IN THE MAKING
THE TONDA HEMISPHERES COLLECTION
Entirely manufactured in
Les Ateliers Parmigiani
in Switzerland
Dubai L’Atelier Parmigiani | Geneva Gübelin | Istanbul L’Atelier Parmigiani
London Harrods Fine Watch & Jewellery Room | Milano Pisa | Moscow L’Atelier Parmigiani
New York Cellini | Paris Arije | Singapore Yafriro Paragon | Tokyo Wako Ginza
WWW.PARMIGIANI.CH

QUIRKY BUSINESS
quirky business:
Developing relationship
ALIREZA SAGHARCHI AND MOHSEN TAYEBI OF STANHOPE GATE MANAGEMENT OFFER
ULTRA-WEALTHY CLIENTELE THE ULTIMATE IN PERFECTIONIST PROPERTY REFURBISHMENT.
JULIA MAROZZI DISCOVERS WHAT MAKES THE PARTNERSHIP WORK >
The tinted architectural drawing
on the wall of Stanhope Gate
Management shows a building
that resembles the apartment block
in Ghostbusters, where the apparitions
loomed like giant inflatable Michelin men
over a cowering Manhattan. You half expect
Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray to appear in the
corner, ready to shoot foam all over the wall.
The building is one of several projects
depicted on the boardroom wall of the
company belonging to Alireza Sagharchi
and Mohsen Tayebi, two Persians who both
left their country of birth in the 1970s,
met in London and who now specialise in
managing the refurbishment of and
remodelling luxury residential property.
Alireza is a classical architect and
Mohsen was a developer for the high-end
market and in 2002 they decided to pool
their talents to offer a centrally co-ordinated
project management service that combines
architecture, construction and interior
design for residential development for busy
international clients.
The appeal is a comprehensive single
point of reference, which aims to give clients
the peace of mind that their project will
be hassle-free, completed on time and on
budget – whether working with Stanhope
Gate’s team or the client’s own specialists
and interior designers.
“These days living has become a complex
issue,” says Alireza. “People have very high
expectations; electronic gadgetry alone in a
property is very complicated. Our clients
are well travelled, they have more than one
house, they are used to the luxury of sevenstar
hotels.
“The house is an extension of their lives,
whether yacht, private jet or car. They will
no longer tolerate leaky taps or defective
plumbing. In the 19th century hotels and
the places you travelled were a reflection of
the house you owned; today the whole thing
has been turned on its head. Houses are
imitating the hotels that people visit and
look like the George V or le Meurice.”
Mohsen concurs. “Tastes change very
quickly.” The two met in 1986 when Mohsen
was the developer on one of the most
expensive residential property developments
in Central London. They worked together on
and off for the next 16 years, until setting up
Stanhope Gate Management 11 years ago.
The thinking behind their approach was
to circumvent the usual problems when
contractors, architects and interior designers
fail to work in a co-ordinated fashion, where
potential mistakes can be disastrous, with
costs and programmes spiralling out of
control. Their success to date lies in putting
together a team of professionals who are all
accountable to one central point of contact,
responsible for ensuring that a project
runs smoothly and is delivered on time and
43

Stanhope Gate’s
customers expect
meticulous attention to
detail – and are prepared
to pay for the best.
By uniting their different
areas of expertise,
Mohsen Tayebi (left) and
Alireza Sagharchi offer
seamless project
management from
inception to completion.
Developing relationship continued
on budget. They soon set about attracting
projects from a new, younger class of high
net worth international buyers of homes in
Mayfair, and the surrounding areas – clients
who often do not have the time or the
administration resources to deal with a
multitude of professionals.
A typical building would be Georgian
or Victorian, often listed, with a lot of
potential for development, usually costing
from £6–£7 million up to £30–40 million
before refurbishment. Do they ever advise
clients against a particular property?
“The value of the house is driven by
location,” says Alireza. “The expense of the
project is related to the size of the property.
So over-development is possible. People can
spend more on a property than it is worth
and we would advise against it. It is a
question of trust. We anticipate what clients
need, we do a pre-sale evaluation of the
building before buying it.”
“You cannot create a Bentley out of a
Fiat,” says Mohsen. “Having worked together
we found a niche that not many would want
to touch – the uber rich. People who would
want to have a steam room in a jet. Such a
request creates huge technical difficulties
which we would try to resolve. We felt
this niche market needed attention and in
London you have unparalleled standards of
craftsmanship and service.”
Projects typically take two years from
start to finish. Design is about four to six
months before the tender for the work, then
the build work takes up to a year and a half.
Quality needs time, says Mohsen.
And what goes on under and unseen in
the house can often be the most demanding
side of the work. For instance, a family with
staff might arrive in London on a 6am flight
and about 10 people might need to take a
shower or a bath at 7.30am. “The home
has to function like a hotel,” says Alireza.
No excuses for running out of hot water!
The pair travel all over the world to see
the latest examples of interior craftsmanship,
to Italy for marble, throughout the UK and
France for furniture and flooring and fabrics.
Veneers that clients use on their yachts will
also find a way into their homes, creating a
continuity of finish that many find pleasing.
In the UK, building your home used to
have a reputation for being notoriously
fraught with problems. It is almost a given
that renovation would be a headache that
would cost much more than your original
budget. In the process, mistakes would be
made, there would be lengthy delays and
the final product would be a compromise
rather than the realisation of your dreams.
“The house is as complex as the person
who inhabits it,”says Alireza.“Their personality
defines it.” But for the super rich, busy lives
do not afford them the time to be
preoccupied with crucial technical details
and the considerable co-ordination required
in building luxury properties to the highest
standards. “We never try to impose a certain
style,” says Mohsen. “We aim to satisfy the
clients and to match their personalities to
the interior designer.”
There is no set formula, so if clients just
want to procure the management process
they can, or if they want the design services
then they can commission those too.
Some clients tend to be completely hands
off and in those instances the management
side of the business will fill the gaps where
the client does not have either people or
representatives to manage the process.
Quality and creativity come thanks
to the high-level partnerships formed
with individual professional consultants.
Stanhope Gate has worked with some of
the best interior designers in the UK
including Todhunter Earle, Katherine Pooley,
Sofia Stainton, Alidad and Nina Campbell.
The founders of the business recognise
that London is at a cultural crossroads
and that means working with different
cultures, styles and expectations.
“The house has become really an
organism,” says Alireza. “We have people
who now regularly ask for cinemas in
their basements and go into great detail
with the technical side of their properties
with complicated audio-visual requests.
In one house we had to install 80 miles of
data wiring; the client spent £150,000 on
that one room.”
In the square kilometre of land that
makes up Belgravia, many of Stanhope
Gate Management’s clients are non-British.
London continues to be a favoured location
because of the concentration of global
wealth it shelters and the favourability of
the exchange rate. European, Middle eastern
and American clients all gravitate to the
cultural crossroads that is the capital of
the UK. Alireza and Mohsen point out there
has been a sea change in the way people
look at how they’re living. In the early days
sustainability was like a box that had to be
ticked, almost like a token gesture. But recent
building regulations, together with changing
attitudes to wastefulness have shaped how
the company and their clients approach the
environment, so sustainability is now integral
to a project rather than something that is
just an add-on.
Alireza has recently published a book
entitled New Palladians, which he wrote
with Lucien Steil and which contains a
foreword written by the Prince of Wales.
The book, which includes Alireza’s own work,
is richly illustrated, showcasing the latest
architectural and urban design projects
from 48 of the most outstanding classical
architects in the world today. He is the
current chair of the Traditional Architecture
Group and has a commitment to traditional
architecture and environment issues, and is
an active member of the Prince’s Foundation
for the built environment.
“We had one house, a little house, that
sold for about £5 million,” says Alireza.
“The client spent £1 million on it and sold
just before the recession for £11 million.
The future is good for London.”
Downstairs a craftsman arrives with
four examples of treatments for the wooden
floor of one very large room in a property
undergoing refurbishment. They’re all
beautiful, all made in England and all appeal to
even the most demanding of clients, whether
or not they have ghosts on the roof
44

Inspired lines
A NEW LINEAGE EXHIBITION AT CREWE, ENTITLED THE UNBROKEN LINE, OPENS A WINDOW ONTO
THE SECRETIVE WORLD OF BENTLEY DESIGN. FRANCESCO BOCCONE EXPLORES AN EXHIBITION
THAT SHOWCASES NINE DECADES OF BENTLEY DESIGN – AND MEETS THE TEAM RESPONSIBLE FOR
SHAPING ITS FUTURE >
46

LINEAGE
47

Left This is how a new
Bentley begins life –
as a series of concept
sketches and renderings.
From first sketch to the
finished vehicle takes
around four years.
Right The Lineage
exhibition displays the
rich heritage of Bentley
design, including key
design milestones such
as the Blue Train Speed
Six and the company’s
own R-Type Continental.
Inspired lines continued
Just what does a car designer do, anyway? We’ve all admired the concept
sketches, those slick sci-fi creations featuring improbably low rooflines and
tyres so narrow in profile that they could pass as rubber bands. We nod sagely
at the explanation that such renderings show a ‘design direction’ for a model of
the future. But the question hangs in the air: how does something so ethereal
become a car that real human beings can get into and drive? What happens
between the pencil sketch and the production line – and who does what?
The latest Lineage exhibition at Crewe, entitled The Unbroken Line,
attempts to answer that question. But beware: you will discover that
designers are quite capable of sending themselves up. On one wall in the
exhibition area there’s a glossary of design language that includes this
definition: ‘Felt-tip fairy: affectionate term for a stylist or designer, usually
employed by engineering colleagues’.
It takes a lot of confidence to be able to laugh at yourself, but if any group
of people deserves to feel confident, it’s the styling team at Crewe. The same
nucleus of designers has been together for a decade or more and created the
Continental family, beginning in 2003 when the first Continental GT was
launched. They followed that up in 2009 with the Mulsanne, the first all-new
grand Bentley since the 8 Litre of 1930 that was the crowning achievement
of W.O. Bentley himself. And last year they unveiled their most recent
achievement – the new Continental GT, successor to the most popular Bentley
of all time. To put it in musical terms, the new Continental is the equivalent of
the second album, a notorious hurdle that has beaten many a promising rock
band, and the automotive world has adjudged it a triumph. In short, the team
is on a roll, and keen to share the secrets of their craft with Bentley customers.
“There’s a lot of curiosity about what we do,” admits Raul Pires.
He’s head of exterior design at Bentley and one of the triumvirate responsible
for leading the past decade of Bentley designs, together with design director
Dirk van Braeckel and head of interior design Robin Page. “At a dinner party,
it stops the conversation. ‘What do you do?’ someone asks, and as soon as
you say ‘I design Bentleys’ everyone wants to know more.”
But it’s not so easy to answer, is it? “Of course not. For one thing we’re always
working five, seven years ahead and our work is highly secret. For another,
the napkin sketch, which is what most people think design is all about, that
‘eureka’ moment of inspiration is only about 10 per cent of our work. The rest
is painstaking, detailed, a lot of sweat, a lot of fine-tuning. It’s frustrating.
You want to share with people what you do, but it’s not always possible.”
It may become a little easier thanks to the new exhibition, in the area at
Crewe known as Lineage. Step in there and you’re transported into a world
of Bentley design past, present and even, tantalisingly, a hint of the future.
The very first exhibit you see is a show-stopper – a life-size clay model of the
new Continental GT, fully finished on one side and deliberately left incomplete
the other, to show all the stages from metal, to plywood, foam, clay and final
‘slick’ surface that create the illusion of a production car.
“It’s a real ‘wow’ moment,” agrees Robin Page, Raul’s counterpart in interior
design. “Before any new car design is signed off and handed over to
production, we’ll go through a number of full-size clay mock-ups, both exterior
and interior. You can only take a design so far on the computer screen or paper.
A car is a moving, three-dimensional object that you sit in and interact with.
You have to be able to walk around it, look at it and handle it to judge if it
works as a piece of design.” Robin points to a ‘cutaway’ door, where the interior
door pull is so convincingly leather-trimmed, right down to the individual
stitches that you have to touch it before your senses will accept that it’s
actually made of painted clay.
If modelling with clay is both an essential part of the designer’s toolkit and
one that has changed little in 50 years, another of the current design team’s
tools would have seemed like utter fantasy as little as a decade ago; the
RP (Rapid Prototyping) machine, which can conjure three-dimensional parts
such as switches or handles out of thin air. The RP machine has been called
a ‘3D printer’ and it creates solid, three-dimensional objects directly from a
computer aided design drawing, in a process called additive manufacturing.
The machine reads the CAD drawing and lays down successive layers of
thermoplastic or metal powder, which fuse together to build up a model.
Being able to create a complex 3D component within hours of designing it on
a computer is an immense benefit to the development process, and to
demonstrate this the full-size clay of the Continental GT includes a wing mirror
that was created overnight by the RP machine directly from a CAD drawing.
But today’s working methods and powerful computers are just part of
the Crewe design story, and today’s 40-strong team, just like their
predecessors 10, 40 or 90 years ago, begin with the oldest of design tools – the
pencil. As its name implies, the Crewe Lineage centre exists to put today’s
Bentleys in the context of their past, to show those strands of continuity
that link the 3 Litre of 1921 with the Continental GT of ninety-odd years later.
Alongside the full-size clay of the Continental GT and a production example
of the Mulsanne are displayed some iconic Bentleys of the past, providing
visitors with a vivid tableau of 90 years of design evolution.
The oldest exhibit, kindly loaned by its owner for the first six months of
the exhibition, is the legendary ‘Blue Train’ Bentley Speed Six. It’s the car in
which three-time Le Mans winner and Bentley chairman Woolf Barnato
raced the famous ‘Train Bleu’ northwards across France, starting at Cannes
and averaging 43.43mph (including all stops and a Channel crossing)
between there and his London club. Today’s design team at Crewe consider
it a seminal influence in Bentley design language; the coupé bodywork,
created by coachbuilder Gurney Nutting, features narrow slits for windows
and windscreen – ‘daylight opening’ in design speak – that contrast
dramatically with the intimidating heft of the grille and tall bonnet line.
It’s the essence of Bentley’s Cricklewood era made three-dimensional;
powerful, dominant and indefatigable.
48

LINEAGE
49

THE UNBROKEN LINE – BENTLEY DESIGN 1919-2011
“A DESIGNER KNOWS HE HAS ACHIEVED PERFECTION NOT WHEN THERE IS
NOTHING LEFT TO ADD, BUT WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO TAKE AWAY.”
Antoine de Saint Exupéry
1919-1939
Pre-war, there were no
designers at Bentley.
The style of each Bentley’s
bodywork and interior was
in the hands of independent
coachbuilders, adapting
centuries-old craft skills to
the demands of the
automotive age Today,
the coachbuilding era is
over – except at Mulliner,
where Bentleys are still
made by hand to bespoke
commissions.
Above The Lineage exhibition at Crewe includes fascinating historic and contemporary exhibits, shedding fresh light on the evolution of Bentley design.
1933
Cricklewood-era Bentleys
were offered with an
ornate, upright brass ‘B’
featuring wings held
horizontally. In 1933,
Charles Sykes – designer
of the Rolls Royc
Spirit of Ecstasy – was
commissioned to create a
new mascot – an evolution
of which is available today
for the Mulsanne.
1936
André Embiricos, a wealthy Greek racing driver living in
Paris, commissioned Georges Paulin to design aerodynamic
coachwork for his Bentley 4 1 /4 Litre, for long fast road
journeys and the occasional venture onto the race track.
The Embiricos Bentley recorded 107mph for one hour at
the Montlhéry track and still competing at Le Mans as late
as 1950, after finishing sixth in 1949.
50

LINEAGE
1924
Mulliner can trace its
history back to 1760, when
Arthur Mulliner founded his
carriage-building business.
But it was Arthur’s
descendant Henry Jervis
Mulliner, a pioneer motorist,
who forged a strong
coachbuilding partnership
with Bentley. His company
made coachwork for Bentley
from the very first days of the
company, including the 1924
Olympia motor show car.
1924-30
Bentley’s participation in
the Le Mans 24 Hour Race
prompted rapid and
intensive development
of powerful headlamps.
Stones were a constant
hazard at Le Mans and
Bentley team car headlamps
featured a protective
stoneguard from 1924.
Round headlamps remain
a Bentley characteristic
to this day.
1930
Known as the ‘Blue Train Bentley’, the Gurney Nutting
coupé Speed Six is one of the most famous Bentleys of
all time. Its name was taken from a famous challenge
that took place in 1930, when Barnato and golfing
friend Dale Bourne raced the Blue Train Express that
ran the length of France between Cannes and Calais.
1952
Chief engineer Ivan
Evernden and chief stylist
John Blatchley designed
a grand tourer in the
Bentley tradition, using
aerodynamics and
lightweight construction
to create a vehicle capable
of running for long periods
at high speed across
Continental Europe. The
R-Type Continental became
an icon of the marque.
1919-2011
Despite the clear differences between past and present,
a strong family likeness emerges in Bentley ancestry.
These include muscular haunches, a short front
overhang, a long rear overhang and a distinctive Bentley
‘powerline’ that carries through from front to rear of the
car to accentuate the profile.
Clay models can achieve an uncanny resemblance to real
wood, metal and leather. Each interior or exterior clay is
built to dimensionally accurate dimensions on a base of
steel, plywood and foam before being hand finished, right
down to the leather stitching.
2011
The Mulsanne and
Continental GT showcase
the amazing capabilities
of superforming, which
uses air pressure to mould
5083 grade aluminium at
500ºC and allows designers
to specify tight radii
for crisply defined creases
and bodylines.
51

Inspired lines continued
Top Wind tunnel scale
model of the Paulindesigned
Embiricos
Bentley reveals the
‘missing link’ between
the Derby era and the
post-war R-Type
Continental. It’s a design
of timeless beauty that
also proved the worth
of aerodynamics.
Above Variation on a
Bentley coupé theme
from an early concept
sketch for the new
Continental GT.
Next to it is the company’s own R-Type Continental of 1952. Just 208 models
were produced but the influence of this design, created by John Blatchley at
the newly established styling department at Crewe, was out of all proportion
to its limited numbers. Bentley design director Dirk van Braeckel famously
cited it as a key inspiration for the 2003 Continental GT, with its muscular
rear ‘haunch’ and the distinctive profile ‘powerline’ that flows sinuously
from front to rear.
At the entrance to the exhibition there’s a quotation from Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry: ‘A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there
is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.’ Stand in
the Lineage exhibition, look from the 1930 Speed Six to the 1952 R-Type and
then on to the clay model of the 2011 Continental GT, and the insight of that
statement strikes afresh. If the Speed Six is a massive engine and chassis with
a body attached to it panel by panel, the Continental GT is a cohesive whole,
pared down and yet expressive of the same design language. In between these
two extremes, the R-Type represents the stepping stone from the era of the
coachbuilder to today’s tightly integrated process of design and engineering.
Different… and yet related. The Unbroken Line explores the way in which
essential elements of Bentley design have evolved and how today’s designers
try to stay true to the brand’s past without repeating it. One exhibit shows
the evolution of the Bentley grille design and how the mesh that was
originally a simple stoneguard to protect the radiator during 24 hours of
flat-out racing has become today’s stylised and instantly recognisable
matrix grille pattern. Another display highlights 90 years of Bentley
headlamps; apart from an unfortunate flirtation with square headlamps in
the early 1980s, the face of Bentley cars have always featured large, round
‘eyes’, set close to the grille. Alongside these displays are two four-door
Bentleys, separated by 53 years and yet clearly of the same stock: the S1
Continental Flying Spur of 1958 and today’s Mulsanne. If the essence of good
car design is that you would instantly know the make without the need to
read the badge, both pass the test with ease.
For a marque with such a distinctive design DNA, it’s an intriguing thought
that Bentley Motors didn’t employ any designers at all until 1951, the year that
Blatchley started the styling department at Crewe. Even then, Blatchley had to
divide his time between designing Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars, usually on the
same platform, so Dirk van Braeckel, who joined Bentley shortly after it
became an independent entity in 1998, is the first full-time Bentley design
director in the company’s history.
Pre-1946, Bentley didn’t make any of its own bodywork, leaving it up to the
customer to decide how best to clothe the chassis, engine and running gear
produced at Cricklewood or Derby. Thus the evolution of the Bentley look was
the work of countless unsung craftsmen and designers at independent
coachbuilders such as Park Ward, H.J. Mulliner, J. Gurney Nutting, Vanden Plas,
Hooper and James Young. As the exhibition shows, the results of the
separation between Bentley and the makers of Bentley coachwork were
sometimes ill-judged, sometimes very beautiful and sometimes – as in the
case of the aerodynamic Embiricos Bentley, designed by Georges Paulin in
1936 – an inspired vision of the future that helped to shape the next
generation of Bentley cars.
The Unbroken Line exhibition will be in place at Crewe for the rest of 2011,
and the design team hope that it will give visitors an insight into the skills
and the tools of Bentley design in 2011, even as they work on the next Bentley
grand tourer behind the doors of their security-locked compound. From the
first concept sketches to the dramatic reveal of a new Bentley at an
international motor show is an intensive process that can take five years or
more, and by the time the silk covers are whipped off the new model in the
stroboscopic light of a hundred camera flashes, the design team is already
immersed in what comes next. Usually, the hundreds of thousands of
design-hours represented by the sketches, CAD drawings, foam models, clay
models and renderings are consigned to the past, because the job of a
designer is to focus on the view ahead. That’s why it is both rare and
fascinating to show not only why the new Continental GT looks the way it
does, but how it came to look that way. So if you’re planning a visit to Crewe
to see how your Bentley is built, make sure you allow enough time to enjoy
The Unbroken Line in Lineage. Afterwards, you will look at a Bentley with
fresh eyes.Who knows? You might even understand what those sci-fi concept
sketches have been driving at
Francesco Boccone is a former ‘felt tip fairy’ and now a consultant at boutique design
agency www.littleyellowduck.co.uk
52
For a personal guided Crewe Experience including the Unbroken Line exhibition,
please contact your local dealer.

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At home with luxury
FROM THE WARMTH OF GOLD LEAF AND HAND-CARVED WOOD TO THE INDULGENCE OF BESPOKE
PERFUMES, CLIVE CHRISTIAN HAS AN UNERRING SENSE OF WHAT CONSTITUTES TRUE LUXURY.
JULIA MAROZZI VISITS THE COMPANY’S NANTWICH BASE >
On December 10, 1583, Nicholas Brown was brewing ale at his home in
Nantwich, Cheshire, and accidentally started a kitchen fire. The great
Fire of Nantwich burned for 20 days, destroying 150 houses, 30 shops
and two barns.
With so much wood in the house – utensils, beams, furniture,
kindling, walls, roof, thatch – and pushed along by a westerly wind,
the fire soon spread. Women fetched pitiable quantities of water
from the river in leather buckets until they ran away, after hearing
that the landlord of the Bear Inn had released the four bears which
he kept for bear-baiting.
The fire travelled all along the High Street, into part of Pillory Street
and along Hospital Street until it reached fields near to Sweet Briar Hall.
The blaze made about 900 people – half the population – homeless,
but fortunately only two perished.
Queen Elizabeth I ordered a nationwide collection for funds to
rebuild Nantwich, to which she contributed £1,000. This deed is marked
in a plaque on a building in Nantwich Square, now called ‘Queen’s
Aid House’. It reads (modern version): ‘God grant our Royal Queen in
England long to reign, for she has put her helping hand to build this
town again’. The queen granted licences to six local people to export
grain free of duty for 10 years, with the profits going to the appeal.
In all, £2,700 was raised in the following three years, on top of which
the owners of the ravaged buildings paid £4,500 for them to be rebuilt.
Little trace is left of these momentous times in Nantwich today, but
it can’t be a coincidence that the building which now dominates the
centre of the town is one where furniture and fittings made of wood
continue to hold pride of place.
Clive Christian’s showroom looms like a Dutch galleon at 1 Pillory
Street, with half-moon cream-coloured canopies over the ground floor
windows and double round windows on the first and second floors,
complete with clusters of grapes and centre flower mouldings.
Inside this imposing façade is an Aladdin’s cave of treasures, a complete
54

BENTLEY BESPOKE
and hushed environment of watered silk, crystal chandeliers, polished
wood and smoked glass. From its days as a department store the building
has been remoulded into one and brought back to its original glory.
Known worldwide for his fitted kitchens and luxurious panelled
living rooms, the showcase of Clive Christian is divided into two
sections – warm luxury and cool luxury. Walk to the left and there is a
kitchen-apartment in polished yew with a marble island and top sink.
Gold leaf surrounds the wooden base, the champagne fridge has
built-in panelling. Turning into a yew-panelled dining room, there is a
coffered ceiling picked out in gold leaf. Marquetry edging runs around
the table and monograms are evident in the chairs, along with the
Clive Christian coat of arms. The table can be made to seat up to
48 people and was made in the factory at Farnworth, near Bolton.
The pillars in the room have gold leaf applied.
Turn right and you enter the bar-music room, with a Steinway
grand piano in the corner and two barrel-backed niches in the walls
featuring upright violas. Wood panels are pressed into rounded
positions and the wood theme continues with the surround of the
fireplace. Black velvet chairs and a round mirror with an eagle perched
on top, plus crystal chandelier, complete the room.
Barrie Giblin, world sales director, says: “Our clients generally have
new homes or are refurbishing. They generally do multiple rooms in
the home with Clive Christian fittings.
“What you have here is a vision of the finished product.The number
of rooms here mean that I can be discussing furniture or fittings with
a client and they can see how the finished room will look.
“People know the brand. Quite often they have seen an
advertisement or they have a recommendation or they are an existing
client and they are doing their second or third home with us.”Seeing just
how luxurious a kitchen can be is quite illuminating – especially if you
had no idea how wonderful a smoky crystal chandelier could look over
a centre island and how such a room could acquire glamour.
55

56
“IT IS AT THE OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM TO FURNITURE, BUT THE PHILOSOPHY IS THE
SAME,” SAYS VICTORIA. “WE DIDN’T SLAVISHLY REVIVE THE RECIPES FROM THE PAST BUT WE
DID REVIVE THE VALUES OF THE ORIGINAL PERFUMERY.”

BENTLEY BESPOKE
At home with luxury continued
Cool luxury in the main kitchen display is coloured ivory and silver,
not cream and gold. In the centre, a black oak island keeps people away
from the oven and sink, the working area of the kitchen, and provides
an elegant place to sit over supper or cocktails. Everything else is
built in. The cabinets have veneered interiors, a reference to the island.
Occasional pieces are also made under the auspices of Clive Christian
design head David Dunkley – from the dining table to writing desks,
lamp tables and occasional tables and chairs.
“You have to take the burden off clients,” says Giblin as we walk
upstairs to the bedroom, an oasis of ivory silk and calm. The cool
luxury theme is continued with a black oak and walnut bed, handpainted
ivory furniture, silk curtaining inside the closet’s glass doors, a
standing mirror, and cream, silver and dark lamp tables.
Glass partitions in the cupboards and soft-close doors make the
room feminine but not frilly. Clive Christian, like Bentley, can produce a
palette of colours to go with the lifestyle of the owners in the property
with a range of matching or contrasting trims.
“If you like what we are doing you can tick all the boxes of the
principle rooms,” says Giblin. “There is connectivity between them.
One room leads seamlessly into another with complementary design
themes across a suite of rooms.
“We have a certain look and style. We complete on time within the
price. The design process can vary but we have a 12-week manufacturing
cycle, the fittings are delivered and then installed.”
In the sitting room downstairs, Victoria Christian – ambassador for
the brand, oldest of Clive’s three girls who previously worked in ballet
and musical theatre in the West End – talks about her father’s vision and
the history of the company. For the past 10 years she has worked with
the company because “I was uniquely qualified,” she says. “I had grown
up with my father and his singular viewpoint.
“My father was always very concerned about his environment. If we
went to a restaurant he would have to make sure the lighting was right,
the table place settings were how he wanted them.”
Originally the family was based in Willaston, near Nantwich, where
Clive bought a manor house and wanted to refurbish it in a way that
complemented the external architecture. Clive developed his classical
style so that fitted and panelled interiors evoked grandeur and provided
the ideal backdrop for clients to show off their own artworks and
treasures – from antique furniture to super-modern paintings.
“We wanted to revive the feeling of great houses and interiors,
but not slavishly restore everything,” says Victoria.
In the sitting room the half-height panelling is matched to the door
moulding and the upper panels are quilted in monogrammed silk
to match the upholstery and curtains. The television is cleverly hidden
behind a smoked mirror when not in use. Rugs throughout the
showroom are of Clive Christian design (in four different patterns and
colours). The company started with kitchens. “My father was quite
responsible for changing the perception of kitchens, a room of the house
that had previously been ignored,” says Victoria. “He wanted to really
celebrate the kitchen as a central focal point, with marble and gold leaf.
It has now become the hub of social activity in a house. Back in the 1970s
and 1980s it was not the done thing and there was a tide of derision at
the concept. People thought it was eccentric and a fad. But now the
creative vision of my father’s work has influenced the world around us
and the scale or our kitchens makes them work. They are refined and
the most copied in the world now.”
Clive was unswerving in his desire to find a source of hand-carved
panelled wood, so he bought the factory in Farnworth to exert full
control over his burgeoning business.
Left There’s a distinctive
theme of classical
opulence to everything
that Clive Christian
makes, be it perfume,
kitchens or sitting rooms.
Below A typical Clive
Christian’s interior -
elegant, serene and
outstandingly well-made.
57

At home with luxury continued
“It is very important that we recycle everything,” says Victoria.
“The factory heats itself and everything is very eco-conscious.
The sustainable environment idea seems to have followed Clive
throughout his career and now the vision is fashionable.”
Many people work their entire careers with the company after
being trained as apprentices, an aspect which Clive Christian shares
with Bentley. “With our marquetry and veneering we are teaching
people 300-year-old skills and applying them to modern pieces,”
Victoria says. “They are the same skills as those employed by
Chippendale. We are teaching people the skills that great craftsmen
had in the past. Every single piece is touched by hand.”
About 200 people work at Farnworth. Clients are based all
round the world with significant numbers in Europe, the Middle
East and Russia and increasingly in China, where potential
customers see the designs in magazines or on the internet.
It is a thoroughly British company with the head office in
Nantwich.“We aim to give a soul to a building,” says Victoria.“We are
working in important new-build or refurbished houses that will
be future stately homes.”
About 11 years ago Clive Christian bought a perfume house first
established in 1872 called the Crown Perfumery, which made
perfume for Queen Victoria and was the only house ever to have
been granted the image of Queen Victoria’s crown.
“It is at the opposite end of the spectrum to furniture, but the
philosophy is the same,” says Victoria. “We didn’t slavishly revive
the recipes from the past but we did revive the values of the original
perfumery. The concentration of perfume is the same, the
ingredients have the same strength and quality, and we only make
perfume, not eau de toilette. We make about 1,000 bottles a year
and have a very loyal clientele.”
The culmination is the Definitive Collection – six perfumes in
three matched pairs. ‘1872’ are traditional, quintessentially Victorian
perfumes, ‘X’ are unconventional with powerful natural aphrodisiacs
and No.1; officially recognized by the Guinness Book Of World Records
as the world`s most expensive perfume. A private collection ‘C’ has
just been released in the UK.
“In Victorian times every ingredient had a meaning,” says
Victoria. But we live in the throwaway world where everything has
a life span of five minutes.”
Clive Christian also makes certain bespoke items in its capsule
handbag and scarf collection – often using crocodile skin and
gold leaf. “We are not putting our hat into the ring of handbag
design,” says Victoria. “But we have clients who like us to make
certain things for them, they feel the design ethos is carried over
into their personal possessions then. It is a niche world.
“We shall continue to do what we do to the best we can do it,”
says Victoria, looking ahead. “Whether it’s a beautiful car or
investment in a home, you don’t just dive in. At whatever point a
client comes into contact with you, you are delivering quality and
the very best of British brilliance and design.”
Above Despite their
use of traditional
craft techniques,
nothing the company
makes is a slavish
reproduction of the
past. Clive Christian’s
craftsmen, many
trained through the
company’s own
apprentice programme,
use centuries-old
woodworking skills to
create modern pieces.
www.clive.com
58

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60

ICE DRIVING
Champagne on ice
JUHA KANKKUNEN’S 2007 WORLD ICE SPEED RECORD, SET IN A BENTLEY, HAS FINALLY BEEN BROKEN,
REPORTS ALEXANDRA FELTS. THE NEW HOLDER? JUHA KANKKUNEN… DRIVING A BENTLEY >
61

Right A roll cage, sixpoint
harness and crash
helmet are the team’s
only concessions to the
hazards of driving at
200+mph on a frozen
stretch of sea.
Kankkunen – and the
Supersports Convertible
– are clearly made of
the Right Stuff.
Champagne on ice continued
You feel like an arctic explorer, outfitted in bulky sub-zero gear, scanning
the milky blue horizon where the endlessly white expanse touches the sky.
Then you see it: a black image emerging from the pale haze like a polar mirage.
As it approaches ever faster it morphs into – of all things – a black convertible.
It roars by as if jet-propelled, jettisoning a cloud of white exhaust and snow
as it is sucked back into the endless barren whiteness of Finland’s Bay of
Bothnia. This is – or rather was for moments – Juha Kankkunen breaking the
world speed record on ice in the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible,
clocking in at a stunning 330.695km/h (205.48mph). It must be a challenge all
its own to shatter your personal record: since 2007 Kankkunen has held this
particular title etched in ice, at the time reaching 321.6km/h (199.83mph) in
a Continental GT. Now he has broken the magical 200mph barrier in a car
that is without doubt the most powerful and roguish Bentley ever, yet not
necessarily the one you’d expect as a high-speed performer on sheet ice.
A daring and crazy feat, and one the legendary Bentley Boys themselves
would have immediately approved of, very likely clamouring to be part of this
Finnish-English project that created a corrected entry in the Guinness Book
of Records. As he tells it, Juha Kankkunen, a taciturn Finn if ever there was
one and four times world champion in rally racing, had the idea for a
repeat when he was cruising along snowbound Finnish roads at 290km/h,
in a Bentley. This was in early December 2010. He proposed using the
Supersports Convertible for another go at the ice speed record to Crewe,
where the eccentric and rakish idea caught on immediately. Possibly skipping
the Christmas holidays, the team prepared the car for the challenge.
But how does one rig an open four-seater intended for the wonderful
winding roads of the world to meet the daunting alien terrain that is an ice
track in the Baltic Sea? Actually, there wasn’t that much to do, Ash Mason
pointed out. As Special Projects Engineer he was given the plum job of
co-ordinating the efforts. The Ice Record model of the Supersports
Convertible was essentially a production car that had been lifted off the
line and given a few modifications. The most notable being a roll cage built
to FIA rally specification, a six-point racing harness inside, and panels to
cover the headlights, the wheels and a portion of the massive grille in
order to reduce drag. For the record-breaking attempts the wing mirrors were
also dismantled to diminish air resistance. The most impressive addition
for the task at hand, however, was the parachute fitted to the rear end of
the Supersports. Installed there to stabilise the car, Mason explained, in case
a tyre blew at high velocity.
Apart from these technical details, this extravagant member of the
Continental family was deemed quite ready to meet the challenge, bringing
from the factory standard specifications such as all-wheel drive with 40:60
rear-biased power delivery, air-suspension and, of course, the sheer bluster
of the twin turbo-charged 12-cylinder engine delivering 630PS (621bhp).
The gross vehicle weight of 2850kg (6239lbs) was not affected by these
changes, another example of the purity of the endeavour. “It prefers the cold,”
Mason said dreamily, referring to the E85 FlexFuel Technology that responds
positively to bracing temperatures, the additional cold-induced torque
balancing the drag of compacted frigid air molecules. By the way, the ideal
outside performance temperature for this Supersports model would be
-6° Celsius, the engineer volunteered with a wry grin. An interesting thought
to keep in mind when coasting along the balmy Riviera in this convertible.
As a rule, vehicles designed to set new world speed records resemble
rockets or science fiction fantasies and must be hauled to the track in special
conveyances like temperamental stars. But only in a Bentley production car
could you break the speed record on ice and then accelerate away from the
track in a debonair fashion (with remounted mirrors) to join the regular road
crowd. To Juha Kankkunen the Supersports Convertible was the natural
choice: “It has the necessary weight, all-wheel drive and air-suspension.
All these elements are essential for this extreme test.” Sitting in its tent,
engine rumbling, while the thickly clad team was attending it, the
convertible seemed impervious to the extraordinary setting. Oulu, Finland, is
a medium-sized town on the Bay of Bothnia. The team chose this part of
the bay because the ice builds up mightily along the coast in winter.
Strolling along the service area prepared for the record attempt, the frozen
mass of water seemed rock-solid. Hard to imagine the Baltic Sea swishing
beneath the thick layer of 70cm of compacted ice. A treacherous security as
every Finn knows. And surely a masterly championship driver like Kankkunen
understands the vagaries of frozen water, reading it much as a desert expert
does the movements of sand. What seemed like a straightforward stretch of
bay ice to the uninformed eye turned out to be full of ripples and small,
unsettling mounds.“The snow cleared on both sides for the track has become
heavier during the dry cold weather. Its weight settles down, pushing up the
ice in the middle of the car’s path,” Juha explained. In an unexpected poetic
turn, he noted the ephemeral moment of the occasion. “There will only be a
little window for the attempt. The ice is constantly changing. In a few days
we will not have left a mark.”
This local wisdom was also stressed by Captain Markku Kohonen of the
Finnish Coast Guard. Keeping a protective eye on the record attempt
proceedings, he had come by in his hovercraft to check out that everything
was safe. Frozen water is dangerous to begin with, add to that the prevalent
arctic temperatures ranging between -30° and -40° Celsius, and you can run
into lethal problems. The patrol keeps the local commercial harbours ice free
and also monitors the bay’s space for stranded cross-country skiers and
snowmobiles. And, yes, there is a speed limit on the ice. But under the auspices
of the Coast Guard the mandatory 80km/h were generously waived.
Hypothermia, he added cheerfully, was not to be taken lightly.
62

ICE DRIVING
AS THE SPEED INDICATOR MOVED EASILY AND INEXORABLY PAST THE 250KM/H NOTCH, WHAT
HAD SEEMED LIKE A FLAT PATCH TO THE SPECTATOR TURNED OUT TO BE ROUGH TERRAIN, THE
RIDDLED TRACK PUMMELLING THE AIR SUSPENSION.
63

Champagne on ice continued
The 14km track had been prepared in a massive, painstaking effort by the team of Kari Mäkelä, himself a former rally driver
in Finland and long-time business partner of Kankkunen. According to the exacting world ice speed record regulations,
the top velocity must be measured at a certain exact point for each of the runs, in this case courtesy of Bentley’s partner,
the watchmaker Breitling. And the surface must be natural ice. The expertise of a driver such as Juha Kankkunen lies in
precisely knowing how and when to accelerate the car in order to reach the maximum possible velocity when thundering
past the measurement point. Squinting into the distance to catch the first glimpse of the car, then watching it unfurl its
smoke of snow as it sped by, then a quick look to the big, red-lit numbers on the display – an amazing spectacle for
onlookers out in the middle of nowhere, cradling their cups of hot coffee and stomping numb booted feet.
After toppling his 2007 world record successfully, Kankkunen tried – like any athlete would – to set another best mark.
This seemed like the best time to grab a helmet and climb into the cage with the Finnish master to experience the
Supersports’ taste for ice first-hand. Apart from the bars crisscrossing the refined sporty ambiance of the interior and
the parachute lever mounted alongside the middle console, everything else seemed quite familiar. This is, after all, a
production car. Pushed back by the six-point harness, the convertible’s rapid acceleration translated into a fury of forces
impacting the hurtling mass of metal.
Below At world ice
record speeds the
seemingly flat track
carved in the frozen
water becomes
challenging terrain,
demanding constant
steering inputs. Air
suspension is essential.
64

ICE DRIVING
TIME FOR CELEBRATION
The partnership between Bentley and Breitling
was forged in 2003 under the intense pressure
of competition, when Breitling joined Team
Bentley for its successful assault on the Le Mans
24-Hour race. Now, celebrating Breitling’s role in
Juha Kankkunen’s ice speed record, two new
high-performance Breitling for Bentley models
join the collection.
Supersports Light Body
The super-sporty titanium model
With its light and sturdy titanium chassis, its ‘dashboard-style’
dial enhanced by three ringed counters and its bezel with a
typically Bentley-style raised knurled motif, the Supersports Light
Body limited series evokes a sophisticated high-powered coupé car.
In tribute to its sporting qualities, Breitling has equipped it with
an extremely intelligent and exclusive double-counter system,
featuring a central minute hand and a twin-handed totaliser
enabling one to read the elapsed hours and minutes at a glance
just as one usually reads standard time on a watch.
Movement: Breitling Calibre 27B, officially chronometer-certified
by the COSC, selfwinding, high-frequency (28,800 vibrations
per hour), 38 jewels. 1/4th of a second chronograph, central
60-minute totaliser, combined 60-minute and 12-hour totaliser.
Calendar. Case: titanium, 1,000-piece limited edition.
Water-resistant to 100m. Screw-locked crown. Bidirectional
rotating pinion bezel with variable tachometer (circular slide rule).
Cambered sapphire crystal, glareproofed on both sides.
Diameter: 49mm. Dial: Royal Ebony. Strap: Rubber.
Supersports Light Body QP
A titanium ‘Grande Complication’ model
Breitling has combined the grand art of British carmaking with
the grand Swiss watchmaking tradition in this new chronograph
featuring a light titanium chassis and an ultra-sophisticated
perpetual calendar mechanism. The calendar endlessly displays
the date, day, week, month, season, leap-year cycle and moon
phases. This model fitted with a black dial is available in two
25-piece limited series: one with a red inner bezel and counter
rims, and the other with a green inner bezel and counter rims.
Movement: Breitling Calibre 29B, officially chronometer-certified
by the COSC, selfwinding, high-frequency (28,800 vibrations
per hour), 38 jewels. 1/4th of a second chronograph, 30-minute
and 12-hour totalisers. Perpetual calendar indicating the date,
day, week, month, season, leap-year cycle and moon phases.
Case: titanium, two 25-piece limited series. Resistance to 5 bars.
Bidirectional rotating pinion bezel with variable tachometer
(circular slide rule). Cambered sapphire crystal, glareproofed on
both sides. Diameter: 49mm. Dials: Green inner bezel and
counter rims, Royal Ebony dial. Red inner bezel and counter rims,
Royal Ebony dial. Strap: Rubber.
www.breitlingforbentley.com
65

Right Job done –
Bentley Boy Kankkunen
celebrates setting a
new world record.
Champagne on ice continued
“This could not be done in a lighter car, and certainly not without all-wheel
drive,” Juha noted quietly. With the sensor technology of the ESP seemingly
working overtime to achieve a modicum of traction on the slippery surface,
the rally champion worked the steering wheel with minute, highly controlled
movements.“It is like dancing with a woman,” the trim, fit man in his early 50s
pointed out for the benefit of his passenger, “controlled lightness always.”
As the speed indicator moved easily and inexorably past the 250km/h
notch, what had seemed like a flat patch to the spectator, turned out to
be rough terrain, the riddled track pummelling the air suspension. “I have the
settings on normal,” Kankkunen surprisingly explained. “That’s enough.
A coil suspension, by the way, would slow you down in these conditions.”
The Supersports Convertible took to these tests of endurance and material
stamina as if to the manor born, rising to the occasion with an artist at the
helm. “I’ve been doing this all my life,” he said, waving away compliments.
Unused to driving on ice at high speeds as most are, whose profession is
not rally racing, the Bentley’s precise reaction to Juha’s subtle commands
was an event to behold. Equally exciting – and unsettling – was to realise that
the straight arrow line is not an option on the ice. As Derek Bell of Le Mans
fame, who had also joined the event to witness the ice speed record,
noted with deep respect, it is more like a constant minuscule series of drifts,
battling the physics of spinning out of control. Quite unlike the corner drift
manoeuvres on a racecourse that help gather acceleration for the next stretch.
“To be honest,” Kankkunen conceded,“I had no idea whether the car would not
fly through the air.” That is the point that also describes high adventure:
outcome uncertain.
And there remained yet another bit of adventure with uncertain outcome:
after gaining top speed on a slippery surface, how to slow down without
doing a series of inadvertent pirouettes? Sitting next to the unruffled
Mr Kankkunen with his inbred sense of ice, that worry seemed merely a
whisper. “We used studded tyres initially to create a path in the track,” he
explained. What had seemed like snow to the uninitiated was actually
solidified moisture that had gathered overnight. For the speed record on ice,
regular Pirelli SottoZerro winter tyres had been mounted, and proved to be
perfectly in sync with the breathtaking performance of a production line car.
After touching 290km/h, the master slowed down. What ought to have been
a heart-stopping moment turned out to be a slow but pronounced loss of
velocity.“When you ease off the throttle from 300, the car tends to float a bit,”
due to loss of traction after the pressure change with a weight transfer to the
front. “This is difficult ice, the hardest you can get, which means it offers
no grip.” Until you have reached the 200 mark, things can be tricky. Then, as a
very special treat he released the parachute. And the convertible glided to
a sedate halt, as if on invisible rails.
To commemorate this daring and eccentric event, Bentley has issued a
limited run of 100 Bentley Supersports ‘Ice Speed Record’ Convertibles with
the augmented power of 640PS. A cautionary note from Juha Kankkunen to all
readers and especially those happy few having secured one of the limited
series: “Do not, repeat, do not try this out on your own.”
Alexandra Felts is an American car and lifestyle writer who regularly contributes to
German magazines and newspapers.
SUPERSPORTS ISR Limited Edition
The unique Supersports convertible Ice Speed Record car is available in three standout
exterior paint colours: Beluga, Quartzite and Arctica, with the red-accented
detailing shown here included as part of the ISR Mulliner specification. Exterior
colours are complemented by a Dark Grey Metallic soft top with Bentley’s refined
three-ply composite construction giving a semi-transparent metallic look.
The high-gloss carbon fibre on the dashboard, centre console and roof
panel features a unique red weave. The theme continues with Pillar Box
red piping to seats and doors, and Pillar Box Red contrast stitching to
seats, door casings, steering wheel and gearshift paddles.
Visit bentleymotors.com for more information.
66

OPPORTUNITY IS RARE.
ELEVATE YOUR VIEW.
SIGNATURE RESIDENCES INSPIRED BY JACQUES GARCIA
COMPLETION AUTUMN 2011
PIETER VAN NAELTWIJCK - Real Estate Investments - Tel: +377 97 70 70 20 - pvnrealestate@monaco.mc
KNIGHT FRANK LLP - Paddy Dring - Tel: +44 20 7629 8171 - paddy.dring@knightfrank.com
Visualisation & Branding by SeventhArt

Below Cricklewood,
Derby and Crewe
Bentleys are all equally
welcome at the BDC.
Right BDC chairman
Mike Warner and wife
Kathy tackle Angoulème’s
Circuit des Remparts.
Lap of honour
THIS SUMMER, THE BENTLEY DRIVERS CLUB CELEBRATES ITS 75TH ANNIVERSARY WITH A
SPECTACULAR, MONTH-LONG TOUR OF BRITAIN. NICK SWALLOW PREVIEWS A HOME RUN
FOR THIS MOST IRREPRESSIBLE OF MOTOR CLUBS >
Mike Warner’s Bentley infatuation began in his teens, on the sports fields of King’s School in Rochester. “My history master
owned a succession of Cricklewood-era Bentleys. As pupils, we would be walking out to the sports field and we’d hear that
magnificent, deep-chested burble of a Bentley engine as he swept past us. It was such an impressive sight that I was always
more interested in admiring the car than watching the match.” An appreciation of the power and stature of a Bentley was
kindled there and then, and he promised himself that one day he’d possess a Bentley of his own.
Mike is today the chairman of the Bentley Drivers Club, and the proud owner of a Bentley 3 Litre with ‘HM’ style coachwork
(a cut-off two-seat style popularised by W.O.’s brother, H.M. Bentley). But it wasn’t until retirement that he kept that promise to
himself, and even then the decision came about by a happy accident.
“I was contemplating buying a Vincent Black Shadow [a classic British motorbike],” he explains.“My wife and I are both keen
motorcyclists and we have a garage full of interesting bikes – too many, sometimes! So I started going to auctions to get a sense
of the market and somehow after a lot of false starts I changed direction, spending more than double my original budget and
buying a Bentley instead of a bike. I ended up at Stanley Mann [a specialist dealer in pre-war Bentleys], where they’d just taken
delivery of the 3 Litre.” Since then Mike, his wife and their stub-tailed 3 Litre – now with 4 1 /2 litre power – have been constant
travelling companions, joining other enthusiastic Bentley owners on various tours, both home and abroad.
68

BENTLEY DRIVERS CLUB
Mike’s story is typical. Members of the BDC may own pre- or post-war Bentleys,
they may have been owners all their lives or they may have come to the joys of
Bentley ownership in retirement, they may live in Sussex or Sydney, but they
have one common attribute. They drive. Other makes of classic car hibernate
in heated motor houses, emerging in mid-summer to be trailered to a
concours d’elegance. But Bentleys, even vintage racing warhorses worth many
hundreds of thousands of pounds, are often driven thousands of miles a year,
in all seasons. BDC tours are invariably well supported and recent tours have
included the passes of Switzerland, the USA, Alaska and a coast-to-coast run
across the vast continent of Australia.
Mike Warner reckons to cover around 6,000 miles a year in his 3 Litre.
That’s serious mileage for a machine with a minimum of creature comforts or
luggage space, particularly one whose mechanical technology dates from an
era when talking pictures were a novelty. But glance through the BDC’s
bi-monthly Review and you’ll see annual mileages like his are the rule, not
the exception. In each issue you’ll find page after page of Bentleys on tour,
Bentleys on track, Bentleys on rallies, Bentleys on long continental marathons…
clearly, BDC members love putting on some serious miles.
You’ll also find an eclectic mix of cars and characters, Cricklewood-era
machines mixing it with Derby and Crewe Bentleys right up to the present-day
Continental series. At the BDC’s annual Silverstone meeting, held last year
on August 7, the Scratch Race included 11 Cricklewood-era Bentleys, two
Derby Bentleys, four post-war Mark VI specials, a Turbo R and a Continental GT.
Oh, and one Napier-Bentley. That’s over 80 years’ worth of priceless Bentley
history fighting it out on the same track… and in the rain, too.
Passion is perhaps an overused word nowadays but the BDC clearly runs on
the stuff. A passion for driving, Bentley cars and the camaraderie that goes
with it gives BDC members a liberal dose of ‘can do’ spirit when on tour.
“It’s more like pig-headed determination,” observes Mike, cheerfully. “We hate
to see any Bentley returning on a trailer, and I can only think of one occasion
recently when that happened. I’ve known snapped halfshafts be replaced at
the roadside by a team of willing helpers after a few phone calls. When BDC
members go on tour, the collective know-how, contacts list and spares that
they carry is amazing.”
The BDC owes its existence to one Keston Pelmore, and he would
undoubtedly approve of the current club’s varied activities. It was Pelmore,
enthusiastic owner of a short-chassis 4 1 /2 Litre Bentley, who placed cards in
the windscreens of every ‘old-type’ Bentley at the first Brooklands race
meeting of 1936, inviting anyone interested in the formation of a ‘Bentley
Drivers Club’ to contact him. The inaugural meeting was held on April 26, 1936
and so enthusiastic was the turnout that Keston Pelmore had to abandon
plans to use his own Chelsea flat as the venue and hurriedly reconvene the
meeting at the nearby Boltons Hotel.
Like many of those early attendees, Pelmore was a devotee of the
Cricklewood Bentleys, later recalling that from the moment he bought his very
first 3 Litre that “there began for me a period of REAL motoring such as I had
never before experienced”. By the time of the BDC’s formation, Bentley had
been making cars for over 15 years and Keston Pelmore was keen to redress a
grave omission. “It seemed to me remarkable… that this most remarkable of
cars, with indeed a history, prestige and breeding one may reasonably claim as
69

Lap of honour continued
Above Different eras,
same spirit – eyepopping
duals are a
feature of the annual
BDC Silverstone meeting.
Opposite, top left
24 litres of Napier
engine in a vintage
Bentley chassis is an
interesting combination.
Top right Priceless
line-up of Blowers at
an overnight stop in
Switzerland.
unparalleled, was without any Club to consolidate its interests, in spite of the
fact that there was frequently displayed on the open road a wonderful spirit
of friendliness between owners.”
The BDC’s inaugural run, from Cranford in Middlesex, attracted 31 Bentleys
and their drivers, the destination being the Old Bell at Hurley for Sunday tea.
“For all of those fortunate enough to have been on that run, that day must
forever remain vivid in their memories,” recalled Pelmore, “for the sight from
the crest of the bridge of the Colnbook by-pass of a seemingly endless line of
Bentleys was quite unforgettable.” Seldom can a short hop of 20 miles and the
Colnbrook by-pass have been so lyrically described.
Today’s Bentley Drivers Club outings tend to be a little more adventurous.
In 2005, then-chairman Jenny Ford took part in the ‘Bentley Down Under’ tour
of Australia, beginning at the Freemantle Yacht Club in Western Australia
when 65 participating Bentleys from Australia, America, the UK and mainland
Europe cautiously reversed down the slipway to dip their rear wheels in the
Indian Ocean. 25 days, 6,000 kilometres and quite a few ‘morning after’
headaches later, all but two of them arrived at the other side of Australia
in Terrigal, New South Wales, to bathe their front wheels in the Pacific.
Jenny completed the rally, thus becoming the first woman to drive a vintage
Bentley coast to coast across Australia.
The following year, 2006, it was the turn of the BDC’s South African
committee to organise a tour of the vineyards and savannahs of that beautiful
country, while 2007 featured both a tour of New Zealand and a nostalgic
return to France for a gastronomic tour of vineyards and chateaux. In 2009 a
BDC tour of Alaska racked up the longest distance ever covered on a BDC tour,
while last year’s tours offered keen BDC members a choice of Australia,
Switzerland and America in which to exercise their machines.
How to cap that for 2011, the club’s 75th anniversary? For Jenny Ford, by
now both an experienced participant and BDC tour organiser, the answer
lay a little closer to home. “We felt it was time to reciprocate the
hospitality of all our overseas members and invite them to bring their
Bentleys back to their homeland,” she explains. With that in mind, she and
her team of four volunteers started to formulate plans for a month-long
tour of Britain.
The ‘Britain by Bentley’ tour has at the time of writing attracted 84
Bentleys and crews from as far away as Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand,
New Zealand, America, South Africa and Japan. Entrants with rather less
distance to travel to the start line in London include drivers from Switzerland,
Germany, the Channel Islands and the UK. The full tour takes from June 4 until
July 4, but for entrants unable to spare that length of time away from
their home or duties, Britain by Bentley is split into Blue, Green, Red and
Yellow tours. This allows participants to join the journey for anything from
six days to one month, although the majority of entrants seem to be signed
up for the duration.
Britain by Bentley includes key landmarks of Bentley history, as well as
some of the most spectacular driving to be found on this island. The Blue tour
starts with a black tie ball at the Savoy, scene of the famous Le Mans
celebration dinner in 1927 when the whole room rose to Lord Illiffe’s toast to ‘a
lady who should be here’ and the battle-scarred and dusty ‘Old Number 7’
Bentley 3 Litre emerged through the ballroom doors to take her place of
honour at table. From London the tour heads up the eastern coast, taking in
Lavenham and Grantham, before the Green tour takes the convoy north of the
border to Edinburgh and Loch Lomond, returning via the enchantingly
beautiful Lake District at Keswick.
70

BENTLEY DRIVERS CLUB
SOME CLUB MOTORING TOURS ARE FLAT-OUT BLASTS, BUT TRUE TO THE SPIRIT OF THE ORIGINAL
BENTLEY BOYS, THE MODERN-DAY BDC BOYS AND GIRLS LIKE TO ENJOY GOOD FOOD, GOOD WINE,
COMFORTABLE ACCOMMODATION AND RELAXED COMPANY WHEN NOT BEHIND THE WHEEL.
71

Lap of honour continued
LOCH LOMOND
LLANDUDNO
EDINBURGH
LAKE DISTRICT
DARLINGTON
BUXTON
CREWE
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
TORQUAY
BATH
NEW FOREST
BRITAIN BY BENTLEY
GRANTHAM
LAVENHAM
SAVOY
LEEDS CASTLE
The 2011 Tour of Britain celebrates 75 years of the
club, calling at key landmarks in Bentley history,
including London’s Savoy Hotel, Crewe, the BDC
annual concours d’elegance at Wroxton, and Leeds
Castle, scene of some riotous pre-Le Mans parties for
the original Bentley Boys. Over 80 participants from
all around the world will be bringing their Bentleys
for the month-long tour, which promises to reward
them with a lifetime’s memories.
The Red tour strikes westwards into Wales and the Imperial Hotel in the seaside resort of
Llandudno, with the promise of entertainment from a celebrated Welsh male voice choir,
before returning to England and Bentley’s home since 1946 in Crewe. From there the route
takes in Buxton in the Peak District, Stratford on Avon and the BDC’s headquarters at
Wroxton, near Banbury, for the BDC’s annual concours d’elegance, where over 400 Bentleys
will be on display, the day ending with a black tie dinner.
Finally it’s the turn of the Yellow tour to take the cavalcade west to Bath, that Georgian
jewel of a town, and thence to the ‘English Riviera’ town of Torquay in Devon before heading
back eastwards, via the New Forest and the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, to the
closing Gala Dinner at Leeds Castle in Kent, another place with historic Bentley associations.
Eccentric heiress Dorothy Paget, sister of the castle’s then-owner Lady Baillie and sponsor of
Birkin’s 4 1 /2 Litre supercharged Bentleys, used to host pre-race parties here for the Bentley
team prior to their assault on the Le Mans 24-Hour race. Apparently you can still see the
82-year-old oil stains left by the team cars on the flagstones…
As Jenny Ford points out, any tour participants who wish to follow in Sir Henry Birkin’s
tyre tracks will find Kent an ideal starting point for a continental trip. After a month of
driving an 80-year-old car around Britain? Well, BDC members are a hardy lot.
Some club motoring tours are flat-out blasts, but true to the spirit of the original Bentley
Boys, the modern-day BDC boys and girls like to enjoy good food, good wine, comfortable
accommodation and relaxed company when not behind the wheel. Many of the stops are
for two or even three nights, allowing participants plenty of time to unwind. The BDC’s
Britain by Bentley itinerary is full of helpful information, showing which hotels have golf
courses, phone numbers of local hairdressers, dress codes and where laundry services are
available. A tour luggage truck will carry each participant’s luggage for them, a blessing for
anyone contemplating squeezing a month’s-worth of luggage for two into the cockpit of a
Cricklewood Bentley. There will be a camera crew following the tour, but no service truck.
“Some of the world’s most knowledgeable Bentley experts will be taking part. If they can’t
sort a problem, who can?” Jenny Ford asks. She also explains that Britain may be a crowded
island, but it’s not a large country by Australian or American standards, and there are plenty
of Bentley specialists dotted around the UK should mechanical disaster strike en route.
Both arguments are good, but the BDC’s decision to dispense with a service truck is above
all a tribute to the inherent durability of Bentley engineering, even for those machines built
almost 90 years ago.
Britain by Bentley is going to be a wonderful tour, a chance to reunite BDC members
usually separated by thousands of miles of ocean in a month-long celebration of this
most wonderful of cars, to borrow the words of the BDC’s founder. From the storybook
medieval village of Lavenham to the historic hillclimb of Prescott, each participant will take
home with them a camera full of images and a head full of memories. It’s just a pity that
the route doesn’t take in the Old Bell at Hurley or the Colnbrook by-pass, scene of that
‘unforgettable’ line of Bentleys described by Keston Pelmore in 1936. Three quarters of
a century after that inaugural tea party, the club he founded is putting together a
cavalcade twice the length and ten times as impressive, uniting BDC members from all
around the world. REAL motoring, indeed
Nick Swallow is a freelance writer, automotive aficionado and long-time admirer of Bentleys both
past and present.
If you would like to know more about The BDC
or the 75th Anniversary Rally please contact
the Club House on +44 (0)1295 738886 or email
info@bdcl.org
Above The BDC’s 2005 Tour Down Under visited some remote spots in the course of 6,000 eventful kilometres.
72

New York state of mind
WHETHER YOU’RE CRUISING DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN OR UPSTATE HUDSON VALLEY, A VISIT TO
NEW YORK COMES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, SUGGESTS NEIL DAVEY. ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE THE
KEYS TO A CONTINENTAL GT >
To travel hopefully, according to Robert Louis Stevenson, is a better
thing than to arrive. There are two things to be learned from that.
First, Robert Louis Stevenson must have been unbearably smug at
parties. Secondly, he clearly never went to New York.
The mysterious ‘they’ say there are few guarantees in life. ‘They’
have a point. There’s death. There’s taxes. There’s – ahem – the reliability
of certain motor vehicles. And there’s New York. Every time you think
you have a handle on this remarkable city, it ups its game in terms of
comfort, culture and cuisine.
These days, even British Airways are getting in on the act, with the
revival of the old Concorde flight. Sadly, that doesn’t mean the return of
that marvellous plane, just the BA001 flight number, which now applies
to an all Business Class flight from City Airport, departing around
midday, getting you into JFK for late afternoon and providing a few
interesting twists en route. The first is the excellent catering, with a
menu designed by Lawrence Keogh of Roast. The second is onboard
wifi, allowing you to work as you travel (and, more importantly, send
messages to friends and colleagues: ‘I’m at 35,000 feet heading to
New York. Where are you?’). The third is a brief stop in Shannon, where
passengers go through US Immigration. That means the plane arrives
in New York as a domestic flight so, around 15 minutes after landing,
you’ll be in a car cruising towards that iconic skyline.
It’s bliss and proved the perfect start to my recent visit, a mission
to eat well, sleep for hours in ridiculously comfortable hotels and
meander gently upstate in a GT Continental. Look, I tried work once.
I didn’t like it. This is much better…
From a business perspective, The Gotham Hotel (46th Street,
www.thegothamhotelny.com, tel: +1 212 490 8500) is a solid addition
to New York. The unassuming exterior hides a series of nicely
appointed rooms, although I remain to be convinced by the ‘no
reception desk’ concept. On paper, it sounds queue-less and fabulous:
as you arrive, a staff member will accompany you and check you in
from the comfort of your room. In reality, it still requires someone
walking around clutching paperwork and keys, and a few minutes’
wait until someone’s free. However, the welcome is friendly and
rooms are comfortable – although a lack of closet space (and the
absence of drawers) makes it more suitable for the solo traveller than
a luggage-toting couple. You can forgive them a lot though for the
spectacular, if borderline terrifying, terraces with views across 5th and
Madison to the rivers.
74

UPSTATE NEW YORK
75

Below The Gothan
Hotel’s location makes
it an ideal base for
a business trip to
New York City – with
the bonus of some truly
spectacular views of
the Manhattan skyline.
New York state of mind continued
76
It’s also easy to forgive them for the central location and their proximity to Le Bernardin (155 West 51st Street,
www.le-bernardin.com, tel: +1 212 554 1515). One could wax lyrical about Eric Ripert’s impeccable seafood restaurant but the
facts speak for themselves.Within months of opening in 1986, The New York Times awarded them their top, four star rating.
Three Michelin stars swiftly followed. The San Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants declares Le Bernardin one of the Top 20
restaurants in the world. Giggle your way through the delights of the Chef’s Tasting Menu with wine director Aldo Sohm’s
frequently breathtaking wine matches – maybe the best $325 you will ever spend – and you’ll at least agree. Or decide that
Michelin needs to create a one-off extra star.
Eight beautifully judged courses – plus a couple of unbilled extras – appear with the sort of grace you only see in Three
Star restaurants or on swans, and delivering the kind of flavours that will have you questioning Ripert’s philosophy that
‘fish is the star of the plate, not the chef’. The freshness is unquestionable – a talented vet could revive some of the
ingredients – but the combinations, the sauces, the exquisite presentation? That’s all Ripert and in Sohm he has a
sommelier who can take things to yet another level. Even the pre-dessert – a salted milk chocolate caramel combination
served, charmingly, in an eggshell – comes matched to a heavy, dark Trappist beer, a combination that you think can’t work
but leaves you making noises only dogs can hear.

UPSTATE NEW YORK
Left and above
Finely-judged pounded
tuna is one of the
delights on offer at
the Lowell, arguably
New York City’s finest
boutique hotel.
77

Above James and
David Chapman’s
$5 million restoration of
the Rhinecliffe Hotel has
clearly paid dividends.
The Bridal Suite deck,
shown here, offers
glorious views of the
Hudson River.
New York state of mind continued
I could rave about this meal for page after page – and write similar
reams on other dining experiences from this trip – but they will have
to wait because, a couple of days into the visit, a GT Continental was
delivered to The Gotham, much to the delight of the petrol-headed
doorman. There’s a funny thing about Manhattan. Where are the cars?
Not ‘cars’ generally, obviously: try to cab it from 5th and 46th to 2nd and
7th on a Friday night and you’ll discover levels of traffic that make the
M25 look good. I mean the luxury cars, the classic marques, the cars that
make passers-by – and hotel doormen – go ‘ooh’…
What one assumes is that such vehicles do exist, but those who
drive them – or are driven in them – leave the cars at their Hamptons
and other weekend residences, and take cabs rather than add to the
Manhattan gridlock. So, while a GT Continental is capable of turning
heads at the best of times, purring through the streets of Manhattan
will give you a glimpse of what it must be like to be Tom Cruise:
pointing, stares and a view of people’s torsos.
There is a slight frustration with the 65mph limit, however the joy
of the GT is the knowledge the power’s there when you need to get
past that lane-wandering driver. It zips up to the speed limit and
stays there oh so comfortably, handling the meandering roads to the
Hudson Valley with ease.
As joyous as a week in Manhattan is, a trip upstate comes highly
recommended. While trips three hours out of London can leave you
thinking you imagined the UK’s food revolution, the area around
Dutchess County (not a misspelling, it relates to the nationality of
the original settlers, not the royal title) is informally known as
‘Manhattan’s Bread Basket’. It’s home to many of the small producers
found several days a week at the wonderful Union Square Market,
some beautiful scenery, even in the winter (there’s a strange majesty
to a frozen river), and a lot of excellent dining. There’s also a lot of very
good local wine: New York is the second biggest producer of wine in
the US, after California.
As if it needed to prove its culinary credentials more, this region is also
home to the Culinary Institute of America (www.ciachef.edu). While
providing the chance to say you learned knife skills at the CIA, the college is
the leading such institute in the US and, arguably, the world. Appropriately,
given the way some of us worship the culinary arts, the college occupies
a former Jesuit seminary. Courses range from full 38-month bachelor’s
degree to one-day classes and – Santa, I’m looking at you for this one –
a five-day ‘bootcamp’ covering all the basics and then some.
The region is also home to the Dia:Beacon (a Guggenheim-trumping
modern art gallery that left me speechless) and some history in the
fascinating FDR Home, Presidential Library and Museum and the glorious
excesses of the Vanderbilt Mansion. While you can’t stay here, you
can get a little taster of the lifestyle at The Belvedere Mansion
(www.belvederemansion.com). Owned by a former antiques dealer – and
vintage Bentley owner – it’s a charming property, with highly individual
rooms and, almost inevitably, very good food. It’s a pattern repeated a few
miles upriver at the Rhinecliff Hotel (www.therhinecliff.com), where
charming British brothers James and David Chapman have spent some
$5 million renovating this 1854 property to an excellent standard, like an
outpost of the Soho hotel dropped into a quiet rural setting. And, yes, the
food is excellent: The Hudson Valley is, frankly, one hell of a larder.
While the drive back to Manhattan was an obvious joy (particularly
the nod of appreciation from an overtaken Jaguar driver), and two
nights at the exquisite, just plain marvellous, utterly relaxing Lowell
Hotel (www.lowellhotel.com) is always an incentive (I’d say New York’s
loveliest staff and finest boutique hotel by some considerable margin),
leaving Hudson Valley was unexpectedly tough. Like many people,
New York will always have a special place in my heart. It’s now just a
little bit bigger, and state-sized
Neil Davey is a freelance journalist, specialising in food, drink, travel and
entertainment. Anything you can do sitting down, basically.
78

THE WORLD OF BENTLEY
The people, parties and places where Bentley makes the news.
CONTINENTAL GT – A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS
MAKING A DEBUT
IN NORTH AMERICA
Bentley owners in North America have long
been enthusiastic supporters of the marque and
the Continental family has proved especially
popular. Northern states and Canada appreciate
the Bentley Continental’s all-wheel drive security
for the harsh winter months, while Florida,
California and the south have enjoyed the
open-air pleasure of the Continental GTC.
Naturally, the launch of the new Continental GT
was keenly anticipated across North America.
To mark the launch, members of the media and
Bentley owners were invited to private launch
parties across North America. Three of the key
launch events took place on January 13th and 14th,
2011 at New York’s Center548, an international
cultural arts exhibition and event venue, Raleigh
Studios in Hollywood and The Raleigh Hotel in
Miami respectively.
VANCOUVER BUZZ FOR
THE BENTLEY ‘B’
On Friday, February 18th, Bentley Vancouver
celebrated the launch of the new Bentley
Continental GT. To mark this new chapter in
Bentley history, the Continental GT, in St James’
Red, was displayed in the courtyard of Yaletown
hot-spot, Brix Restaurant. The car generated an
energetic buzz among the packed house, with
over 225 people through the doors to check out
the new vehicle. Breitling for Bentley were also
in attendance, with a display of their highly
collectable timepieces. Artwork from local
gallery Buschlen Mowatt and a preview of
Easter Seal’s newest Terracotta Warrior street
art project were among the other attractions.
80

BENTLEY WORLD
NIGHT TO REMEMBER
IN MONTREAL
$20,000 RAISED IN CHARITY RAFFLE
AT STAR-STUDDED LAUNCH
Wednesday, February 23rd proved a night to remember
for guests of Bentley Montreal. Quebec’s Bentley
dealership introduced the new Continental GT at an
exclusive event, designed by Manina Productions, that
took place at l’Espace Griffintown. In an atmosphere
the hosts describe as ‘Winter Glam’, guests were
offered a choice of Belvedere cocktails such as the
GT Martini or the traditional Moët & Chandon
champagne, while savouring gourmet catering by
La Queue de Cheval. The group Insolita and the
harpist offered a delightful musical performance as
an opening number.
The evening was hosted with great panache by
Entertainment Tonight’s Montreal correspondent
Natasha Gargiulo. She was joined by the celebrated
hockey player and patron of the Montreal Canadiens
Children’s Foundation, Guy Lafleur ‘le démon blond’
for this unique occasion. But perhaps the real star of
the evening was the new Continental GT, attracting
much admiring attention from all the guests.
During the course of the evening a charity raffle
raised $20,000; all proceeds will be donated to the
Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation.
SPECTACULAR DRIVING IN PORTUGAL
Under delightful winter sunshine, more than 40
Portuguese Bentley customers and prospective
owners were able to experience the pleasure of
driving the new Bentley Continental GT amid the
charming landscape of Sintra and Cascais. This
stage of the Bentley Continental GT Tour 2011 was
hosted by Bentley Lisbon, the Portuguese Bentley
dealer, during early February. Penha Longa Hotel
and Golf Resort, a graceful palazzo-style estate set
amongst the spectacular rolling hills, lush gardens
and clear lakes of the southern Sintra mountains,
was the convivial and warm backdrop for the
launch. Following the event, many of Bentley
Lisbon’s guests expressed their delight with this
unique experience and the extraordinary qualities
of the new Continental GT .
STARRY NIGHT IN ISTANBUL
Bentley Istanbul chose one of the most luxurious venues of Istanbul, Istinye Park, to unveil the new
Continental GT on February 16th, 2011. The arrival of the latest in a long line of Bentley grand tourers
attracted many VIP guests, among them Bentley customers, businessmen, celebrities and media. As well
as admiring the new Continental GT, the 200 guests enjoyed an evening of fine cuisine provided by
Beymen Bej restaurant, accompanied by Can Hatipoglu’s elegant music. Moët & Chandon champagne
and Beluga caviar were among the many gourmet delights on offer.
81

THE WORLD OF BENTLEY
DEBUT ALLA
MILANESE
MILAN AND BOLOGNA WELCOME
NEW CONTINENTAL GT
On December 15th, 2010 the new Continental GT
drew a sizeable audience of aficionados to the
showroom of Bentley Milan, as part of the
European preview events for the model. Sister
dealership Bentley Bologna followed suit with a
similar event the next evening. Both events were
attended exclusively by members of the media
and Bentley owners, and the Continental GT
attracted both interest and approval from the
guests. After welcoming speeches from Richard
Gordon, Regional Director UK and Europe, and
the owners of the dealership, Toni and Raffi
Seferian, guests were able to enjoy a wonderful
combination of good music and classical Italian
food: a fabulous risotto alla Milanese.
CARNIVAL IN VIENNA
Bentley Vienna celebrated the launch of the new Continental GT with an evening of gastronomy, music
and mystery, as guests were invited to join in the spirit of the Carnival Dinner by donning Venetianstyle
masks. The evening, which took place on February 23rd, 2011, followed a two-day drive programme
for invited guests and customers of the dealership to sample the Continental GT out on the road.
During the dealership’s Carnival Dinner, however, driving was not on the agenda as the champagne
and cocktails flowed freely while Louie Austen performed some of his best-loved jazz standards.
82

BENTLEY WORLD
UK DEALER EVENTS
LIGHT UP THE
NEW GT
WINGED ‘B’ ARRIVES
IN SHENYANG
NEW SHOWROOM IS FIRST IN
NORTH-EAST CHINA
Over 10,000 guests from across the UK were invited to attend a series of 18 dealer events launching
the new Continental GT. The roadshow, which started in Glasgow on the 25th January and finished
in Dublin on 19th February, provided an opportunity for customers to view the new car and meet
representatives from Crewe’s styling department. The launch events followed the theme of the online
reveal in September 2010 with a cutting edge laser display that featured fast-paced imagery projected
on to the car to create a mesmerising spectacle.
SPARKLING EVENING IN CHESHIRE
Bentley Manchester joined forces with jewellers
David M Robinson to host a showroom launch party
for the Bentley range, including the live reveal of the
new Bentley Continental GT. The Bentley was unveiled
to applause following a speech of welcome from the
dealership’s Managing Director, Jon Crossley.
Around 200 guests were invited exclusively by
Bentley and David M Robinson to the dealership’s
Knutsford showroom where they had the opportunity
to view the new supercar whilst enjoying live music
and hospitality. Celebrity attendees included Everton
footballers Louis Saha and Sylvain Distin, BBC
presenter Jacey Normand and local Businessman of
the Year Michael Oliver.
POWER AND ELEGANCE IN HAMBURG
On 13th and 14th February, Villa Sophie in the Harvestehude region of
Hamburg was the venue for a very special event, as Bentley Hamburg invited
210 guests and owners to experience the new Bentley Continental GT.
Ensuring that every attendee had the opportunity to enjoy the new Crewebuilt
supercar in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere were General Manager
Kai Rodovsky, Office Manager Eva Cieslik, Sales Representative Felix Kleist and
Sales Assistant Benjamin Rath. According to Kai Rodovsky, Bentley Hamburg’s
guests were vastly impressed by the power and elegance of the new GT.
Co-hosts Sophienterassen, Kiton and Miha Bodytec presented guests with
their respective displays on real estate, style and fitness.
On November 17th, 2010 the Bentley Shenyang
Showroom, which is located on Mingche Road near
Qingnian Avenue in the Shenhe District, was unveiled
to the public. This is Bentley China’s twelfth operations
base and the only flagship showroom in north-east
China. Mr David McIntyre, Bentley Motors Regional
Manager for China and Hong Kong, Mr Bill Cheng,
Director and General Manager of Bentley China,
Mr Huang Wenzhou, the CEO of C&D Inc, Mr Chen
Dongxu, General Manager of C&D inc and Chairman
of Bentley Shenyang and Mr Luo Meng, General
Manager of Bentley Shenyang were all present at the
opening ceremony.
XIAMEN MAKES IT
THIRTEEN
Less than a month after the opening of the Bentley
showroom in Shenyang, Bentley China opened
another dealership. December 8th saw the grand
opening of the Bentley Xiamen Showroom, situated
in Binbei Auto City, in the Si Ming District. This is
Bentley’s thirteenth showroom in China and the third
dealership in southern China. The opening ceremony
was attended by Mr Geoff Dowding, Regional Director
for Asia and the Middle East of Bentley Motors Limited,
Mr David McIntyre, Regional Manager – China & Hong
Kong of Bentley Motors Limited, Mr Peter Mak,
Chairman of Bentley China, and Mr Zhou Jianming,
Chairman of Bentley Xiamen. The Xiamen showroom
will further consolidate the relationship between
Bentley and its customers in this fast-growing market.
83

THE WORLD OF BENTLEY
SHOWTIME IN QATAR
In January, Qatar successfully launched its first
International Motor Show at Qatar International
Exhibition Centre. The Minister of Economy and
Finance HE Yousuf Hussein Kamal officially opened
the four-day exhibition which also included the
opportunity to drive as well as admire models on
display. For Bentley, this was the regional launch for
the new Bentley Continental GT and the first time this
car has been seen in the Middle East. The Bentley
stand also displayed the Continental Flying Spur
Arabia, a limited edition model built specifically for
the Middle East and featuring bespoke paint, ‘Arabia’
badging and unique wheels. Only 45 Continental
Flying Spur Arabias will be built. Following this year’s
success, the organisers have announced that the
Qatar Motor Show will be an annual event.
ELEGANCE IN KUWAIT
TEAM BLOWER BENTLEY FEATURES IN CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE
A well-supported Concours d’Elegance attracted an international field of entries to the Kuwait Marina Crescent.
The event, which ran from 2nd to 6th February, was held under the auspices of, and attended by, His Highness the
Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah, who himself is an internationally respected connoisseur of
the history and culture of the automobile. A magnificent 1930 Bentley Supercharged 4 1 /2 Litre, owned by Bentley
UK and presented by Zayani, Kuwait was placed third in the vintage class.
COFFEE-TABLE BROOKLANDS
CHRISTMAS IN ATHENS
Bentley Athens welcomed their customers and friends to a
Christmas dinner held on December 16th at the British
Ambassador’s residence, one of the most elegant and best-preserved
neo-Classical mansions in central Athens. Following a welcome
speech by HE Dr David Landsman, guests sat down to a relaxed
dinner set to a festive menu and the accompaniment of a string trio
consisting of British lady expats! As always, Scottish amber gold
The Macallan whisky flowed freely, courtesy of Bentley Athens’
most loyal affinity partner. During what is surely going to be the
first of many more Bentley Christmas dinners, guests shared views
on Bentley ownership and debated forming a Hellenic Bentley
Drivers’ Society.
For Bentley Brooklands owners a new 207-page book, co-written by car racer and author Tony Dron
and Bentley magazine contributor Simon de Burton, will be required reading. The book explains in
fascinating detail the raison d’être behind one of the marque’s most exclusive coupés.
Dron visits the Bentley factory at Crewe to discover exactly how the cars were constructed and
then uses his racing experience to evaluate the last example off the line. de Burton then takes over
with a history of the evolution of ‘motor touring’ in the grand tradition. Cloth-bound versions in a
slipcase cost £125, while the £295 limited ‘special edition’ is bound in the same burgundy Pasubio
leather used on the featured car and presented in a velvet-lined, leather-covered case.
To order, e-mail info@bentleybrooklandsbook.com or, for further information and to view some
sample spreads, see www.bentleybrooklandsbook.com.
84

contemporary tailoring, made to measure or ready to wear
terence trout
LONDON
5 GROSVENOR STREET • MAYFAIR • LONDON • W1K 4DJ • TELEPHONE: 020 7495 3177
WWW.TERENCETROUT.COM

Spring 2011
Acknowledgments: Issue 37
Bentley magazine is the official magazine for owners, enthusiasts,
supporters and friends of Bentley Motors Limited.
Bentley magazine is published quarterly by FMS Publishing
on behalf of Bentley Motors Limited.
Bentley Motors Limited, Pyms Lane, Crewe, Cheshire, CW1 3PL UK
www.bentleymotors.com
Email: magazine.enquiries@bentley.co.uk
OVERSEAS OFFICES
The Americas Bentley Motors Inc, 3 Copley Place,
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Tel: +1 617 488 8500 Fax: +1 617 488 8550
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Tel: +49 30 2092 1500 Fax: +49 30 2092 1505
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Crowne Plaza Offices, Sheikh Zayed Road,
PO Box 62425, Dubai, UAE.
Tel: +971 43 32 55 14 Fax: +971 43 29 10 98
Japan Bentley Motors Japan, 1-12-32 Akasaka
Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-6031 Japan.
China Bentley Motors China, Volkswagen (China)
Investment Company Limited, Volkswagen Group Centre,
Building 2, No. 3A, Xi Liu Jie, Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District
Beijing 100027, PRC.
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6 Lord Street, Botany NSW 2019, PO Box 2316
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012.
Korea Bentley Motors Korea, 3F, Shinyoung Bldg.,
68-5 Cheongdam-Dong, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul, Korea 135-100
Republic of Korea.
EDITORIAL TEAM
James Pillar: Director of Marketing Communications
Julia Marozzi: Editor
Irene Mateides: FMS Publishing
WRITERS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Andrew English, Francesca Fearon, Francesco Boccone,
Natalie Theo, Julia Marozzi, Alexandra Felts, Nick Foulkes,
Nick Swallow, Neil Davey, Avis Cardella
Sub Editor: Nick Swallow
PHOTOGRAPHY AND ILLUSTRATION
Richard Morris, David Banks, The Royal Hospital Chelsea,
Stanhope Gate, Hugo Burnand, Nick Dimbleby, Bentley Drivers Club,
Finch and Partners, Michael Bailie, Classic Driver, SEO Creative,
Hotel Arctic, Tree Hotel, Living Architecture
FMS PUBLISHING
Nigel Fulcher: Managing Director
Irene Mateides: Publishing Director
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Mark Gentry, Mark Lacey and the production team
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES
For all advertising enquiries please contact:
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PRINT
Printed in England by Buxton Press
Although there are too many to name
individually, our sincerest thanks and
appreciation go to all who have
contributed in Bentley magazine.
To our readers, we hope that you will
enjoy this issue of Bentley magazine.
We have listed below the contact
details for products and services
mentioned within this issue.
Front cover
Photographer: Richard Morris
Location: Cornwall, UK
Car: Bentley Continental GT
Exterior paint: Thunder
Interior colours: Saffron & Brunel
Chasing the sunset
www.scarlethotel.co.uk
www.bedruthan.com
Luxury of choice
www.bentleycollection.com
Venturing outdoors
www.chucsdiveshop.com
Developing relationship
www.stanhopegate.co.uk
At home with luxury
www.clive.com
Lap of honour
www.bdcl.org
New York state of mind
www.thegothamhotelny.com
www.le-bernardin.com
www.belvederemansion.com
www.therhinecliff.com
www.lowellhotel.com
Wonder rooms
www.icehotel.com
www.treehotel.se
www.living-architecture.co.uk
Acknowledgments
Jamie Stephen, Emma Curley,
Nick Swallow, Gemma Wallace,
The Royal Hospital Chelsea,
David Banks, Ann Barnes, Mike Warner,
Francesca Fearon, Andrew English,
Tiffany Grayson, Lucy Gormanston,
Susan Churchill.
Competition prize winner
Congratulations to Mr Muller from
Illinois, USA, who is the winner of our
Bentley 35 prize draw Maasai Adventure,
winning a 4-night stay at The Sanctuary
at OI Lentille, Kenya. In this issue readers
will find details on how to win a unique
Bentley artwork. Good luck!
f.
www.fmspublishing.co.uk
Copyright: Bentley Motors Limited
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that the data in this publication is accurate,
neither the publisher nor Bentley Motors
Limited nor any of its subsidiary or affiliated
companies can accept, and hereby disclaim,
any liability to any party to loss or damage
caused by errors or omissions resulting
from negligence, accident or any other
cause. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in
any retrieval system, or transmitted in any
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All material has been published in good
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publication. Information correct at time
of going to press. Views expressed are
not necessarily those of the publisher
or Bentley Motors Limited.
Every effort has been made to trace the
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the publisher nor Bentley Motors Limited can
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87

Wonder rooms
IT’S TIME TO DITCH THE TRADITIONAL HOTEL ROOM IN FAVOUR OF OFF-THE-BEATEN-TRACK ALTERNATIVES
It was Seneca who said, ‘Travel and change
of place impart new vigour to the mind.’
Indeed! In addition, in the quest to impart
ever more vigour to the experience,
modern travellers are always on the lookout
for the unknown, the singular and the
truly innovative.
With that in mind, hoteliers and resort
owners have been busy inventing newfangled
lodging experiences – ones that
won’t necessarily replace the traditional
hotel room, but will certainly provide
novelty for those creative spirits and restless
adventurers who desire them.
Among the eclectic offerings are pods
perched on rooftops, see-through domes
with endless views and a recycled plane
transformed into a modern and luxurious
sleeping chamber.
Here are three recent trends that are
worth investigating:
1. COOL ROOMS
Arctic ice, fjords and floes, and sub-zero
temperatures may not be for everyone, but
for those intrepid travellers who aren’t
afraid of a little cold, there’s a lot on tap.
For example, ICEHOTEL, in Swedish Lapland,
is literally sculpted from ice each winter
and is currently in its 21st season. And yes,
guests continue to flock to their -5ºC rooms
to sleep on beds constructed of snow, ice
and reindeer-skin blankets. (Conventional
‘warm’ rooms are available, but guests are
encouraged to dabble in both.)
If the thought of literally sleeping on
ice is a bit too chilling, Hotel Arctic offers
an intriguing alternative. Situated on the
edge of Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord, Arctic
bills itself as the world’s most northerly
four-star hotel. While Arctic offers cosy,
conventional rooms – wood-panelled and
aptly appointed – the real attraction is their
high-tech igloo. The hotel’s five igloos are
inspired by classic Eskimo igloos in shape
and design, but instead of being rendered
the last word
by Avis Cardella
in ice blocks they’ve been constructed with
an aluminium frame, which imparts them
with a vaguely sci-fi, otherworldly aura.
For further information:
www.icehotel.com
www.hotelarctic.com
2. GREEN ROOMS
A stay in a luxury tree house gives new
meaning to the expression ‘going green.’
Nestled high in the timber, these
unconventional resorts run the gamut from
the expected – cobbled together with twigs
and branches – to remarkably sophisticated.
Sweden’s TREEHOTEL offers architectdesigned
tree houses, situated in remote
northern Sweden. Their Mirrorcube, for
example, is a lightweight aluminium
structure clad in mirrored glass, while
the UFO, as the name implies, resembles
a saucer-shaped space ship and features a
multi-level interior.
A more traditional, but no less spectacular,
tree house experience can be found at
the Inkaterra Canopy Treehouse located
in the Peruvian south-eastern Amazon.
The humble thatched-roof hut, accessed by
a series of rope bridges, is perched 90 feet
above ground level. There is a canopy butler,
reachable by walkie-talkie, and even a
canopy bar. But one gets the feeling that
the staggering views of the rainforest may
be inebriating enough.
For further information:
www.treehotel.se
www.inkaterra.com
3. LIVING ROOMS
Living Architecture has commissioned some
of today’s most talented architects to
design modern homes exclusively available
for holiday rental. Situated on stunning, and
often offbeat, locations across the UK, this
array of houses feature the latest modernist
details and materials.
The Balancing Barn in Suffolk (designed
by Dutch firm MVRDV) stands cantilevered
over the landscape, while The Dune House,
a creation of Norway’s Jarmund/Vigsnæs
Architects, is an intriguingly angular house,
boasting expansive windows with sea
views. My favourite: The Shingle House, a
literal stand-out, sits alone on a shingle
beach surrounded only by a sprinkling of
fishermen’s huts. Designed by Scotland’s
NORD Architecture, the concrete and timber
interior reflects modernist themes with
furnishings that somehow manage to be
both minimalist and cosy.
On tap in 2012: a one-bedroom ‘boat’
perched on the edge of London’s Queen
Elizabeth Hall, part of a collaboration
between Living Architecture and Artangel.
Offbeat location indeed!
For further information:
www.living-architecture.co.uk
1 2 3
88

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you the most civilised and
time efficient means of transport.
And at Hamlin Jet, every service you need,
both before and after purchase, is
provided for you.
With an enviable reputation built over the
last thirty years, you can be sure Hamlin Jet
is the right choice.
30 years of expertise
in providing:
● Aircraft Evaluation
● Aircraft Acquisition
● Trained Aircrew
● Financial Management
● Operational Management
● Regulatory Compliance
● Aircraft Maintenance
All you have to do is enjoy the flight.
Visit: www.hamlinjet.com call +44 (0)1582 726760 or email: mikehamlin@hamlinjet.com
Hamlin Jet Ltd, Hanger 125, London Luton Airport LU2 9PA.