Bentley recently teamed up with driver Steven Kane to race a a desert train in the heart of Saudi Arabia across 480 km.
In 1930, three-time Le Mans winner Captain Woolf Barnato raced a train from Cannes to Calais and managed to not only beat the train, but drive through to a club in London four minutes before the train reached Calais. Eighty five years on, a light blue Bentley Continental GT V8 S Convertible raced a train from Riyadh through to Damman on the Arabian Gulf.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_7UZb81oe4[/youtube]
The race lasted four hours and 14 minutes and while the Bentley and train weren’t travelling alongside each other for very long during the route, the raced remained close throughout. Ultimately, the British luxury drop-top arrived in Damman with six minutes to spare.
Discussing the driver, Bentley Team M-Sport driver Steven Kane said “Four hours is the same time as a stint at Le Mans. But this was far more stressful. The heat, the conditions, not knowing where the train was, while driving within the limits of the country’s regulations. It was a race like no other. I hope Barnato would be proud.”
