03/07/2025
Driver Douglas Hawkes is thought to have convinced W O Bentley to enter the Indy 500 to boost interest in the new Bentleys, which was at this point a young company.
‘We had to have everything made,’ said W O, ‘gearbox, clutch, differential, bearings, stub axles – everything.
‘There were no proprietary makers we could draw on, no ready-made back axles, gearboxes, universal joints with drive shaft and so on. To design and build a new motor car in 1919 was like being cast on a desert island with a penknife and orders to build a house’
Rolled out near the end of April 1922, the aggressive-looking Indianapolis Bentley was and would remain unpainted save for its red wire wheels. A distinctive feature was the drilling for lightness of handbrake and gear levers.
The weight of the Indy car could not have been much more than its chassis weight of 1156kg. Taken to Brooklands for a shakedown, the racer proved to Hawkes and his riding mechanic Bert Browning that it looked and was quick, reaching a promising 95mph.
In the 1922 Indy 500, the Bentley finished in a respectable 13th place at an average speed of 74.95mph
