Silverstone classic 2017 see's the return of the Bentley Boys to give an all out racing experience.

• Kidston Trophy for Pre-War Sports Cars makes welcome return
• Evocative 50+ car grid takes festival-goers right back in time     
• Aston Martins, Bugattis, Frazer Nashes and Lagondas
• Significant discounts available with Early Bird tickets

Next summer’s Silverstone Classic will feature more than eight decades of glittering motor sport history, with confirmation that the acclaimed Kidston Trophy for Pre-War Sports Cars is returning to the packed on-track programme in 2017.

The inaugural Kidston Trophy was a real crowd-pleaser when introduced for the event’s special Silver Jubilee celebrations in 2015. 

A captivating grid of more than 50 eye-catching entries dating right back to the dawn of circuit racing took to the world-famous Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit for a dazzling 40-minute showdown, complete with a mandatory pit-stop and optional driver change. 

It was an enthralling spectacle featuring legendary marques such as Alvis, Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Frazer Nash, Invicta and Lagonda that – by popular demand – will be repeated on Saturday morning at the 2017 Classic.

Though victory went to the Frazer Nash Super Sports shared by experienced racers Fred Wakeman and Pat Blakeney-Edwards, it was the sight of a dozen iconic Bentleys that really caught the imagination of the 100,000 festival-goers – rightly so, as the Kidston Trophy was named in honour of one of the famed ‘Bentley Boys’ of the late 1920s.

Glen Kidston was a real life Boy’s Own hero. Back in 1914, he survived being torpedoed twice in the same morning when serving as a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy. 

By the mid-1920s, he was a submarine Commander himself and when not at sea he set records as an aviator, hill climbed, conducted motorcycle speed trials on sand and raced cars, winning the 1930 Le Mans 24 Hours in the Bentley Speed Six he shared with Woolf Barnato. 

Having survived several serious scrapes, Kidston sadly lost his life less than a year later when the de Havilland Puss Moth he was flying broke up in mid-air during a dust storm over the Drakensberg Mountains in southern Africa.

 

It took quite a grid to represent such a buccaneering character, but Motor Racing Legends succeeded in 2015 and its chairman, Duncan Wiltshire, is predicting another amazing turnout in July.

“We were completely blown away by the fabulous entry last time,” admitted Wiltshire. “The amazing quality and quantity of these wonderfully evocative cars proved incredibly popular both when on display in the paddock and when racing out on the track. 

They may not lap quite as fast as some of the slightly more modern machines from later epochs competing at the Silverstone Classic, but they are certainly every bit as spectacular.”

“It’s hard to beat the magnificent sight of so many intrepid drivers sawing away at their wooden steering wheels, fighting for grip on such narrow tyres,” agreed Nick Wigley, CEO of Silverstone Classic organiser Goose Live Events. 

“It’s not something fans of modern motor sport ever experience and is one of the many marvellous reasons that historic motor racing today is becoming more and more popular with those of all ages. 

We’re delighted to have these epic Pre-War Sports Cars back on the bill – they really do add yet another incredible dimension to what is always a fantastic show.”   

The return of the Kidston Trophy is just one of the many on-track highlights already announced for the 2017 Silverstone Classic. Full details can be found on the silverstoneclassic.com website together with information on how to take full advantage of the Early Bird tickets currently on sale. 

Adult admission starts from just £35 and the cost of the three-day weekend ticket has been frozen at £99 if purchased before the end of March. Family tickets, camping and VIP Hospitality packages are also available. All tickets must be booked in advance of the event.

Full information about the 2017 Silverstone Classic entertainment programme – including more exciting new races, special car club celebrations and live music performers – will be announced in the coming weeks. All the latest news will be available at silverstoneclassic.com and via its social media platforms.

New Kidston Trophy attracts world’s largest field of pre-war racers at the Silverstone Classic.

• New Kidston Trophy attracts world’s largest field of pre-war racers
• Bentley Boy Glen Kidston famously won Le Mans in 1930
• 12 classic Bentleys to compete at inaugural Silverstone Classic event

The largest field of pre-war race cars ever assembled will compete at the Silverstone Classic this weekend in the inaugural Kidston Trophy – named for legendary Bentley Boy and Le Mans winner, Glen Kidston.

Among the 57 competitors will be 12 of the rarest and most valuable Bentleys in the world. This stellar ensemble includes several Bentley 3 Litre models, and a collection of 4½ Litre racers including a legendary Supercharged ‘Blower’.

Apologies for the quality of the pictures, they are rather old, and of not good size and initial quality.

Glen Kidston and Bentley Chairman, Woolf Barnato, famously won the 1930 Le Mans 24-Hour race in the Bentley Speed Six ‘Old Number 1’. This was the second year in succession that the Speed Six had taken the chequered flag and the fourth year in a row that a Bentley was victorious.

Richard Charlesworth, Director of Royal Relations & Heritage, said: “For one of Bentley’s most famous characters to be honored like this, at such a major classic car event, is wonderful. Kidston lived to race and his triumph at Le Mans alongside Barnato in 1930 will forever be remembered as the crowning glory of the Bentley Boys era.”

The Silverstone Classic takes place 24 to 26 July, with the Kidston Trophy contested at 12:00 on Saturday 25 July.

Glen Kidston: Bentley Boy

Adventurer and aviator Glen Kidston was one of the original Bentley Boys. A former Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy, he was famously torpedoed twice in the same morning during World War 1.  He later became a submarine commander but when not at sea he set records as an aviator and motorcycle speed trialist.

Kidston died less than a year after his Le Mans win when the de Havilland Puss Moth he was flying crashed during a dust storm over the Drakensberg Mountains in southern Africa. A memorial to him stands at the crash site – an aluminium propeller set in stone designed to warn passing aviators.

Silverstone Classic – 25^th Anniversary

The annual Silverstone Classic is firmly established as ‘The World’s Biggest Classic Motor Racing Festival’. The packed weekend event features more than 20 races covering the full glittering spectrum of motor sport history, full scale live music concerts, aerial displays and interactive driving activities.

The Bentley Drivers Club annual race day at Silverstone promises to be the best yet.

The Bentley Drivers Club traditional annual Silverstone Race Day will take place on Saturday August 1st, with this year’s meeting being the Club’s 66^th consecutive event at the famous Northamptonshire circuit.

Known for its friendly and informal atmosphere, and a great favourite of competitors, marshals and spectators alike, ‘Bentley Silverstone’ has become a celebration of Club racing at its best, where all makes and models compete against each other in a fiercely amicable way.

On-track action for 2015 includes a Bentley Scratch race for pre-1966 cars, the pre-War Team Challenge and the Bentley Handicap race. Other marques will compete in the Aero Morgan Challenge Series, the MG ‘T’ Register, AC & Morgan Race and the Bic Healey Trophy & AC Team Challenge.

FISCAR will be keeping the spirit of Fifties sports car racing alive with a 30-minute pit stop race for one or two drivers, and two All comers races (Fast and Slow) and an Allcomers Scratch race including post-1966 Bentleys complete the programme.

It’s not just all the on-track on track action that makes BDC Silverstone a ‘must-do’ event for any Bentley enthusiast. Hundreds of non-racing Bentleys will also be on display and participating in the always-popular Club parade. This year the parade will mark special Bentley anniversaries for the S1, 60 years and Azure 20 years, and Continental GTs, fresh from their recent Continental Breakfast, will further swell the numbers.

Bentley announces it's 2015 race program, with a huge filed of events, this year is going to be great.

• Continental GT3 race programme expands around the world
• Works, Works-supported and customer teams for 2015
• Bentley Team M-Sport confirms 2015 driver line-up
• First race of the season will be the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour

Bentley Motorsport announces its full schedule of races around the world for 2015 after a successful debut season for the racing version of Bentley’s iconic Continental GT grand tourer, the Continental GT3. Building on the success of the 2014 season, which saw the Continental GT3 win three races on two continents and finish second overall in the Blancpain Endurance Series, for 2015 the programme expands to cover six race series over four continents.

Bentley’s Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush, comments:

“2015 promises to be a very exciting year for Bentley Motorsport, as we grow our programme through customer teams to see the Continental GT3 facing fresh challenges at new tracks across the globe. This year will see the most extensive campaign of racing in Bentley’s illustrious history, as we continue to use the Continental GT to build on our racing heritage. Racing is in our blood, and with the Continental GT3 we continue to build on a winning tradition. Bentley customers are now going racing with their marque, in a Bentley, in race series around the world.”

2015 sees the brand’s Works team, Bentley Team M-Sport, return to the Blancpain Endurance Series. In addition, Bentley is also taking on three of the world’s premiere sports car endurance events. The Bentley Motorsport season will begin with the two Continental GT3s of Bentley Team M-Sport tackling Mount Panorama in the Bathurst 12 Hour on Sunday 8^th February. 

Later in the year, Bentley will also enter arguably the world’s most gruelling endurance race – the ADAC Zurich 24h Race at the Nürburgring – an event for which preparations began earlier in 2014 when Bentley took part in two VLN series test races. The year will close with one final endurance race, the Gulf 12 Hours at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Alongside the Works team, Bentley announces additional partner teams to race the Continental GT3 in key regions, as Works-supported entries:

• Following a race-winning half-season in 2014, Bentley Team Dyson Racing will contest the full Pirelli World Challenge season in the U.S.A.
• In Europe, Bentley Team HTP will use five Continental GT3s to race in the Blancpain Sprint Series, Blancpain Endurance Series and ADAC GT Masters championship
• In Asia, Bentley Team Absolute will compete in the GT Asia series

The Works and Works-supported teams are complemented by customer teams, who will extend the racing activities of the Continental GT3 even further, including events such as the Dubai 24 Hours and the Australian GT series. Bentley’s customer racers have already had success with the Continental GT3, including a win in the NGK Racing Series in Dubai.

The 2015 Bentley Boys

Bentley Team M-Sport also announces its driver line-up for the 2015 season. After scoring victories at Silverstone and Paul Ricard, and finishing second in the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2014, car #7 retains the all-British trio of Guy Smith, Andy Meyrick and Steven Kane. The three Bentley Boys are looking forward to a second complete season with the team, and to working together again. Andy Meyrick comments:

“It was an honour to race for Bentley last year and I’m thrilled that Guy, Steven and I will be together again in the Continental GT3 this year. 2014 was the car’s debut season and so second place in the championship was a real achievement, but that clearly leaves us room to go one better and that’s our target for the Continental GT3 this year.”

Car #8 sees an all-new and truly European team of drivers for 2015. Joining Bentley Team M-Sport are Spanish racer Andy Soucek, German GT3-specialist Maximilian Buhk and Belgian Maxime Soulet. All three have raced in the Blancpain Endurance Series before, showing prodigious speed and racecraft and making them natural choices to join Bentley Motorsport for 2015. New Bentley Boy Andy Soucek comments:

“It feels fantastic to join Bentley, a company with such a long and prestigious connection with motorsport. Racing for this team will be very special to me and I’m excited to take on the challenge. I drove the Continental GT3 for the first time at Portimao recently, and was really impressed with its performance. I’m looking forward to getting the season underway.”

Bentley’s progress throughout the season can be followed at www.bentleymedia.com or via the@BentleyComms Twitter feed.

2015 Race Schedules in Full

Premiere Endurance Events:

Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, 6^th-8^th February

ADAC Zurich 24h Race, Nürburgring, 16^th-17^th May

Gulf 12 Hours, Abu Dhabi, 13^th December

Blancpain Endurance Series (Bentley Team M-Sport, Bentley Team HTP):

Monza, Italy: 11th-12th April

Silverstone, UK: 23^rd-24^th May

Paul Ricard, France: 19^th-20^th June

Spa 24 Hours, Belgium: 23^th-26^th July

Nürburgring, Germany: 19^th-20^th September

Blancpain Sprint Series (Bentley Team HTP):

Nogaro Coupes de Pâques, France: 18th-19th March

Brands Hatch, UK: 9^th-10^th May

Zolder, Belgium: 5^th-7^th June

Moscow City, Russia: 3^rd-5^th July

Algarve, Portugal: 4^th-6^th September

Misano, Italy: 2^nd-4^th October

Baku World Challenge, Azerbaijan: 24^th-25^th October

ADAC GT Masters (Bentley Team HTP):

Oschersleben, Germany: 24th-26th April

Red Bull Ring, Austria: 5^th-7^th June

Spa, Belgium: 19^th-21^st June

Lausitzring, Germany: 3^rd-5^th July

Nürburgring, Germany: 14^th-16^th August

Sachsenring, Germany: 28^th-30^th August

Zandvoort, Netherlands: 18^th-20^th September

Hockenheim, Germany: 2^nd-4^th October

Pirelli World Challenge (Bentley Team Dyson Racing):

Circuit of the Americas, Texas: 6th-8th March

St. Petersburg, Florida: 27^th-29^th March

Long Beach, California: 17^th-19^th April

Barber Motorsports Park, Alabama: 24-26^th April

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Ontario: 15^th-17^th May

Road America, Wisconsin: 26^th-28^th June

Mid-Ohio, Ohio: 31^st July-2^nd August

Miller Motorsports Park, Utah: 21^st-23^rd August

Sonoma Raceway, California: 28^th-30^th August

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, California: 11^th-13^th September

GT Asia (Bentley Team Absolute)

Yeongam, Korea: 15th-17th May

Okayama, Japan: 26^th-28^th June

Fuji, Japan: 17^th-19^th July

Sepang, Malaysia: 14^th-16^th August

Shanghai, China: 25^th-27^th September

Buriram Chang, Thailand: 23^rd-25^th October

Macau: 13^th-15^th November