First Bentleys and amateur racing

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How I and my Bentley won a silver cup in racing

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First Bentleys and amateur racing

George Daniels Master watchmaker

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I have earlier mentioned the Landaulet... Bentley Landaulet, which I bought, and I don't have to go into all the details about that again, but it was a stirring car and I bought it partially by accident. It weighed over 2 tons and only had a 3 litre engine of 1924 vintage, and so it was a bit struggling for power now and again but nevertheless I enjoyed it very much and my friends mainly had Open 3 litre Touring Bentleys and they would sometimes attempt to show me a clean pair of heels but it wasn't easy. When I wound that Landaulet up through the gears it would really go like a racing car and it made a great deal of fuss about going round corners but if you were 2 tons and rather long, you would make a fuss about corners. And eventually I sold the Landaulet and I bought another Bentley, a 4½ litre Bentley this time. I wanted more speed and it was a 3 litre Bentley with a 4½ litre engine and this was the... then... arrangement that one needed to produce a car that would be light to handle and very quick and I wanted this car for racing. So I took up amateur racing with that and enjoyed it very much and have in fact enjoyed amateur racing for the past 45 years. It's quite enjoyable and very exhilarating and of course a very good social centre. You meet lots of interesting people with like interests.

George Daniels, CBE, DSc, FBHI, FSA (19 August 1926 - 21 October 2011) was an English watchmaker most famous for creating the co-axial escapement. Daniels was one of the few modern watchmakers who could create a complete watch by hand, including the case and dial. He was a former Master of the Clockmakers' Company of London and had been awarded their Gold Medal, a rare honour, as well as the Gold Medal of the British Horological Institute, the Gold Medal of the City of London and the Kullberg Medal of the Stockholm Watchmakers’ Guild.

Title: First Bentleys and amateur racing

Listeners: Roger Smith

Roger Smith was born in 1970 in Bolton, Lancashire. He began training as a watchmaker at the age of 16 at the Manchester School of Horology and in 1989 won the British Horological Institute Bronze Medal. His first hand made watch, made between 1991 and 1998, was inspired by George Daniels' book "Watchmaking" and was created while Smith was working as a self-employed watch repairer and maker. His second was made after he had shown Dr Daniels the first, and in 1998 Daniels invited him to work with him on the creation of the 'Millennium Watches', a series of hand made wrist watches using the Daniels co-axial escapement produced by Omega. Roger Smith now lives and works on the Isle of Man, and is considered the finest watchmaker of his generation.

Tags: Bentley Landaulet, Open 3 litre touring Bentley, 4½ litre Bentley

Duration: 1 minute, 40 seconds

Date story recorded: May 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008