(March 22, 2023) CREWE, England — The first car of Bentley’s Blower Continuation Series — known as Car Zero — is set to invoke the history of its ancestor by racing at a series of events across 2023. Completing its purpose of engineering validation while honoring its genealogy, Blower Car Zero will take to tracks in the UK, France and Belgium in a set of races that will test its performance and endurance.

The Blower Continuation Series — the first pre-war continuation series ever created — has been built by hand using a combination of modern laser-scanned data and original drawings. Both the blueprints and the 3D data were taken from the 1929 4½-liter supercharged Team Car #2 — the most famous Bentley in the world, and one of the icons of the Bentley Heritage Collection.

93 years after that car competed at Le Mans (and elsewhere), Car Zero will assume the original Blower’s mantle and race to win – including at the Circuit de la Sarthe, in what will be the first Bentley works car to race at Le Mans since the Speed 8’s victory in 2003.

Modifications to allow Blower Car Zero to go racing have been minor, and safety-related. They include the installation of a rain light, wing mirrors, towing points, a fire extinguisher and a battery isolation switch. The car also now holds an Historic Technical Passport (HTP), that certifies the car as eligible to compete in FIA-sanctioned events for historic vehicles.

Blower Car Zero will compete at three tracks in 2023:

    •    Donington Park, UK, April 29-30
    •    Le Mans, France, June 29 – July 3
    •    Spa, Belgium, September 28-30

After Car Zero, 12 further Blower Continuation Series cars have been commissioned through Mulliner — Bentley’s bespoke and personalization division — with eight delivered and four still in-build. Some of these customer cars will compete alongside Car Zero at Le Mans in the summer, together with original Bentley Team cars from the 1920s.