The British have a peculiar view of the automobile.

82-year history,the company is now owned by Volkswagen and that the engines used in the two Bentley racers were the same as those powering the two Audi R8 racers that took first and second.

Bentley gravitated through an aviation engineering stint during that war and at its end, became determined to form an auto manufacturing company of his own. Bentley Motors, Ltd. was formed in 1919 with very little capital on hand, a plight that was to plague the company for the next decade.

Being a racer at heart, Bentley's first products were high- performance open cars that immediately established themselves as winners in the hectic world of European racing between the wars. Bentley cars won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times from 1923 until the demise of the company in 1931.

Bentley had become a major competitor for Rolls-Royce and other British luxury car builders.

But W.O. Bentley would be even more pleased that "his" company was finally wrestled away from

Roll-Royce.