Bentley 6.5 Supercharged Petersen Racer : YKYWT

One way to prove to those supercar show-offs who is really the boss?

Special-bodied Bentleys are quite the thing at the moment, don’t you know. But none is quite as spiffing or as gloriously mental as this amazing Blower Road Racer.

Real men only need apply!

400hp of supercharged straight-eight power, skinny racing tyres and a hand-hewn body to die for – this one of the most fabulously exciting machines you could ever clap eyes on. The ‘Blower Road Racer’ was built in 2003 by Bob Petersen, renowned founder Petersen Engineering of Beaworthy in Devon. Petersen has even built one car with a 27-litre Rolls-Royce Meteor powerplant, but his 6.5-litre Blower Road Racer has to be the best Bentley special of all.

It kind of does what it says on the tin: gives you the rich feel of a blower Bentley racer for the road, with a certain nod to usability.

The chassis started off as a 1953 Bentley R-Type, while the engine is a highly modified Rolls 6.5-litre straight-eight military motor. With a Petersen BM supercharger strapped to it, it’s got fully 400hp on tap, giving it a sensational power-to-weight ratio of nearly 300hp per ton. And its 420lb ft of torque, presumably available from very low revs, should make it highly amusing, even with a Salisbury limited-slip differential fitted.

Originality - and everything else - be damned!

700x19 Dunlop racing tyres on 84-spoke wire wheels should ensure wide-eyed cornering excitement, and it’s even got fully adjustable suspension. Weighing just 1,350kg, it also boasts perfect 50/50 front/rear weight distribution.

But it’s the gloriously realised and heavily louvred aluminium bodywork that really sings its magic. It doesn’t take much to imagine you and a brave passenger sitting in those black leather buckets, surrounded by machine-turned aluminium, trying hard to coax the speedo to break its 170mph vmax calibration.

Described by the vendor as “in your face” and “a real road burner and hooligan’s toy,” it’s clearly a beast. It’s covered just 4,000 miles since it was built, and has had a recent £23,000 upgrade. But you’ll need to find 20 times that figure to get yourself into the finished article.

BENTLEY 6.5-LITRE SUPERCHARGED PETERSEN RACER
Price: £440,000
Why you should: Nobody is going to argue with you...
Why you shouldn't: ...unless you mention the price

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