1-192-936 - National Motor Museum/Heritage Images

The Bentley Boys, c1928-c1930. Left to right; Frank Clement, Sir Henry Birkin and Woolf Barnato. Bentleys dominated the Le Mans 24 hour race in its early years, winning the race in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930. Barnato, the charismatic heir to a South African diamond mining fortune, was one of the drivers of the winning car in all of the last three victories. In 1929, the dark green Bentleys filled all the first four places with Barnato and Birkin's 6 1/2 litre Speed Six leading from start to finish and winning by a margin of some 70 miles. Bentley returned to Le Mans in 2001, with one of their cars finishing third.