W. O. Bentley

Walter Owen Bentley was an English engineer who founded Bentley Motors in London in 1919 after building a reputation designing rotary aircraft engines during the First World War and racing motorcycles and cars before it. His new company built large, powerful touring cars aimed squarely at endurance competition, and Bentley cars became a fixture at the top of the field at the 24 Hours of Le Mans through the 1920s. Financial pressure during the Depression forced the sale of Bentley Motors to Rolls-Royce in 1931, after which Bentley continued working as a designer for other British marques, including Lagonda, Aston Martin and Armstrong Siddeley, carrying his engineering instincts into their cars even though his own name no longer controlled the company that bore it. He was born on 16 September 1888 and died on 13 August 1971. The marque he founded still carries his name and its early Le Mans wins remain part of its identity.