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Bentley T1 Completes HERO Le Jog on Lpg Autogas

In December 2010, Mike Allen entered his lpg autogas converted 1972 Bentley T1 into the Historic Endurance Rallying Organisation’s sixteenth Le Jog driving event.

Every year, classic car drivers compete in the Le Jog event, a time trial from Lands End to John O’Groats organised by the Historic Endurance Rallying Organisation (HERO). Drivers can enter either the Reliability Trial rally or the slightly gentler Classic Car Tour.

In December 2010, Mike Allen entered his lpg autogas converted 1972 Bentley T1 into the Classic Car Tour.

He said: “It’s generally recognised as a very tough event, but it’s not a race. It’s a test of map reading and car handling skills, and the ability to drive on prescribed routes at very precise legal speeds.

“The full trial, which involves driving tests on private roads and racetracks, and hundreds of miles of to-the-second driving over difficult minor roads, requires huge numbers of volunteer marshals to check progress. The touring class for slightly less energetic owners is over a simpler route, with more generous time schedules.

“We naturally entered for the latter! My navigator John Parker and I know the event well, as we have assisted as marshals on almost all of them. We thought, just for once, we would enter, but with an extra challenge of our own.

“I own a 1972 Bentley T1, which I had converted to lpg autogas some years ago, so we decided to see if we could go the whole distance on lpg autogas. John is a well-known consultant in the field of cleaner energy, specialising in heat pump technology, so he was keen to see how ‘cleanly’ we could compete compared with the rest of them, in spite of our engine size!”

Despite being the only lpg autogas entrant, Mike decided he would try to avoid the use of petrol completely during the 3,000 mile round trip from his home in Kent. His challenge was finding lpg autogas refuelling points along the way to fill the Bentley’s 80-litre tank, as much of the event was at night.

Mike said: “Unfortunately, the dreadful weather that closed so many roads in Wales and the borders upset all our plans, so we had to re-plot much of our route at the last minute and find other lpg autogas suppliers. We had to make a few detours out of our way, and some small extra top ups when available, but we only ever used petrol during the event when starting up.

“The Bentley has a basic non-injection lpg autogas conversion on its twin carburettor 6.75-litre Rolls Royce engine. Although there has always been a noticeable reduction in power when using lpg autogas, there is always more than enough available, and the car ran faultlessly throughout.

“I had been rather concerned about the lpg autogas cylinder freezing up in the very low temperatures in Scotland at the time, but there was no trouble, although the contents of our suitcases in the boot did get extremely cold!”

The weather had a considerable impact on the progress of the Le Jog event, with classic car drivers having to contend with blizzards and closed roads.

Mike said: “Our fuel consumption averaged out at around 10.5 miles per gallon, which was a bit less than we had expected, but the weather was dreadful, and we were stuck for hours in that well publicised traffic chaos on the M8 near Edinburgh. It was the only time we felt we wouldn’t make it. The car that went ahead to report back on road conditions was stuck there for 16 hours, and we did start to wonder if the rest of the event would be cancelled, but that is not the HERO way!

“Amazingly, very few cars did not complete the route, so there was a big gathering to collect the final awards at the gala dinner in Wick. It was recognised as probably the most challenging Le Jog of all. Many tests and road sections had to be cancelled because of the weather, and it was with feelings of considerable achievement that around 32 crews finally made it to the finish through the blizzards and snowdrifts.”

Mike and John made the return journey from Wick to Lands End in 42 hours. Mike said: “We had to switch briefly to petrol for around 10 miles near Dornoch, which we had hoped to avoid and, unfortunately, just 18 miles from my home in Kent I had to switch to petrol again as the last lpg autogas pump before home was out of order.

“John and I felt we had achieved what we set out to do, and were amazed how well such a large car handled in all that snow. It also proved that, even with a car using such startling quantities of fuel, it is possible to get from one end of the country to the other just on lpg autogas.”

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