Racing in a Gentlemanly Fashion

Text Andy Wilsheer

Steve Neimantas is a man of impeccable taste regarding the straight-line sport. A jewellers shop in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England has been in his family for a half-century and provides a respectable living, which is fortunate considering his passion for the 1320 wars. Bitten by the drag racing bug, his first quarter-hauler bought in 1987 was a ’69 Plymouth GTX. “Although it seemed a good car, unfortunately it was full of filler and the sheet metal had grown about 2 inches in every direction after I’d owned it for a year!” Steve commented. Then followed a ’64 ½ Mustang convertible, ’34 Ford, ’64 Plymouth Sport Fury and a quite unique blown Chrysler-powered Aston Martin Virage, each provided the owner with a modicum of competition success, predominantly at his local track, York Raceway.

Hankering for something with more urge, and also having become imbued with the notion of employing twin- turbocharging as the optimum mode of forced induction, Steve opted for a very exclusive ride with which to assault the quarter. The final choice came down to either an Aston Martin DB9 or the Bentley Continental GT, and he duly plumped for the latter. The elegant grand tourer was the first to be released by Bentley Motors Limited’s new owner, Volkswagen AG, in 2003, the Crewe-built luxury coupe having a list price of £130,000 ($165,000). Outfitted with twin turbos, the 366-ci W-12 engine pumped out 550 bhp, enabling the aerodynamically efficient automobile to attain a top speed of 197 mph. The performance was largely academic to Steve insomuch as he was intent on attaining faster speeds and indecently quick Elapsed Times through having a far more powerful big-block built to reside under the hood. His aim is to become a prime contender for not only Street Eliminator laurels but also to take on Team USA at the Hot Rod Drag Week in 2015. This tough event obliges entrants not only to perform on the strip but also drive around 1,000 miles from track to track carrying everything needed to compete in a trailer towed behind the vehicle. No easy task, though having some of the world’s fastest street-legal cars vying for honors in a dozen different classes makes victory hard earned and definitely bestows bragging rights on any winner for at least the following 12 months.

Steve employed the talents of Jon Webster, proprietor of Podington, Northamptonshire’s Webster Race Engineering to construct the banzai Bentley. Webster campaigns a turbo’d small-block Mercury Comet in the Street Eliminator ranks. He has built some prime runners in the class and was also instrumental in finishing Steve’s Aston Martin.

After discussing matters with Jon, the initial task was to locate a suitable used example of the model. A friend discovered a likely candidate on eBay and Steve followed up. After a brief discussion with the vendor, Steve made the drive to the gritty northern port city of Liverpool to view the vehicle. To cut a convoluted and highly entertaining tale short (let’s just say that the seller required the not-inconsiderable asking price to be paid in cash, leaving the purchaser to take precautionary measures involving a couple of mates accompanying him on the trip and providing a degree of fiscal protection through employment of brawn and more effective, er, back-up should the need arise). Steve bought the high-mileage 2005 model, took it home, insuring it for just one week and driving girlfriend Debbie around town in style. The car was then fully stripped by friend Ian Tubb, with the powertrain and complete interior sold to repair a water-damaged insurance write-off GT that had been shipped back to the UK from the States. The coachwork was not altered, meeting Street Elim. class rules, which dictate entries being fully compliant with construction and use regulations for road-going vehicles.

The bare-bones Bentley was delivered to WRE in October 2013 with the aim of having the project completed in the spring of 2014. Steve made just two visits to the workshop to see how matters were progressing; one of these being to facilitate optimal seat placement and the other to collect the finished article. I should point out that Jon was invited by Bentley to work on prototype Continentals some years ago, involving the installation of roll cages for high speed testing purposes, and so he was already familiar with the particular model that shares a platform with the VW Phaeton.

While Jon diligently toiled away in his renowned meticulous manner, Steve, a Swiss-trained watch repairer, contacted Steve Morris Engines to confirm his order for the power plant that’s almost the same spec as in 2013 Drag Week Ultimate Class victor Tom Bailey’s ’69 Camaro, which also sported SME motivation. Bailey’s barnstormer defeated all comers by running in the six-second zone at each of the Drag Week tracks, sealing the deal for purchase of a similar Morris mega-motor.

When the engine was delivered to WRE and installed, Jon was able to press on with finalising the project. Attention to detail has been customarily paramount, and the car owner feels that in the case of the Continental he has truly excelled. This opinion was shared by fellow racers and fans alike who thronged around the Neimantas pit area when the car made its competition debut in Round 1 of the FIA/FIM European Drag Racing Championship Series at Santa Pod Raceway this past spring.

Shakedown runs have been promising, even with employment of only minimal turbo boost as the door-car aficionado gets used to his latest strip star. The Bentley tips the scales at just under 3,000 pounds thanks in part to sheet metal forward of the bulkhead being used as molds to make carbon-fiber replica panels that together weigh a mere 25 pounds, including headlights, making for a considerable saving on the factory figure of 6,120 pounds. Getting the unique entry to leave the start line sans any traction histrionics is a fine art in itself when using street tires, but once Steve has become comfortably attuned to the vehicle’s prodigious amount of available horsepower (exceeding that even of Top Fuel dragsters back in the ’80s, to put matters in context), he’s looking to make his mark in inimitable style on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the meantime, Steve and his loyal crew are looking forward to the Bentley making a 400-mile round trip soon to Battersea, London in order to participate in the long-established Chelsea Cruise, which itself will be a real test of the street/strip capability of what has to be one of the more distinguished—or certainly bad-ass— road ’n’ race cars to ever grace the tarmac.

---

BODY

STEEL AND ALLOY MONOCOQUE WITH CARBON-FIBER FLOOR PAN, TRANSMISSION TUNNEL, WINGS, HOOD AND FRONT END. DZUS-FASTENED TRUNK LID. DEMON TWEEKS DUAL HOD LATCHES. ORIGINAL ACTIVE AERO SETUP BEHIND REAR WINDOW

PAINT

VOLKSWAGEN TWO-PACK GUNMETAL PEARL WITH FLIP-FLOP AND PEARL GHOST GRAPHICS, APPLIED BY BRYAN WHITFIELD, ROBERTS MOTOR BODIES LTD.

ENGINE

STEVE MORRIS ENGINES (MUSKEGON, MI) 615-CI BIG- BLOCK CHEVY. BRODIX ALLOY BLOCK AND CYLINDER HEADS WITH ENGRAVED VALVE COVERS. JESEL VALVETRAIN. OLIVER RODS. WILSON MANIFOLDS CUSTOM INTAKE MANIFOLD. BULLSEYE POWER TWIN 88MM TURBOCHARGERS. TURBOSMART WASTE GATES AND BLOW-OFF VALVES. MORAN 275 LB-HR INJECTORS. MOTEC COIL-ON-PLUG EFI. MAGNAFLOW PRO STAR FUEL PUMP. CHARGE-COOLED 7-GALLON WATER TANK. PRO ALLOY RADIATOR. BROWN & MILLER HOSES AND FITTINGS. MOROSO DRY SUMP. PETERSON OIL TANK. JAZ 12-GALLON FUEL CELL. MEZIERE ENTERPRISES FLEX PLATE AND STARTER MOTOR. DYNO’D 3,082 BHP AT 6,900 RPM AND 32 POUNDS BOOST, 3,045 BHP AT 7,700 RPM AND 30 POUNDS BOOST.

GEARBOX

B&M PRO BANDIT-SHIFTED ANDY FROST POWERGLIDE WITH NEAL CHANCE CONVERTER.

CHASSIS

4130 CHROME-MOLY TO SFI 25.2 SPEC AND INCORPORATING FUNNY CAR-STYLE ROLL CAGE, 4-LINK-LOCATED WRE 9½-INCH REAREND WITH MOSER ENGINEERING INTERNALS. WRE PROP SHAFT (AND WHEELIE BARS FOR USE AT DRAG WEEK) AND POWDER-COATED FINISH. AP RACING AIR JACKS.

STEERING

WRE CONVERSION FROM RIGHT- TO LEFT-HAND DRIVE COMPENSATING FOR ENGINE TORQUE.

WHEELS/TYRES

(F) WELD RACING V-SERIES 15X3½ ALLOYS MOUNTING MICKEY THOMPSON SPORTSMAN 28.0/6 ET FRONT RUBBER, (R) WELD RACING V SERIES 15X12 BEAD-LOCK ALLOYS MOUNTING MICKEY THOMPSON P315/60 ET STREET RADIALS.

BRAKES

STRANGE ENGINEERING DRILLED DISCS WITH BILLET CALLIPERS AND SIMPSON SKYJACKER DUAL PARACHUTES.

INTERIOR

STEEL/ALUMINIUM/CARBON-FIBER TRIM, GRANT GT LEATHER RIM QUICK-RELEASE STEERING WHEEL WITH STRANGE ENGINEERING CENTER CAP, MOTEC ENGINE MANAGEMENT DATA LOGGER AND DASH DISPLAY UNIT, RJS RACING EQUIPMENT WINDOW NET AND TRS SIX-POINT HARNESSES, CENTRALLY MOUNTED BREITLING ANALOG CLOCK IN CUSTOM CARBON-FIBER DASH PANEL, REVERIE CARBON-FIBER SEATS, CARBON-FIBER DOOR PANELS, BILLET DOOR RELEASE HANDLES, STOCK DOOR AND WINDOW RUBBERS/WINDOW CHANNELS LEFT STOCK.

THANKS TO:

JON WEBSTER, STEVE MORRIS AND ALEX ESNAOLA, DAVE ROWE AT EPS, ANDY FROST, CREW CHIEF DENNIS WATTAM, MARK TODD, IAN TUBB, BRYAN WHITFIELD AND PAUL HOUSTON.