A Month In The Life Of: Bentley Arnage Final Series

I wish that, when I was young, someone had told me all that is great about getting old, beyond the simple and obvious truth that, whatever its limitations, it’s infinitely preferable to the alternative. One of the more minor benefits is you just care less about rejection. When I was a teenager my best friend and I had to lay bets with each other just to summon up the courage to go and talk to girls. I remember one very sweetly telling me she’d be right back but just had to pop to the ladies’ room, and I can only presume she went out the window because I never saw her again. But at least the beers were on him for the rest of the evening.

Now I can ask all sorts of things and not fear the consequences. It is the absolute truth that the reason I’ve driven a Ferrari 250 GTO is because I walked up to a man I’d never met before and asked if I could drive his 250 GTO. And it’s why the last ever Bentley Arnage has just spent slightly more than a month as my daily driver.

The Arnage has always held a very special place in my heart not least because when I was writing a book about Bentley’s return to Le Mans at the start of this century, the company would provide me with one not only to drive to and from the track year after year, but to knock about in for the thick end of the fortnight we were down there.