Bentley's Le Mans domination

But theory doesn't always translate into reality, and at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours the hare finally managed to get revenge over that pesky tortoise. Not only that, but Bentley grabbed its first win at the Circuit de la Sarthe since 1930.

As expected, qualifying went the way of Bentley, with the stunningly beautiful British racing green machines annexing the front row of the grid. From the start, the Speed 8s stormed off into a clear lead, leaving the three customer Audis trailing.

But that was expected. The next bit wasn't. The Bentley - the hare, remember - proved that it could conserve its fuel and tyres as well as the R8, and that it was just as reliable. Just hours into the race, it became clear that the only way anything other than a Bentley was going to win would be if they broke down.

Frankly, that never looked like happening. The Speed 8s ran with staggering reliability. Over 24 hours, the only problem that either car suffered was a minor battery glitch that took less than five minutes to sort.

The only question mark lay over which Bentley would win. That honour fell to the trio of Rinaldo Capello, Guy Smith and Tom Kristensen - who also made history by taking his fourth consecutive triumph at Le Mans.

The second Bentley - driven by Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell and David Brabham - lost ground early on, and could never quite get on terms with its sister car. It did better than the best of the Audis though - the Champion R8 was the next car home, almost three laps adrift.

"We had a near perfect race on the track and a perfect one in the pits," surmised Kristensen in the post-race press conference.

Sadly, with its three-year programme achieving its goals in some style, Bentley won't return to Le Mans to defend its title next year. After waiting 73 years for this victory, we can only hope that the marque doesn't leave it as long next time.