Woolf Barnato
Joel Woolf Barnato (* September 27, 1895; † July 27, 1948 ) was a British racing driver and financier who was known as one of the Bentley Boys.
Family and Education
Woolf Barnato was the son of Barney Barnato, who came to South Africa as the owner of a diamond and gold mine into cash. He inherited his million pounds fortune, when he was two years old. Equipped with this financial background, Barnato attended the best schools and university facilities in England. He attended Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Cambridge. During the First World War he was an officer of the Royal Field Artillery of the British Army.
His daughter Diana Barnato Walker was the first British woman who flew faster than sound.
Bentley
In the 1920s, Barnato was a member of the Bentley Boys, a group of younger men, to drive all the best of society, which began with Bentley brand vehicles race.
Inspired by the Le Mans win by John Duff and Frank Clement in 1924, invested Barnato - who was called by his friends "Babe ", which was in stark contrast to his corpulence - a portion of its assets at Bentley. He was majority owner and CEO. Besides his work as a businessman Barnato drove but further races. Together with John Duff he presented in 1925 at the circuit of Montlhery at an average speed of 152.00 km / h set a new world record for a ride over 24 hours.
Le Mans
Barnato won as a driver three times the 24 Hours of Le Mans. What was remarkable was that he was only three times at the start ( he is now the only pilot of a victory managed at every start ). In 1928 he won with Bernard Rubin on a 4 1/2 liter Bentley. In 1929 he contributed with Tim Birkin of the legendary Bentley Speed Six " Old Number One" and 1930 he was with Glen Kidston, again this Speed Six successful.
The race against the train
In addition to his victories at Le Mans a bet Barnato made popular in the UK. Barnato accepted in March 1930, the challenge to race against a train. The Blue Train, a luxury train that ran from Cannes to London, was the enemy. Barnato bet 200 pounds that he could go with a Speed Six faster from Cannes to London than the train to Calais, drove over Paris.
The chances of Barnato seemed low, but most of the time he had to drive on bad roads. Barnato and the train left Cannes by 17 clock 45 with an average speed of 72 km / h Barnato drove his Speed Six on the dusty French country roads. His co-driver was the English amateur golfer Dale Bourne. Barnato was the low volume of traffic to help. After a night in the car and a distance of nearly 1,000 kilometers Barnato reached the next day by 10 clock 30 initially Calais. After the ferry ride, he parked the car by 15 clock 20 from his club in St. James's Street in London, four minutes before the train into the station of Calais.
Barnato was also an outstanding cricketer. He died in July 1948.