(Wed 21 Jan 09)

Dr Ulrich Eichhorn, Engineering Director of Bentley Motors, will deliver this year's Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation Lecture tomorrow (January 22), and his subject will be 50 years of the Bentley 6.75-litre V8 engine.

The first Bentley to use the V8, back in the days when the company was part of Rolls-Royce, was the 1959 S2 Continental, and remarkably a highly-developed version of it, with power outputs of up to 530bhp, is still being used in the current Brooklands, Arnage and Azure models.

"The Bentley V8 is a prime example of how a well executed original design has endured and evolved under the right guardianship," says John Lowe, a trustee of the Foundation and a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, which organises the Lecture. "We look forward to hearing Ulrich's views on how an engine first built in 1959 has been improved by generations of Bentley engineers.

"Today's engine is true to the original design. However, it has achieved power and torque increases of over 150% through the skilful introduction of fuel injection, turbocharging and intercooling technologies whilst remaining compliant with the latest emissions standards. It is an extraordinary engineering story spanning five decades which deserves to be celebrated."

Eichhorn has been at Bentley since 2003, and in the intervening years he has overseen the introduction of the six-litre W12 engine which powers the current generation of Continental models.

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