WALKS DRIVES Travelling back in time in the lap of luxury

& Sunday Sunday SUNDAY DRIVER The hidden delights of West Sussex and Dorset are revealed to Daniel Pembrey as he steers a classic Bentley towards the spectacular Jurassic Coast

With its graceful presence and refined lines, the original Bentley Azure is a thing of beauty. It should be; famed Italian styling house Pininfarina helped design it. About 1,400 were built in an eight-year period that ended a decade and a half ago.

They are now spotted on the better white-stuccoed streets of central London, and you can’t help wonder what it would be like to drive this two-andhalf-ton tourer with its 6.75-litre engine – does weight or power win the day? Bentley Motors has lent me the last production vehicle from its Heritage Collection in Crewe, letting me find out.

As soon as I take delivery, I feel transported back in time. It sports the Mulliner trim with hand-stitched cream and navy leather. If you were to design an interior to look pleasingly retro, it would look a lot like this. The chrome gauges are reassuringly straightforward. There is no satellite navigation, no parking bleepers and no on-board entertainment system. Vents and their controls are of heavy chrome and hand-operated – much like in a new Rolls-royce. One has all one requires.

Weaving my way through London traffic on to the A4, I feel a degree of roll and the brakes are soft compared with a new Continental, but there is a growing sense of ease and grace. The power is there when you want it, I discover on the mercifully free-flowing M25. Briefly flooring the racing-style metal pedal, I glimpse the bonnet rise and I start to appreciate the engineering pedigree; this is a child of the Eighties Turbo R – nicknamed the “Crewe missile” for its combination of refinement and mighty performance.

Near Chichester, there’s time to take in Goodwood’s Festival of Speed. It is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and is billed as the largest

Sunday 21 October 2018

How to play Closing date: Strategies First see if any line has a single clue number bigger than half the length of its line. If there is one, you can fill one or more squares in the centre of the line. Count first from one end, then count from the other end: where two counts Winner: Griddler 1459 Marker Pens Brian Edwards of Horsham, Sussex wins a £ 50 book token

To enter by post: Send each entry in a separate envelope to: Sunday Cryptic 2974 or Sunday GK 1351 or EV 1353, PO Box 250, Rossendale BB4 0BL. Sunday Cryptic 2974 Sunday GK 1351 EV 1353

According to developer Oxbotica, which ich factors provide the UK with a “huge strategic gic advantage” in the driverless iverless car market? (a) Rain and potholes s (b) Courtesy and driving on the left (c) The Knowledge and the cab rank

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