Launched in November 1919 at the London Motor Show, the 3 Litre underwent almost two years of competition development including winning its third ever race at Brooklands in the hands of Frank Clement in May 1921; production began early that year at Cricklewood although the first car was not delivered until September.
The previous year Bentley had gained valuable publicity in the Tourist Trophy when a modified car finished second to a purpose-built Sunbeam racer, Bentley also taking the Team Prize. This car is one of the original 71 built Bentley 3 Litre Tourist Trophy Spec. cars which were built to honour the Bentley team success in the 1922 TT race. All the TT cars were built on a shorter chassis, with a close ratio gearbox and other modifications, giving the car greatly improved performance all around over the standard cars.

Later in 1924, Bentley incorporated these elements into the much more common Speed Model but the early TT cars are the purest and the first of the “special buil