There are driving roads, and then there are driving roads.
Australia has some crackers. The Great Ocean Road is a beauty, the Snowy Mountains have their moments and Tasmania can surprise you. But Austria’s Grossglockner High Alpine Road exists in a parallel universe. It snakes through the mountains like a glorious ribbon draped across the majestic peaks, climbing into scenery so spectacular you want to weep?
So where better for Bentley to spend a day showing off some of its most outrageous machinery?
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ABOVE: Bentley at FAT Mankei on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road.
The posh German, sorry, British luxury brand has taken over FAT International’s Mankei mountain retreat, perched 2,262 metres above sea level in the heart of the Austrian Alps. If the name FAT International rings a bell, it is because the company has built a cult following around motorsport, car culture and some wonderfully eccentric automotive events.
Mankei sits halfway along one of Europe’s most famous driving roads. It is part restaurant, part mountain lodge and part pilgrimage site for people who believe a Sunday drive should involve hairpins, altitude and the echoes of engines bouncing off rugged rock faces.
It is exactly where a Bentley should be.
The centrepiece of the gathering was a collection of machines that showcased how broad Bentley’s personality has become. Parked in the alpine sunshine was one of the company’s greatest racing heroes, the Speed 8 that conquered Le Mans in 2003.
Even two decades later, the racing car still looks magnificent. Low, aggressive and brutally efficient, it remains one of the most important cars in Bentley’s modern history. It also serves as a reminder that beneath the veneer of leather, timber, champagne coolers, and hints of cigar smoke, sits a company with motorsport credentials from 1920s Brooklands, through Le Mans, and onward.
At the opposite end of the display sat something entirely different.
Although Bentley’s heritage is racing, luxury brands like Rolls-Royce and Louis Vuitton share an exploring spirit that threads through time, binding history with a sturdy strap. It evokes a halcyon era when brass-bound trunks were bolted to the running boards of aristocratic adventurers who swapped high society for the edge of the map.
The current Bentayga already spends more time climbing kerbs outside luxury boutiques than scaling mountains. Yet there is something appealing about the idea of a Bentley X capable of vanishing into the Sahara or crossing the Congo. Conquering the wilderness while still enjoying quilted leather, massage, and a chilled bottle of Cristal feels wonderfully decadent.
Of course, it would be delinquent of me to speak of this event without whispering “Pikes Peak”.
For the first time, Bentley corralled all three of its famous Pikes Peak challengers in one location. That includes the Bentayga that set the Production SUV record, the Continental GT that demolished the production car benchmark a year later, and the astonishing 1,000-horsepower Continental GT3 race car that attacked the mountain in 2021.
Seeing all three together is a rare treat.
More importantly, two of them were not just sitting around looking pretty.
Guests were offered passenger rides in the Pikes Peak Bentayga and Pikes Peak Continental GT along the twisting alpine road. There are few better ways to understand what Bentley’s engineers have achieved than being fired between mountain switchbacks, a professional at the wheel on one side and a sheer drop on the other. At this altitude, the air is thin, but these twin-turbocharged monsters swallow it whole, clawing at the asphalt and barking a raw, maniacal cackle that shatters the alpine peace. It is less of a jaunt and more of an assault.
Not every Bentley at the event was focused on speed.
Perhaps the cutest thing ever was a bright pink Bentayga dolled out as a mobile coffee station for Bentley’s partnership with Joe & The Juice. Yes, really.
Some manufacturers turn up to automotive events with spivs in Savile Row suits. Instead, Bentley brought a twin-turbocharged, multi-hundred-thousand-dollar luxury SUV frocked up to serve fresh espresso from a custom leather-clad module in the boot. It is a mad collision of worlds: a beautiful machine built to cross continents, but one finished in a livery that splices British racing green and Scandi pink.
If you are standing on a mountain in the Alps, watching rare motorsport icons thunder past while someone hands you a free espresso from the back of an aristocratic pink tank, life is good.
Events like this reveal a different side of Bentley. Luxury brands can sometimes take themselves far too seriously. Yet here was Bentley celebrating its oily motorsport history while serving caffeine from a bespoke rolling juice bar. That sounds considerably more fun than another dull presser in a nameless hotel ballroom, right?
Bentley’s partnership with FAT International has already included ice-racing events earlier this year, and both companies have confirmed more collaborations are on the horizon.
If this latest gathering is any indication, the formula is working. Take a spectacular road, some extraordinary cars, a mountain lodge, a race-winning Le Mans car, and enough coffee to keep everyone grinding, and the result is automotive nirvana.
And from 2,262 metres above sea level, the view is not bad either.
More Bentley Stories
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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