The 1936 Pacey-Hassan Special was among the favorites at the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed. The unique Bentley single-seater completed the iconic Hillclimb to a fanfare reception from the capacity Goodwood crowd, surging across the line at over 100 mph.
Wally Hassan was arguably the greatest Bentley mechanic of his generation; after the company was sold in 1932, Hassan was retained to work directly for Woolf Bernato on his personal cars. Barnato decided to build an 8-litre Bentley Brooklands outer circuit single-seater (later to be known as the Barnato-Hassan). The purpose was to take the outright record at Brooklands. Bill Pacey approached Bernato and asked if his ‘mechanic’ could build him a 4 1/2 litre version at the weekends. As a result, the Pacey-Hassan was born.
The Pacey is now reported to produce over 230 bhp, which owner William Medcalf used the full extent off during his runs. “My first Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb was awesome to say the very least. Driving up the hill was epic each and every time and the Pacey-Hassan didn’t let me down. It’s always fun drifting the bends with plenty of spectators present, and the Goodwood faithful certainly took to the car when it was in the paddock, too! I think it’s safe to say we demonstrated that the car is every bit as good today as it was 81 years ago.”
[Source: William Medcalf Vintage Bentley; photos: Jayson Fong]
