In 1930, a sleek British Bentley famously beat the prestigious Blue Train across France—a daring race that became legend. But the story behind that Bentley began not in Europe, but decades earlier in the dusty mining town of Kimberley, South Africa.

Back in the 1870s, during the height of the diamond rush, a fortune was made in Kimberley, one that would eventually fund the founding of Bentley Motors and shape the world of endurance racing. That wealth, born from South African soil, powered not only the engineering of the car but also the ambition of the man behind the wheel.

So while the race itself took place between Cannes and Calais, its deeper origins trace back to the open plains and diamond fields of Kimberley. Without South Africa, there would have been no Bentley, no race, and no legend to inspire what would become The Great Train Race.

What began as a bold drive across France is, in truth, a story that starts right here, on South African ground.