Beauty and the beast
No smoking or vaping in the paddock area, please,” booms the voice over the tannoy at Goodwood Festival of Speed. The need for a warning seems strange given the clear proximity of volatile fuel and the smell of hot oil. Engines rev and roar as cars are made ready; distantly, they howl and scream along the famous Hillclimb course. Amid the mêlée is a glamorous figure in a white racing suit bearing the logo ‘Bentley Belles’. Katarina Kyvalova will shortly be driving one of only two 1929 Birkin Blowers that raced at Le Mans in 1930. Part of Bentley Motors’ own heritage collection, with an insured value of £25m, it is one of the most valuable Bentleys in existence.
Kyvalova is German, based in Hamburg, but a committed Anglophile. “You cannot find this level of passion for historic car racing anywhere else,” she says, accommodating a succession of selfie-seekers. She remains unfazed by the building excitement. “I’d like to get my pilot’s licence next,” she confides. “I
