CREWE’S MISSILE BASE
THERE’S SOMETHING OF a Blues Brothers moment about this. The instructor and I are sitting in a brand-new Bentley Continental GT Speed, a full 650bhp-worth of W12-powered British beef, and, while it’s not dark, we do have a full tank of unleaded and – because we’re in Sicily, and it’s sunny – we’re wearing sunglasses. Playing Jake to my Elwood, my instructor says: ‘Hit it!’
Normally, I would require little encouragement. But this is the most fascinating ‘test track’ I’ve ever been to, and I really want to spend some time drinking in the atmosphere. Bentley has pulled off an amazing coup and gained access to a derelict US airbase that once housed more than 100 nuclear cruise missiles. The largest such facility in Southern Europe, it was in the front line of Cold War defence during the 1980s and was a self-contained town in its own right, complete with municipal-sized supermarket, swimming pool, hospital and houses for thousands for personnel.
The missiles were decommissioned in 1991 and the airbase has lain derelict since then. Trees and bushes grow up through the sidewalks; faded road markings warn ghostly drivers of
