The race, he says, “is where the legend of Bentley was formed”.

Taking a page from the automaker’s founder, Walter Bentley, Hallmark understands that good things are worth waiting for: “It took 11 years for the 23-year-old engineer’s idea to become the most famous racing car and luxury brand on earth.”

Hallmark left Bentley Motors after six years but returned in 2018 as CEO, with clear ideas about steering the brand towards rapid decarbonisation, electrification and all-round sustainability. It sounds slightly paradoxical for a luxury brand but it is a timely approach. “We see it as essential to justify the world of luxury products,” explains Hallmark. “We’ve got to be cleaner-than-clean and ethically transparent.” In fact, Bentley already has a carbon-neutral factory, the second in the Volkswagen group.

Being in a position to change the way the present will affect our future, he says there is no time better than now when it comes to taking action: “We are going to see massive changes in three to five years, and then in 10 to 15 years we will have no engines.”

Rapid developments in carbon-neutral fuels and batteries will soon render liquid fuel a thing of the past. And the pace at which innovations are taking shape has this long-time auto veteran longing for what everyone desires: more time.

Citing all the work involved in advancing the accuracy of GPS – down to mere millimetres – and explaining the processes an autonomous car would have to execute in split seconds, Hallmark feels there’s no better time than now to be a part of the automotive world.

“I wish I were 20 years younger, rather than in the autumn of my career, because there is more innovation potential in the next couple of decades than in the past 100 years in terms of mobility.”

Adrian’s favourite watches

Unsurprisingly, as a car-man, Hallmark’s favourites are inspired by the world of automobiles, from the timeless Daytona from Rolex – beloved by adrenaline-loving actor Paul Newman, too – to a brand-new 2020 Breitling collaboration with Bentley themselves.

“I buy watches to wear, not as an investment, and bought the Rolex Paul Newman Daytona (a celebration of the original 1960s design with a silver dial and red hands) in the early 2000s. I wore it daily and scratched it to pieces; it now lives in a box. I bought a new blue-faced one a couple of years ago and rotate between the two.”

“We were going to launch the new Breitling Premier Bentley Mulliner Limited Edition at the Geneva Car Show, which was cancelled, so we launched it at Bentley – virtually. I wore a loaned one for a couple of months and bought one in the UK in June, when the lockdown was lifted.”

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