Yet another of those strange requests that come our way from time to time. This new Bentley Brooklands was bought by someone who intended shipping it to Japan. What was needed, therefore, was a navigation system and radio that would function correctly in Japan.

When the factory build a Brooklands (or Azure/Arnage) for the Japanese market, the car is fitted with an Alpine navigation system (cars for other markets use the Siemens VDO system). Unfortunately, after lengthy conversations with Bentley and Alpine, it became apparent that this system was no longer available.

After a good deal of research, we identified a Pioneer system that would, with a degree of adjustment, suit the Brooklands. Eventually (language being a bit of a barrier), we made contact with an extremely helpful company in Japan (thank you Shinobu & Eiji of www.contact.jp) who supplied us with the requisite parts.

Integrating everything with the car was soon resolved, though we did need to make some alterations to the original navigation screen housing. Once completed, we were faced with the problem of working out if everything was functioning correctly – a problem when everything is in Japanese! Fortunately, Atsu from Alpine UK was kind enough to visit and make sure things were functioning as intended.