Birtles and the Bean: Why driving a top-down sports car in the rain is a bad idea

While driving from Slovenia to Croatia on their epic journey, Warren Brown and Matthew Benns learned why travelling in a top-down sports care isn’t always the best idea.

The rain - when it hits - is like a bomb exploding.

Nothing prepares you for the stinging needle point stings of rain drops against your face at 100 km/h or your goggles fogging so badly that you can barely see the lines on the road.

The sun was out in Ljubljana, Slovenia, when we left early in the morning but clouds were gathering over the mountains in Croatia just 140 km and 90 minutes away in Croatia.

The 100-year-old Bean 14 roadster was roaring along happily, eating up the kilometres and then the rain was upon us in a grey deluge that left huge lakes across the road and threw clouds of spray from howling articulated trucks roaring by.

Motoring has come a long way in 100-years. To the other motorists, safely cocooned in their modern, heated vehicles with wipers batting away the water as Apple CarPlay kept them entertained it was just a passing storm.

News Corp journalist Matthew Benns and Cartoonist Warren Brown in a car called The Bean drove into a rain bomb between Slovenia and Croatia. Picture: Supplied.

In the Bean, with water leaking through coat seams and fogged goggles dripping, it was a shocking, raging torrent of water, wind and noise.

Well, no one said driving from London to Melbourne in a vintage open-topped car was going to be easy. Certainly not Slovenia’s top TV stars David Urankar, who fronts The Morning Show, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host Jure Godler, who looked at the Bean with a mix of envy and horror.

They interviewed The Daily Telegraph’s Bean team of cartoonist Warren Brown and Editor-at-large Matthew Benns about their 24,000 km drive from London to Melbourne as they passed through the Balkans.

“We are a country of two million people and we have 1.2 million cars registered,” Mr Urankar said. “We really love our cars, especially the old timers like this Bean.

“It is easy for us to drive cars for our show but it is not easy to drive them dressed in character like you guys for such a long time.”

Matthew Benns and Cartoonist Warren Brown in a car called The Bean journeyed from Slovenia to Croatia, meeting Slovenian RTV Morning Show presenter David Urankar and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host Jure Godler. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Godler was keen to join the expedition. “It is absolutely my dream job what you are doing,” he said. “Although I would take a more modern open topped car like a Caterham Seven.”

Matevz Slabnik, transport curator at Slovenia’s Technical Museum, was not surprised the Slovenian public had embraced the Bean with waves and the honking of horns as it passed through the country.

“We are a country of car lovers and have a proud history of making our own vehicles,” he said.

The museum houses the car collection of former President Tito including the car he used to drive actress Sophia Loren around the country when she visited.

“But we don’t have a Bean and in truth I have never seen one before,” Mr Slabnik said of The Daily Telegraph Bean, which is the same model Francis Birtles used to drive from London to Melbourne 100 years ago.

“Nowadays you can see that taking a car like that across the world is a bold move but 100 years ago it was a serious danger to life,” he said.

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Originally published as Birtles and the Bean: Why driving a top-down sports car in the rain is a bad idea