2010 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed

Any company that names its performance models "Speed" is just fine by us, especially when it's not just marketing hype. The Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed is quite a mouthful, but in this case it's an entirely accurate description. With its 6.0-liter, twin-turbo W-12 engine tuned to deliver 48 more horses and 74 additional lb.-ft. than the regular Continental Flying Spur (it also gets retuned suspension and sticky Pirelli P Zero tires on 20-in. rims), the CFS Speed is a car that will hit a genuine 200 mph on the autobahn while barely breaking a sweat.

Yes, the Bentley's sheer, um, speed is astonishing. And there's nothing wrong with its acceleration, either. The 0-60 mph sprint is dispatched in just 4.2 sec., and the quarter-mile in 12.9 sec. at 106.7 mph. Pretty impressive for a sedan weighing a stout 5482 lb. Part of the reason is the herculean W-12 under that stubby hood. Nailing the gas is like opening the floodgates of the Hoover dam; you surf an irresistible surge of thrust as the CFS lunges for the far horizon. But the Bentley's all-wheel-drive system -- unique among super-luxury sedans -- also makes sure every last one of the CFS Speed's 600 horses and 553 lb.-ft. of torque gets to the pavement.
2010 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed Left Side
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But what's really impressive about this car is its chassis. Like their counterparts at Porsche, Bentley's chassis engineers seem determined to build a car that defies the laws of physics. The CFS Speed grips and steers and punches through turns almost like a sport sedan. True, it works its front tires very hard, and the AWD layout robs the steering of some clarity, but after an exhilaratingly fast run along a canyon road you get out of the CFS Speed shaking your head and grinning like a loon at the sheer implausibility of what you've just done. No car this big, this heavy, this luxurious should be this good in the twisties.

Setting the CFS Speed's suspension in comfort or normal modes caramel-coats the road impacts from the sports-oriented tires without diluting the precision of their responses. Sport mode makes the ride noticeably busier, and generates some noise through the steering during hard cornering, but keeps the body nicely tied down. The big Bentley tracks like a bullet train on the freeway, even in gusty crosswinds, regardless of the suspension setting.

2010 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed

Any company that names its performance models "Speed" is just fine by us, especially when it's not just marketing hype. The Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed is quite a mouthful, but in this case it's an entirely accurate description. With its 6.0-liter, twin-turbo W-12 engine tuned to deliver 48 more horses and 74 additional lb.-ft. than the regular Continental Flying Spur (it also gets retuned suspension and sticky Pirelli P Zero tires on 20-in. rims), the CFS Speed is a car that will hit a genuine 200 mph on the autobahn while barely breaking a sweat.

Yes, the Bentley's sheer, um, speed is astonishing. And there's nothing wrong with its acceleration, either. The 0-60 mph sprint is dispatched in just 4.2 sec., and the quarter-mile in 12.9 sec. at 106.7 mph. Pretty impressive for a sedan weighing a stout 5482 lb. Part of the reason is the herculean W-12 under that stubby hood. Nailing the gas is like opening the floodgates of the Hoover dam; you surf an irresistible surge of thrust as the CFS lunges for the far horizon. But the Bentley's all-wheel-drive system -- unique among super-luxury sedans -- also makes sure every last one of the CFS Speed's 600 horses and 553 lb.-ft. of torque gets to the pavement.
2010 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed Left Side
Click to view Gallery
But what's really impressive about this car is its chassis. Like their counterparts at Porsche, Bentley's chassis engineers seem determined to build a car that defies the laws of physics. The CFS Speed grips and steers and punches through turns almost like a sport sedan. True, it works its front tires very hard, and the AWD layout robs the steering of some clarity, but after an exhilaratingly fast run along a canyon road you get out of the CFS Speed shaking your head and grinning like a loon at the sheer implausibility of what you've just done. No car this big, this heavy, this luxurious should be this good in the twisties.

Setting the CFS Speed's suspension in comfort or normal modes caramel-coats the road impacts from the sports-oriented tires without diluting the precision of their responses. Sport mode makes the ride noticeably busier, and generates some noise through the steering during hard cornering, but keeps the body nicely tied down. The big Bentley tracks like a bullet train on the freeway, even in gusty crosswinds, regardless of the suspension setting.

2010 Bentley Continental Supersports

2010 Bentley Continental Supersports

200 mph Bentley: Big , Fast, Luxurious

The 2010 Bentley Continental Supersports is the fastest and most luxurious Bentley to date.

It is a car that can be used every day as a luxury sport cruiser. This Bentley weighs just below 5000 pounds and has 621 horsepower but can still do the note to sixty in just 3.7 seconds.

The car is finished with black on black and black wheels which gives it a seriously stealth look.

Leno is a huge Bentley Enthusiast with many of them in his collection. Here is Jay Leno's take on the car in the video below.

2010 Bentley Continental Supersports

2010 Bentley Continental Supersports

200 mph Bentley: Big , Fast, Luxurious

The 2010 Bentley Continental Supersports is the fastest and most luxurious Bentley to date.

It is a car that can be used every day as a luxury sport cruiser. This Bentley weighs just below 5000 pounds and has 621 horsepower but can still do the note to sixty in just 3.7 seconds.

The car is finished with black on black and black wheels which gives it a seriously stealth look.

Leno is a huge Bentley Enthusiast with many of them in his collection. Here is Jay Leno's take on the car in the video below.

2010 Bentley Continental Supersports First Drive

If you keep the throttle mashed, you can hit 140+ on Monticello Motor Club's long straight. Massive carbon-ceramic front rotors bleed off speed, and you'll flick the downshift paddle numerous times in preparation for the (relatively) low-speed first corner. Aluminum suspension components and sticky Pirelli's bite hard, and once past the apex, you'll press the twin-turbocharged, 12-cylinder engine's 590 pound-feet of torque back into the New York track's surface.

Lapping Monticello in a 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning prototype? No. It's a leather-lined, roadgoing Bentley. One that weighs 5000 pounds, at that. Welcome to the latest, hottest, best-performing model in the Continental lineup, called Supersports.
"We had one group of engineers working on getting more power out of our 6.0-liter W-12 engine," says Brian Gush, Bentley's director of Powertrain and Chassis Engineering. "Another was addressing vehicle weight reduction. A third was working on the ZF transmission, in search of quicker shifts. We decided to meld these efforts together, add a body/chassis improvement program, and make the ultimate Continental GT."

If there's one thing the Continental suffers from, it's weight. There's just too much of it, and too much of it on the front end; all of the engine sits forward of the front axle line. So out came the scales. Semi-racing style, non-power-adjustable Sparco seats account for the first 100 pounds out of the middle. As the Supersports was conceived to compete with cars like the Ferrari 599 Fiorano and the Aston Martin DBS, the rear seats hit the dumpster entirely. This, and extensive use of carbon-fiber trim, saved another 57 pounds in the cabin.

Switching from iron to the aforementioned carbon-ceramic front brake rotors saved another 44 pounds. This move gets bonus points, as the weight lost here is unsprung and also reciprocating mass, so this seemingly small benefit is vast. Lighter binders allow suspension components that could be designed 20 pounds lighter. The Supersports' new 20-inch wheels weigh 5.5 pounds a corner less than those on other Continentals. All the abs crunches led to over 240 pounds less girth.

2010 Bentley Continental Supersports

$267,000 - that’s how much you’ll have to cash out to own the fastest, most powerful Bentley ever produced - otherwise known as the Bentley Continental Supersports. You can place your order starting October 2009.

Power comes from a 6.0L W12 twin-turbocharged engine making 621-hp and a maximum torque of 590 lb-ft. The engine is capable of running on gasoline and E85 biofuel or any combination of the two. Keep in mind that the first couple hundred units headed to the U.S. will be gas only.

2010 Bentley Continental GT

An employee from Bentley gave Dutch reporters from AutoTelegraaf a few clues of key updates for Bentley’s top selling Continental GT at the recent Geneva Motor Show. The facelifted model is due to be released by the end of the year, ahead of the launch of an all-new model in early 2010.

The major change will be an upgrade to the 6.0L W12 engine that’s expected to churn out 560hp, up from the current car’s 554hp output. The new version is also expected to receive several minor cosmetic changes including new bumpers and wheel designs.