Bentley Continental Flying Star

Bentley Continental Flying Star

Bentley Continental Flying Star
Bentley Continental Flying Star
Bentley Continental Flying Star
Bentley Continental Flying Star

Bentley Builds a Velvet Battering Ram

Bentley’s new flagship is a massive yet stately battering ram of an automobile that oh-so-politely says, “I am very important. Please do get out of my way.”

Nothing about the Mulsanne is subtle, from the 505-horsepower twin-turbo V8 propelling the behemoth to the optional 21-inch wheels carrying it. The Mulsanne almost makes a Cadillac Escalade on dubs look understated. This is a car that no more than a few thousand people will ever buy, and as such it provides the utmost luxury — and lets everyone know it.

“This car is obviously a statement,” Christophe Georges, the company’s president and chief operating officer, told Wired.com during a sneak-peek in San Francisco before the car was unveiled today at the Frankfurt auto show. “We want this car to be the pinnacle of Bentley.”

“Car” seems too plebeian for something that takes nine weeks to build and almost certainly costs more than $350,000.

Although Bentley remains a British company that has built cars in Crewe since W.O. Bentley spun wrenches, it is owned by Volkswagen. You can see Teutonic influence in the styling, which is muscular and athletic. The Mulsanne looks like it was milled from billet. It is huge, almost 219 inches long and 76 inches wide, but more graceful than the Rolls-Royce Phantom and Maybach 57. Bentley hasn’t said what the Mulsanne weighs, but the Arnage is just shy of three tons.

Bentley to Officially Debut Mulsanne Flagship

Technically speaking, Bentley already unveiled its Arnage successor at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, but the regal British automaker was tight-lipped about any specifics.

Details of the new Mulsanne will be unveiled tomorrow (September 15th) at the Frankfurt Auto Show, where we expect to learn about the impressive fuel-economy improvements Bentley has made with this new model. About all we do know is that the Mulsanne, much like the Arnage, is powered by a 6.75-liter V8. The engine has been reworked almost entirely, however, and we expect this model to be able to run on ethanol as well as gasoline. And of course, the engine’s power output will increase as well.

The design is certainly impressive with a massive front grille with huge circle headlights and lots of chrome.

As for the car’s name, it comes from the same place as the Arnage - France’s famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe race track. On that track the Mulsanne straight is actually two straights, which have been divided up with a chicane so as to limit the overall speed that race cars can achieve. Modern racers have to slow from over 200 mph to 65 mph to run the chicane, before taking to the second-half of the straight.

New Series 51 Bentley Continental Range

Series 51 Bentley Continental

Bentley Motors will preview an exciting new design direction for the company’s Continental GT and GTC models at the 2009 Frankfurt Show. The Series 51 Continental models represent Bentley exterior and interior styling at its most vibrant and will enable customers to order ‘off the peg’ from an exclusive range created by Dirk van Braeckel’s renowned team of Crewe-based designers.


Series 51 is named after the year that the first official styling department was established in Crewe by the gifted John Blatchley, who shaped the original and iconic 1950s Bentley Continentals. Every Series 51 car will feature a highly-distinctive interior colour palette and unique exterior design cues.

Bentley’s Colour and Trim team, managed by Melinda - June Jenkins, have designed some bespoke three-tone interiors which demonstrate the full potential of leather hide colours and showcase the creative application of contrast stitching and piping. The first example of their work will be the Continental GTC displayed at Frankfurt which features Imperial Blue as a main and secondary hide, Linen seat and door inserts and Newmarket Tan as the accent colour.

Series 51 cars will also feature several unique interior details including the use of non-indented hide for diamond quilting, contrast piping for the seats and doors as well as bespoke Series 51 treadplates.

Bentley’s designers have selected a range of premium-quality materials for the dashboard and centre console to complement the three-tone interiors. The Dark and Bright ‘Engine Spin’ aluminium options provide a striking contrast with darker and lighter hide colour choices and a special, limited-edition Amboyna veneer reserved for Series 51.

A belief that even the smallest detail presents an opportunity to delight and surprise customers has always be a key element of the Bentley design story. Series 51 follows this principle, where even the overmats and boot carpets are now colour matched and given contrast binding.

Spy Photos: Upcoming Grand Bentley Caught Testing

Now that more than a few people care about Bentley, mostly due to the phenomenal success of the Continental GT, the company has been hard at work on a new flagship sedan to replace the ancient Arnage.

Known only as the "Grand Bentley" up until this point, the new four-door will attempt to pull back some market share from the over-the-top Rolls-Royce Phantom. To assure plenty of attention, Bentley has gone with a pair of monster, gatling-gun type headlights that give it a very distinctive look up front.

Early spy photos posted by CAR magazine appeared to show a prototype in a Bentley plant and these latest shots confirm its identity. With its official world debut only weeks away, it won't be long until we get to see the final product.

2010 Bentley Continental Supersports First Drive

Getting to know the 2010 Bentley Continental Supersports is like discovering your rather crusty family lawyer spends his spare time slugging it out as a bare-knuckle boxer.

After all, this is Bentley, a brand that conjures up images of wood and leather, recollections of traditional craftsmen wearing white coats with pencils in the top pocket.

Instead the Bentley Continental Supersports will scare you witless.

From the Bentley Skunkworks
If you mash the aluminum throttle pedal of the 2010 Bentley Continental Supersports to the floor, what happens next is unlike any other car, let alone any other Bentley. It's not just the searing thrust coming from the 621-horsepower, twin-turbo 6.0-liter W12 engine, for there are other ultrahigh-performance cars that will also cannon you to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds. What makes the Continental Supersports unique is the incongruity of sitting within 2.5 tons of leather-lined British steel and then being fired at the horizon like an artillery shell.

The Supersports started life as one of those deliciously mad, out-of-hours, unofficial projects by a few obsessive Bentley engineers for whom there is no such concept as too fast or too powerful. And because Bentley has a small but noisy constituency of customers who feel the same way, it wasn't long before the undercover operation became part of the product plan.

It's appropriate that this new variation of the Continental GT has been dubbed "Supersports." It's meant to recall a two-passenger Bentley introduced in 1925, a lightweight, two-passenger derivative of the classic 3.0-liter Speed that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924. The Supersports incorporated some racing hardware and became the first production Bentley capable of reaching 100 mph.

The Continental Supersports is supposed to be just like this. Only it goes 204 mph. It's the Extreme Bentley.

Pop Art Bentley Continental GT

We’ve seen several designer cars over the years, some of the have worked better than others. Brazilian artist Romero Britto has decided to create a one-off piece for his “Come to my World” exhibition in Berlin, Germany. When the exhibition is over, the car will be auctioned off to raise funds for two charities.

The car itself is a static prototype built by Bentley in 2003 and donated to Romero Britto for the exhibition. The idea behind the car is to put a smile on people’s faces.

Romano was quoted as saying: “It (Bentley Continetal GT) is the most beautiful and elegant car in the world. The lines of the new design are perfect to paint as a clean canvas.”

He received a great deal of co-operation from the UK based company who donated the car to the exhibition. The Bentley can be seen at the Automobil Forum Unter den Linden from July 10 until September 6.

The car will be auctioned off in aid of the Nathalie Todenhöfer Foundation for multiple sclerosis and Best Buddies, a charity for the mentally challenged.

2010 Bentley GTC Speed talk with wind

2010 Bentley Continental GTC Speed – Click above for high-res image gallery

The Bentley Continental GT has been lauded and derided for being too much: too powerful, too fast, too easy, too big, too ubiquitous, and yes, too good. The convertible version, the Continental GTC, dismissed its roof but retained the excess. Now, Bentley has worked its "Speed" hocus-pocus in order to create a new variant of everyone's favorite over-the-top drop-top and Crewe's mad scientists have taken a vehicle that's already cranked to eleven and turned it up a notch or two... or three. Gloriously excessive excess awaits after the jump.
Doing anything to make the GTC a more engaging or – dare we say – a better vehicle, is like getting a letter from the man above telling you that Heaven is now 43% improved. Angels have bigger wings and more melodious songs, and the flowing milk and honey is now organic. What do you do with that? In the case of the GTC Speed, we felt it our duty to drive it as hard as possible – a job we're all too happy to tackle. But like that better heaven, the experience is difficult to relate.



No singular element of the hotted-up GTC is magical. Instead, it's about creating a comprehensively improved package. The Speed versions aren't merely badge jobs, they're the culmination of a methodical, holistic approach to advancement. And stylistically, the alterations are subtle – or as subtle as anything with a flying "B" can be. Some would say Bentley's Speed lineup doesn't distinguish itself enough from its non-Speed siblings, but a closer inspection reveals the details are obvious, assuming you know what to look for.

The grille is more upright and square, the lower intake is reshaped, and the mesh benefits from a slightly darker tint. If you absolutely need a chrome grille, it's yours as a no-cost option and the chrome bezels surrounding the headlamps tie it together. In back, you'll find a new rear spoiler that rises to attention during high-speed maneuvers, and below that are wider, twin-rifled exhaust tips and a black lower bumper valance. The only obvious indication that you optioned up your GTC to the hilt comes on the sill plates, which simply read "Speed." Otherwise, there's that delicious three-spoke steering wheel, drilled alloy pedals, and knurled chrome and leather shift lever.



Beneath the aesthetic details, the car has been reengineered. In fact, some of those aesthetic details assist the engineering: the revised front grille improves airflow by 14% to the 6.0-liter, twin-turbocharged W12. The engine, which is under new management, spins more freely thanks to lower friction, lighter-weight components that includes a new crankcase design, camshaft chain, pistons and connecting rods, all of which are covered with a manifold finished in crackle black.

The GTC Speed also hunkers lower by 10 mm in front and 15 mm in back on a redesigned suspension. Specific settings for the springs, dampers, and anti-roll bar were reworked for around-town comfort, and the Continuous Damping Control works to minimize the rolling of that prodigious body. The power steering has been tuned for better feedback (it's still a bit too light for our Rolex-free wrists), and actual response is meant to be enhanced by stiffer rear axle bushings.

Since the point of having more is to be able to do more with it, the GTC Speed's electronic stability program intervenes progressively, and permits more wheelspin when set on Dynamic.



Beyond the standard engineering flourishes are optional touches that, naturally, are both over-the-top and over-the-top expensive. The optional carbon ceramic brakes measure in at 16.5-inches in front, 14-inches out back. The front brakes are an inch larger than those on the Bugatti Veyron, making them the largest discs you can get on a production car. Bentley will tack on another $17,840 to the bill as larger wheels and tires are required to accommodate the upgraded stoppers. Adaptive cruise control is $3,040. A satin paint finish in light or dark gray is $32,360. And the list goes on and on...

But money isn't your concern if you're shopping for a GTC Speed. Luxury is. The Speed gets the Mulliner spec with its diamond-quilted hides, and those massaging seats feel so good that cows likely stood in line to offer up their hides. Bentley's in-dash control system is slowly creeping up on modernity, with fully-integrated iPod and Bluetooth connectivity (at a cost, mind you), but it's still not something we enjoy fiddling with. The aurally concussive, 1,100-watt Naim audio system can be heard from the mesosphere, but be forewarned: Put the wrong track on at the wrong volume, and you'll discover that the volume knob is the gatekey to blown eardrums and rattle nerves.



But obviously, the GTC Speed is more than just a faultless operating theater, a few cosmetic tweaks and a rejiggered suspension. This is a 600-horsepower convertible with 553 lb-ft of torque, capable of running to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 200 mph with the roof up or 195 mph topless. It's the most powerful convertible Bentley has ever made, which is like NASA saying "This is the most powerful Space Shuttle we've ever made. And new for this year, you can have it in Aquamarine or Blue Crystal." But you wouldn't...

Bentley describes the GTC Speed's handling as "agile." And it is. But how the crew from Crewe manipulated the GTC's composure is compelling. Weighing in at 5,478 pounds, the Speed is just 200 pounds shy of a Toyota Landcruiser and just five inches shorter than ToMoCo's off-road titan. In order to create some semblance of handling, we can only assume Bentley kidnapped the muse Agility, strong-armed her into the car, put a well-oiled Walther PPK to her temple and said, "You'll give me everything you've got!" The result is a vehicle that's agile, but it overcomes every natural force in the world to do so.

Massive speed is a blink away. Massive braking, when the ceramic stoppers are cold, comes on even a bit too soon - herky jerky is on the menu until you've worked them in. Once they've had time to warm up and stretch out, the pedal loosens and the GTC delivers clean, linear decelerations.



Assault a corner – and it is an assault – and the GTC Speed responds like the finest English butler: everything is put on hold, including physics and maybe even reason, so it can fulfill your orders. It doesn't care that it's too big, too heavy or too plush to perform the desired maneuver. And frankly, it doesn't care that your requests could border on the immoral. This is what you have asked. And it will deliver... sir. Can you go too far? Of course. But the penalty is a mild case of understeer, and you do have the largest brakes in the world and a tsunami of torque to bring you back. And if you go too far for even that – and that's a terribly long way off – well, we wish you the best in the afterlife... but you probably deserved it.

The GTC Speed has been described as being made for "customers who demand a more focused, open-top driving experience." But let's put "more focus" in perspective: The GTC delivers even more power and poise, physics be damned. It's just as roomy, but its leather isn't diamond-stitched unless you pay extra. The GTC has new, low-friction dampers, but not the suite of engineering changes found on the GTC Speed. But as we said before: the GTC is already ludicrously, impossibly, bafflingly able.



The GTC is phenomenal. Yes, the GTC Speed is more phenomenal, but in the difference between the GTC and the GTC Speed, we're really talking slivers here. They just happen, however, to be slivers of heaven. Fittingly, that sliver will run you nearly $40,000 – the GTC Speed starts at $237,695 – but living a nasty, short, and brutish life in a cruel, cruel world, every little extra bit of heaven counts, no?

details on next Bentley Continental

The next generation of Bentley’s volume model due to arrive in 2011 year.

Styling is once again directed by Dirk van Braeckel. Switching from a Volkswagen Phaeton to an Audi A8 front axle allows for a shorter front overhang and results in a longer wheelbase for the coupe; the track is wider as well. The larger footprint yields a roomier rear seat and trunk.

A mix of aluminum spaceframe and conventional steel helps shave some 400 pounds, dropping the curb weight of the coupe to about 4800 pounds. The big W-12 engine returns in upgraded form, now paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission. Expect 580 hp and 515 lb-ft of torque for the standard cars, 650 hp and 590 lb-ft for the Speed models. Later, a 4.2-liter turbo-diesel V-8 (375 hp, 590 lb-ft) could join the lineup, and a plug-in hybrid is also possible.

Bentley to hold a jumble sale

The sale is of Bentley and Rolls-Royce parts and accessories, and items for sale range from engine blocks and gearboxes to indicator bulbs and handbooks, all of them original and in branded packaging with a manufacturer warranty.

Steve O’Hara, Bentley’s director of aftersales, said: "Even our employees describe our parts and accessories operation as a ‘goldmine’ and we are slightly overawed by the sheer number and variety of parts and accessories we can supply.

"It is very rare for us to be able to open the doors like this so we hope that Bentley and Rolls-Royce aficionados will make the most of the opportunity."