For 10 years, the Continental GT has defined the luxury grand touring segment. Now, with the GT Speed, it’s added ridiculously high performance to the mix. Imran Malik grabs the flagship by the horns
Inside the four-seat cabin, Bentley has appointed a new diamond-quilted design for the seats and door panels. Checkered fascia panels, 10 different veneers, and myriad color options for stitching and leather colors are also available. The convertible comes with the customary neck warmer that blows warm air from behind the front seats toward their occupants.
As is typical with Bentley, there are plenty of options to make this car unique on the outside, with the aforementioned rear spoiler, front splitter, Supersports badging, side decals, and glossy carbon-fiber engine cover. In addition, extremely pricey but coveted bespoke options are formulated at the brand’s Mulliner facility in England, with virtually no limits to what look the car assume.
With the drilled-alloy throttle floored into the plush deep red carpet of the Continental GT Speed, the fastest Bentley ever produced, the world around me dissolves into a mesmerising blur. The 6.0-litre twin turbocharged W12 is emitting a deafening roar and the needle in the speedo is at the extreme right of the gauge. The revs are still climbing but the stretch of tarmac I’m on isn’t long enough to accommodate this 616bhp road missile. I back off to a more respectable speed, but coming down from where I’ve just been, 200kph feels slow.
It’s now capable of reaching 330kph and there is so much more fire in its considerable belly that it can despatch the 0-100kph sprint in 4.2 seconds flat.
The legendary W12 has been stoked by 100Nm, the cooling system further improved and the chassis has been upgraded to handle the extra 49 horses. The aluminium double wishbone front and trapezoidal multi-link rear setup now gains air suspension and dampers for improved agility and body control. The GT Speed packs such a ferocious punch that you’d really think twice about whether to prod the loud pedal with anything but a girly tap. Anything more and you awaken the 48-valve giant sitting inches in front you.
This thing delivers thunderous, supercar performance and somehow manages to channel all that anger onto the road without spinning off wildly into a hedge. It’s nothing short of miraculous. Standard fitment on all Continentals is permanent all-wheel drive with a central Torsen differential (biased 60/40 in favour of the rear) which certainly ensures massive amounts of grip, as do the sticky 275 35R21 Pirelli PZero ultra-high performance tyres.
The uprated steering provides plenty of feedback and is perfectly weighted; not too light and not too heavy but you can’t really toss this nose-heavy, 2,750kg behemoth around.
You might expect the GT Speed to sound like a frenzied monster on the loose but it’s far from obnoxiously loud. After all, this is the gentleman’s race car. Therefore, the exhaust (developed from the free-breathing Continental Supersports Ice Speed Record car) produces a refined rather than raspy growl under hard acceleration.
Source: gulfnews
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