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Bentley
Continental Flying Spur Speed
Sales figures showed the Bentley Continental GT Speed had been an immediate success and thus the path was smoothened to upgrade the other versions by adding Speed variants, too. Bentley did the second step by launching the 4-door Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed at the London Motor Show in July 2008. The car had a complete package for more dynamic handling, improved acceleration and higher top speed. Sprint time 0 – 60 mph was 4 ½ seconds and the top speed of 200 mph (322 km/h) touched what was considered by a wide majority as some sort of a "magic barrier". The company offered a highly sophisticated solution for rapid deceleration, too, in the form of optionally available cross-drilled carbon/ceramic disc brakes.
Carbon/ceramic brakes are particularly resistant against fading. The discs with 420mm diameter front and 335mm diameter rear could only be fitted with 20” light alloy wheels. That was no disadvantage as in addition to the increase in stopping power thus the attractive appearance of the 4-door saloon was enhanced. The brakes were offered with an explanation it was expected that one set would endure for the whole lifetime of the car. Significant influence on deceleration had another extra, too, Bentley's Adaptive Cruise Control. Using a long-range radar sensor that was mounted in the lower front grille ACC did monitor the road ahead for other vehicles. On detecting a slower moving vehicle, the system automatically adjusted braking and acceleration to maintain a ‘time gap’, as selected by the driver. The vehicle’s dynamic response was also controlled by the ‘time gap’. An increased time gap meant more relaxed acceleration and braking, the driver was able to tune the ACC system to suit the preferred driving attitude or according to traffic conditions.
The engine's output had been increased to 600bhp (610PS) and an enormous torque of 553 lb ft (750Nm) was provided from 1700 to 5600rev/min and guaranteed unbroken performance. An added bonus were paddles behind the steering wheel permitting to select gear-changes manually although it is worth a note that only highly trained drivers thus could do better than what was done by automatic gear-changes. Co-operation between Bentley and British hi-fi manufacturer Naim had borne fruit in the form of an in-car entertainment system featuring an 1100 Watt amplifier (the most powerful in a production car) and 15 custom-built speakers. It was highly sophisticated system, with a next-generation digital signal processor tuned perfectly well to the cabin’s peculiarities. Bentley decided to make the Naim system a available as an extra on all their models from August 2008 onward.
Technical Data Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed:
(Photos: Bentley Motors) |
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