I'm travelling at the approximate speed of privilege. With the aluminum accelerator of the
buried to its neck in the high-pile carpet of the floorboard, the
6.0-liter twin-turbocharged W12 underhood is at full boast. The 616
furious British horses pumping under that long, proud prow set the
German countryside to frappé with breathless ease, and with the
sprawling sheetmetal of the coupe settled comfortably onto its haunches
in eager anticipation of ever more thrust, it's clear this machine is
content to consume endless kilometers of
in wide-mouthed gulps. There's an open lane of unrestricted tarmac
unraveling before me, and I'm keen to oblige every thread of temptation
singing in my chest. The speedometer has just clicked past 165 mph.
At this clip, the new crown jewel of the Bentley war chest is covering
land at the rate of nearly one football field per second. The white
lines on the road are beginning to fade into a solid stream, and I'm
suddenly aware of the increasingly rapid heartbeat whispering the truth
of my mortality in my ears. There's no looking anywhere other than as
far to the horizon as possible, but even with my eyes set to long-range
scan, it's clear that if something goes wrong at this velocity, they'll
be burying an empty box in the hills of Tennessee. That little bit of
trivia makes it all the more disconcerting when an ambling
strays into my lane for no other reason than to take in the glorious
sight of me manufacturing a stack of bricks in the quilted-leather
driver's seat of someone else's $228,600 supercar.
Save one very impressive underwater
Lego fortress from my 11th
Christmas,
I have never wanted anything so badly as I want to bring this machine
down from speed. I delve into the carbon silicon-carbide brakes on the
2013 Continental GT Speed with as much force as I dare, keenly aware of
the dark hilarity that could ensue from introducing words like "panic,"
"stop" or "ABS" to this recipe. The nose of the big
Bentley
heads for the ground, but we're still closing the gap at an
uncomfortable clip. The lub-dub in my ears ceases altogether, and I take
a brief moment to hope my wife and her next husband spend my life
insurance with the same gusto in which it was earned.
Despite our rapid deceleration, the Conti and I are still in imminent
danger of punting that damn Jetta clear past the frosted tips of the
Alps and straight into Mongolia, forcing me to cease my polite petitions
for sensible speed and grab a foot-full of pedal. We are at threshold.
My adrenal glands are humming the entire score of Wagner's
Flight of the Valkyries
at triple pace as the GT Speed wiggles its hips, claws at the concrete
with physics-bending grip and settles in at 70 mph a solid 10 car
lengths behind the Jetta of Doom. The driver calmly signals before
wandering back to the right. At some point, I remember to resume
breathing.
It took Bentley three years to create the new Continental GT Speed.
A top speed of 205 mph may seem impressive, but trust me when I say that
feat isn't nearly as amazing as being able to capably deduct 95 mph
from the speedometer on command. This is one hell of a machine.
It will take a keen eye to differentiate the 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed from the rest of the
Continental
family. Subtle exterior tweaks like a new dark-mesh grille, 10-spoke
21-inch wheels and rifled exhaust outlets are just about all that set
this machine apart from its more common kin outside. But the quiet
changes betray substantial mechanical revisions beneath. It took Bentley
three years to create the new Continental GT Speed with substantial
tweaks to the machine's drivetrain, cooling system, aerodynamics, brakes
and chassis. The result is the fastest production vehicle to ever wear
the company's badge.
Indoors, buyers can expect to find new quilted door panels paired with
drilled aluminum pedals, knurled shift lever trim and standard "engine
sign" aluminum trim work. Our tester came with the optional carbon fiber
veneer, and while the look befits the sportiest member of the
Continental line, were it our money, we would prefer to see the
company's superb wood trim work at play in the cabin. It takes Bentley's
team of woodworkers 17-25 man hours to craft a matching set of wood
veneer trim for Continental, and the finished product looks good enough
to lick. Wood trim is a standard alternative to the aluminum gear.
The cockpit remains impressively quiet even well above the triple digit barrier.
Otherwise, the cabin remains the same sumptuous nest of the nouveau
riche we've always known and loved. The full 9 to 10 matched bull hides
are all in attendance from headliner to kick panel and everywhere in
between, and the cockpit remains impressively quiet even well above the
triple digit barrier.
While designers left the 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed largely
unmolested, the manufacturer's engineers allowed the twin-turbocharged
6.0-liter W12 engine no quarter. The company scrapped the mill's old
engine management system for the new Bosch ME17 platform. Capable of
dishing out up to 180 million calculations per second, this new tech
allows the big grand tourer to more accurately manage the engine's fuel
system, turbochargers and spark for optimum power and efficiency. The
machine's full 590 pound-feet of torque piles on from just 2,000 rpm and
plateaus all the way to just past 4,000 rpm, while the breadth of the
616 horsepower steps onto the dance floor at 6,000 rpm.
Of course, big power and big speed require serious cooling, which is why
everything behind the front fascia has been restructured. At full bore,
the new GT Speed shoves the equivalent air volume of a mid-sized
conference room through its radiator every second, which allows the
machine to achieve its full 205 mph top end at ambient air temperatures
of up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. With coolers for the transmission,
differential and oil, the beast's nose is a busy slice of real estate.
The drivetrain can hustle the 5,115-pound 2013 GT Speed to 60 mph in a scant four seconds flat.
Speaking of the transmission, Bentley turned to
ZF
to supply an eight-speed automatic transmission capable of ripping off
shifts in the .1 second range. For comparison's sake, a traditional
slusher can pull the same stunt in .4 seconds, while a dual-clutch unit
can swap its cogs in around .2 seconds. Stick the shifter in manual
mode, click through the awkwardly placed column-mounted paddles and the
GT Speed will oblige with quicker-than-you-can-think swaps. Very
impressive. More importantly, the box's logic allows the transmission to
"block shift," or kick down up to five gears in a single step should
engine and road speed allow. The result is a gearbox that's always ready
to plant the full grunt of the big W12 on the machine's all-wheel-drive
system.
The drivetrain can hustle the 5,115-pound 2013 GT Speed to 60 mph in a
scant four seconds flat, and according to Bentley, the 100-mph barrier
falls in nine seconds even. Each plunge of the accelerator is like
beating Newton about the head and face with a sock full of pennies.
Repeatedly.
If you aren't sitting agape at this vehicle's ludicrous sprint times,
odds are you're still stuck on that curb weight figure. There's no
escaping the fact that the new stud in the Bentley stable is a portly
steed, but engineers managed to cut some 385 pounds from the standard
Continental GT W12. That's thanks in part to the use of copious amounts
of aluminum, including in the hood and trunk lid, though there are other
tricks at play as well. The new 21-inch wheels, for example, are
15-percent lighter than any other 10-spoke on the company's option sheet
while remaining 79-percent stiffer. Likewise, the optional $13,600
carbon ceramic brakes of our tester shed 20 kg pounds of unsprung weight
over all four corners.
Engineers managed to cut some 385 pounds from the standard Continental GT W12.
Speaking of brakes, the 16.5-inch front carbon ceramic discs have the
distinction of being the largest of their kind on any production vehicle
in the world, and they're pressed by eight-piston calipers. Out back,
the 13.1-inch carbon rotors get squeezed by four piston clamps. As
standard equipment, the 2013 Continental GT Speed makes use of 15.9-inch
cast iron rotors at the nose and 13.1-inch units in the tail.
Bentley also paid special attention to firming up the vehicle's
suspension. The machine is now 45-percent stiffer up front and
33-percent firmer in the rear thanks to revised springs, dampers,
bushings and a larger rear sway bar. In addition, the sporting
Continental rides almost half an inch lower than the standard W12 model,
and the machine's continuous damping control automatically firms up the
ride further as the speed increases.
That counts for quite a bit at velocities of over 130 mph. The GT Speed
feels solid and poised, even as the speedometer reaches for the right
side of the dash. A special hidden spoiler tucked just under the rear
glass deploys at speeds over 90 mph to increase downforce, and Bentley
claims the mini wing can deliver the equivalent of up to 275 pounds of
weight to the rear axle at 205 mph. Likewise, a ZF steering rack
delivers less and less assist as speeds increase, helping to give the GT
Speed confident composure even as it threatens to vacuum lesser
Volkswagen products through its grille.
The driveline is refined enough to wear the buttoned-down Bentley badge despite the high-strung powerplant on hand.
Dip off the autobahn and into a few winding Alpine passes, and the
machine presents itself as remarkably poised for a creation of this
girth. The driveline is refined enough to wear the buttoned-down Bentley
badge despite the high-strung powerplant on hand. That changes with one
slide of the shifter, however. Clicking the shifter back into its sport
mode sharpens the driving experience markedly, offering readier
downshifts, longer gear holds and firmer steering while simultaneously
opening up the oval exhaust for all sorts of pops and crackles. There
are drawbacks, however. Sport mode curses the GT Speed with hard shifts
punctuated with the clack of driveline lash. The experience is at odds
with the coupe's leather-swaddled cabin, though the result is easy
enough to forgive while hammering from one apex to the next. Forget to
slide the transmission back into its standard mode in a small town,
however, and you'll be left wondering what sort of antics are going on
under the car.
This big Bentley manages to elegantly toe the line between comfortable grand tourer and snarling muscle-bound prize fighter.
That qualm aside, it's hard not to find yourself swooning under the
Continental GT Speed's spell. Bentley even claims the car is good for up
to 20 mpg highway, though the 13 mpg city and 15 mpg combined could
certainly increase your familiarity with your local fuel stop. Then
again, we reckon that to be less of an issue when there's an oil field
with your name on the deed.
Starting at $215,000, the 2013 Continental GT Speed isn't for those of
us mired in the toils of a proletariat existence, and while there are
certainly quicker machines available for equivalent cash, this big
Bentley manages to elegantly toe the line between comfortable grand
tourer and snarling muscle-bound prize fighter in a unique way. This
class of cars is all about cultivating desire, and there's plenty worth
wanting in the newest capstone to the Bentley line. The only question is
whether to pounce on this bruiser now or to wait for the arrival of the
inevitable Super Sports variant. I've never been one much for patience,
myself.
