03 Sep 07
I won't start droning on about the many and varied internal changes made to liberate more power from this Bentley Continental GT Speed's 6.0-litre, twin-turbo motor. But I'd not be doing my job if I failed to explain adequately not simply the sheer volume of performance offered by this absurdly fast new Bentley but also the manner in which that performance is delivered. So I'm afraid I have no choice but to talk about torque. Bear with me, this won't last long.
When you accelerate it is torque, not power, that you feel. Raw power will ultimately provide a car with a high top speed, but when you squeeze open the accelerator to pass a dawdling truck, it is torque that surges you forward and squirts you past. Why mention this now? Because the engine of this new Speed has more torque at idling speed than most cars do in their entirety.
At its peak, it develops substantially more torque than a Ferrari 599 GTB and that peak is not somewhere near its red line, but at 1,750rpm. So you can waft along at the gentlest of ambles and the moment you bury your right foot in the pleasingly deep carpet you see the prow rise, feel the car explode forward and hear not just the mighty roar of the vast engine but, if you are not alone, in all likelihood the screams of your passengers, too. It is a very pleasant way of passing the time.
Bentleys, of course, have never lacked low-down shove, indeed it's probably the single most consistent component that has been with the company since the day in 1919 when WO Bentley fired up the first car engine to bear his name. Unfortunately for Mr Bentley the engine was unsilenced and the mews house it was in was next to a nursing home where a patient lay dying. When a nurse duly remonstrated with WO and his team she was met with the suggestion that the unfortunate man was unlikely to find a finer sound to occupy his dying moments.
