15 Sep 06
At 12,000 feet above sea level, the air gets thin and the sun gets strong. If you're driving a convertible car you'd better smear on some sunscreen. And if you're trying to catch your breath, be prepared for some empty gasps.
Thin air is no problem for the most magnificent, most capable and most complete convertible I have ever driven, though.
The Bentley Continental GTC, like its closed-roof GT coupe and Flying Spur saloon siblings, has a 560bhp, 5,998cc, W12 engine whose two turbochargers compensate for the thin air by working a little harder. All you feel is a barely perceptible increase in turbo lag, an increase lost in the softness of the automatic transmission and made almost irrelevant by the torrent of cultured torque that follows.
We've experienced this magnificent engine before, of course, but in the open GTC it takes on a new character. The exhaust note is deep and, at times when the silencer bypasses are open, surprisingly resonant. It lends the GTC an unexpectedly sporting air; it's proud to flaunt its mighty engine, instead of trying to hide it in a mistaken quest for perfect refinement. Bentleys have won at Le Mans, after all.
Work the engine hard, letting it rev in the way the old-school V8 Arnage would never countenance, and you'd almost think you're being followed by a Porsche 911 complete with muffled pops and burbles as you feather the throttle. It makes sense: a W12 is two VR6s spliced together on a common, contorted and fragile-looking crankshaft - and each VR6 makes the beating howl usual in a non-inline six-cylinder engine. With two of them working together, the sound becomes a richer version of the solo one but the note doesn't fundamentally change.
