IN THIS FEATURE Life in the very fast lane 552bhp is the bare minimum 180mph is easy An astonishing achievement The mark of a true Bentley

And suddenly we're doing 200mph - there are no fireworks in the sky and certainly no rejoicing on board for I need all my concentration now - but I am privately staggered that any car this big, this luxurious and this comfortable can also be so bloody fast.

But it wasn't done yet. Faster and faster it went, making use of the coincidence of the slight downhill gradient and a mild tailwind around the back of the track to take us all the way to 208mph. We went no faster, not because there was no more to come but simply because the Bentley hit its rev-limiter in top gear, which immediately killed the power. Had it been another 50rpm higher, we'd have done 210mph I have no doubt.

Rev limiter stopped progress

Of course, that's not its true top speed for the track's circular nature meant that directly opposite the downhill section where the wind was behind us, there was an uphill stretch into the wind. But even here it never did less than 196mph, suggesting very strongly to me that the Flying Spur's true top speed is at least 202mph.

And however academic is that figure (and however much I hope that no owner ever attempts to find out in public what I discovered on a purpose-built private test track) it is still an astonishing achievement.