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Gautam Singhania, Chairman & Managing Director of Raymond Ltd. and Founding Chairman of the SCC led the entourage of supercars. Trophies were handed over to the most desirable cars at the end of the show.
Bentley will launch its long-awaited twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine at the Detroit motor show early next month, promising “an instantly recognisable growl”.
The new Continental Supersports, the first Bentley to use FlexFuel technology which enables it to run on E85 biofuel, gasoline or any combination of these two fuels, has further underlined its green credentials by meeting the 85% recyclability standard (95% for recoverability) demanded of all the Bentley Continental range.
In May 2009 Bentley received the official recycling pre-certification (in accordance with the EÚ Directive 2005/64/EG) from the German Motor Transport Authority (KBA) – thereby becoming one of the first luxury car manufacturers to attain this standard.
Type approval then followed from TÜV, the independent testing and certification service supplier, and now, with the addition of the Continental Supersports to this certification, the entire Bentley Continental range meets this exacting standard. The certificate, which is only awarded after detailed independent scrutiny of the car, assures the fact that virtually all the Continental's materials can be reused or reprocessed by other industries.
The Crewe-built Supercar, which is now arriving in Bentley showrooms, is the most extreme production car in the company's 90-year history. Capable of reaching 204 mph (329km/h), it is also the lightest road-going Bentley having shed some 110kg through a broad programme of weight reduction involving the innovative use of new materials such as carbon ceramics and carbon fibre.
The achievement of this certification is testament to the endeavours of the Bentley engineering team as Dr. Arno Homburg, Head of Whole vehicle Development at Bentley Motors said:
It looks better in real life than it does in pictures' is as effusive as I'm likely to get about the front-end treatment on the new Bentley Mulsanne, for want of proper swearing. This is not a pretty car from the front. This is a car that looks as if it has been self-medicating for a very long time. A thick, upturned bar-shaped slash of an intake on the bottom of the bumper that makes the car look happily dazed, a thrusting masculine grille bookended by a pair of giant eyes that look for all the world like the car is surprised by its own existence.
The thinking is that the great big oval dinner plate lights do some homage-type harking back to the 80-year-old Bentley 8.0-litre, when lights were big for a reason. Because they were crap. Lights this big on a modern car just make you think they might well be incredibly inefficient, possibly run by dynamos in the wheelbearings, or the reflected glories of really big candles. They just don't look very good. And I've been staring at the car for two days.
For the sake of clarity, the big ovals are the main headlights, the two smaller blobs set diagonally downwards outside them house the daylight running lights wrought in a ring of LEDs, with a traditional orange indicator in the middle. They look passable when the car is moving and the lamps lit, though this might possibly also be because the car is slightly blurred. You can never really tell.
Still, enough whining. It's the archetypal Marmite car: you either love it, or it makes you want to self-harm. The only cure? Walk around the rest of the Mulsanne. Walk along the sides, where the solid and graceful superformed panelwork along the front wings will make you much happier. Follow the defined crease of a swage line that runs from the nose to rear, to where a genteel but slightly so-so back end treatment is livened up by a pair of long, flat, shovel-shaped exhausts.
Or just get inside and have your indignation assuaged by genial, last-century opulence punctuated by decent slabs of sharp 21st-century technology. It may have what looks like a latest-gen Audi satnav, modern frigid zoned aircon and a Naim 2,200-watt, 20-speaker audio system (more of that later), but the Mulsanne still manages to be nothing other than a Bentley. Honestly, even though the Mulsanne's interior may not be the last word in boundary-breaking design - it makes do with a traditional ‘T' shape centre console that rides high in the waist and makes you feel as though you're piloting a small library - it has the uncanny effect of making you very happy indeed. The kind of serotonin rush not induced by heroin, but the inhalation of almost overpowering leather smell. Chasing the bullock, rather than the dragon. Wood so deeply polished it looks endlessly 3D, bezels and knurls and organ stops for the vents that not only feel like metal in temperature, but have the heft and swing of real steel. No ‘metal effect' here. With such stout attention to the interior tactility, it must weigh a bloody tonne.
Several tonnes. Actually two-point-six. Which is a smidge lighter than a well-specced outgoing Arnage, even with the dragging weight of gorgeous interior appointment. You look out and over a plain of bonnet, sighting down the (unfortunately optional) iconic flying ‘B' some 30 yards out front. But where you think the Mulsanne is going to be a boat, it isn't. Where you think the car is going to be wrestling the inevitable gods of momentum and heavy and enormous, it isn't. Well, isn't as much as it looks like it should be, anyway. Most of that has to do with the steering. There's a very tricksy hydraulic system calibrated to filter out short, sharp amplitude movements, but still steer instantly when you make a defined and smooth input. This isn't a variable rack - it's only the power assistance that changes at speed - but a clever tuning of the hydraulics.
It works. It allows a linearity of input that means you can place the Mulsanne exactly where you want it on the road. You can also see the edges of the bonnet and the ends of things, meaning that although this is still a mighty big car, it's also quite an easy one to thread through the real world. It might be big, but it's not difficult. Of course, when you go fast, that's even more of an advantage. And the Mulsanne can do fast with the best of them. Quite startlingly fast, actually. The raw numbers are 0-62mph in about 5.3 seconds, and an unlimited 184mph top end, but the delivery is pure Bentley and something to treasure. This car doesn't rev so much as bellow, accelerate so much as fall up the road. The venerable 6.75-litre V8 twin turbo warbles away, producing 505bhp at 4,200rpm (the redline tops out at a meagre 4,500rpm) and 752lb ft from an idle 1,750rpm. I know, that's a slew of numbers. But what it means is that the Mulsanne accelerates, puts on speed, in a very defined way. A very Bentley way. It's like a very modern Arnage. But of course the Arnage was a bit of a dinosaur when the world was new, so the six-and three-quarter has been modified to be able to breathe 21st-century air.
There's cam-phasing - which essentially acts like a variable valve timing system - new cams, new internals, lighter bits and bobs that reduce frictional losses, and even cylinder shutdown. Basically the new version of the V8 can shut down four of its cylinders when under 2,000rpm and not under load, clawing back some eight per cent in fuel/emissions on a big cruise, and more like five per cent in mixed driving. Which is a hell of a lot. Now we've seen these systems before - most notably on 5.7-litre Chrysler Hemis - but try as I might, I simply couldn't feel the thing working. Even the exhaust has been tweaked so that you can't hear it kick in. When you put your foot down, the world doesn't exactly blur, but you can shed a hot hatch with imperious disdain. Even on the twisty bits. Adaptive damping allows you to choose between comfort, sport, custom and ‘Bentley' - with Bentley being the best compromise all round, set up by Bentley engineers themselves. Paddles behind the steering wheel allow a greater choice of ratios from ZF's eight-speed auto when ‘making progress'. Gawd knows what it looks like when it comes charging down a complicated back road. Possibly like a walnut and aluminium avalanche.
The rest of the tech is well hidden, in pursuit of Bentleyness. And it's one of the cars that suits such attention to detail. The bootlid is made of composite, allowing it to house all the aerials needed for satnavs and the like, meaning that the Mulsanne does without a shark's fin on the roof. The doorhandles are solid metal, but because keyless entry systems can't work through solid stainless, Bentley has engineered in a glass window on the reverse of the handle itself so that the Mulsanne can have both weighty door-pulls and modern convenience. And the stereo. The stereo is a thing of perfection unparalleled. UK audio heavy hitter Naim Audio has produced a 20-speaker, 2,200-watt system that defies belief. As well as being the most powerful set-up ever fitted to a production car, the system reproduces sound so beautifully that you find yourself hearing things on favourite tracks that you've never heard before. And it's not necessarily all about power; even at low volume levels, the mellowest of audiophiles can tell the difference. If you're serious, you might buy a Mulsanne just for that.
So. The Mulsanne is a car that covers lots of super-luxury bases. It is neither as ultimately wafty in the rear as the £275k Rolls Phantom, or as encouraging as the £200k Ghost, yet somewhere in-between. You can lounge in the back, or drive and be satisfied. But the best bit? This Mulsanne does not feel like anything else on the market. It's not a gussied-up A8, or a tweaked-out Phaeton. It's a Bentley before anything else. And for that, I give high praise indeed.
Tom Ford
On your drive for: £5,426pcm
Performance: 0-62mph in 5.3secs, max speed 184mph, 16.7mpg
Tech: 6750cc, RWD, 505bhp, 752lb ft, 2585kg, 392g/km CO2
Bavaria-based Mansory markets itself as the premier tuner of luxury British automobiles. No wonder the Bentley Continental GT is again the subject of a tuning exercise. This time three GT Speed examples were picked for the job. Mansory calls them Vitesse Rosé - Vitesse is velocity in French while Rosé represents the dark pink colour paint job.
The main focus was on the visual side where body components made of Polyurethane Reaction Injection Mold (PU-RIM) are fitted as part of the aerodynamic package. The front and rear aprons form a unit with the side skirts while LED daytime running lights are integrated to provide extra appeal. The bonnet is made of carbon fibre, and so is the rear spoiler which also acts as a downforce component.
Road grip is courtesy of Dunlop Sport Maxx GT tyres of 285/30 ZR 21 size, wrapped around 10.5 x 21 light aluminium alloy wheels. An air suspension system lowers the car to different levels so as to improve handling and adapt to different driving situations. Overlapping chrome tailpipes work in sync with the newly developed stainless steel exhaust system and the powerful 12-cylinder engine to give a satisfying engine note.
The interior is made of premium materials such as expert-processed, hand-stitched leather. Foot pedals are aluminium and carbon fibre appears on some internal parts.
Mansory will showcase the Vitesse Rosé at the Frankfurt International Motor Show next week.
Powered by a 600-hp W12 engine, the Continental GT Speed is the most powerful production Bentley ever built and the first to top 200mph (322km/h).
Its 600bhp (610PS) W12 engine develops 15 percent more torque and nine percent more power than the standard Continental GT.
Inspiration for the GT Speed came from the legendary ‘Speed’ models that first appeared in 1923.
The main performance figures are a top speed of 202mph (326km/h) and a 0-60 mph sprint time of just 4.3 seconds (0-100km/h in 4.5s) – while the standard Continental GT has a top speed of 198mph (318km/h), and a 0-60mph sprint time of 4.6 seconds (0-100km/h in 4.8s).
Technical highlights include a new chassis tune, wider 9.5J 20-inch wheels and bespoke performance tyres as standard fitment. Fade-resistant carbon ceramic brakes are available as an option.
Both the Continental GT and the GT models have benefited from an extensive range of technical improvements, from engine efficiency, to weight savings and electronic controls.
The Continental GT has received many accolades for its distinctive, muscular and elegant style. It has redefined the concept of the contemporary Grand Touring coupe: forward looking yet faithful to Bentley’s design heritage.
 | |
| Above: the new GT Speed (left) and the 2003 GT (right), originally presented at the 2002 Paris Motor Show | |
Classic sculpted coupe design cues such as curvaceous rear haunches, short front overhang, prominent front grille and longer rear overhang echo the look and feel of some of the great Bentleys of yesteryear.
The principal changes to the frontal appearance are common to both the GT and the new GT Speed. The subtly revised front grille, now more vertical, has a more pronounced square edge accentuating the GT’s distinctive Bentley profile.
Beneath the grille, the all-new lower bumper design features a wider central air intake that emphasises the sporting stance of the new models. Chromed bezels around the headlamps complement the new frontal design.
The Continental GT Speed is distinguished from the Continental GT by its dark-tinted chrome matrix grille to the main and lower air intakes. Bright chromed grilles may be specified at no extra cost.
At the rear, a black lower bumper valance and wider, rifled exhaust tailpipes emphasise the GT Speed’s sporting character, reinforced by new multi-spoke 20-inch sports alloy wheels. As an option, these may be specified with a dark chromed finish.
The GT Speed’s cabin is based on that of the Mulliner Driving Specification (a cost option on the standard GT). It includes a choice of veneers (Burr Walnut, Dark Stained Burr Walnut and Piano Black), Diamond-quilted hide seats with embroidered Bentley emblem, indented hide headlining, a sports alloy gearlever, three-spoke multi-function sports steering wheel, drilled alloy foot-pedals as well as ‘Speed’ logos to the treadplates.
A range of Mulliner options provide further opportunities for personalisation including fascia panels, header and centre console in bright aluminium or, unique to the GT Speed, dark tint aluminium (compatible only with Dark Stained Burr Walnut veneer or Piano Black veneer and single tone interior colour scheme). The Continental GT also benefits from a new Bentley ‘B’ brake pedal.
Continental GT and GT Speed customers have a choice of 16 ‘standard’ paint colours and 17 premium grade leather hide colours, including two new exterior paint colours (Cumbrian Green and Granite) and two new interior leather hide colours (Newmarket Tan and Cumbrian Green). Customers also have the option to select from the Arnage colour palette or choose Bentley’s colour-matching programme to produce a bespoke colour of their choice.
‘It looks better in real life than it does in pictures' is as effusive as I'm likely to get about the front-end treatment on the new Bentley Mulsanne, for want of proper swearing. This is not a pretty car from the front. This is a car that looks as if it has been self-medicating for a very long time. A thick, upturned bar-shaped slash of an intake on the bottom of the bumper that makes the car look happily dazed, a thrusting masculine grille bookended by a pair of giant eyes that look for all the world like the car is surprised by its own existence.
The thinking is that the great big oval dinner plate lights do some homage-type harking back to the 80-year-old Bentley 8.0-litre, when lights were big for a reason. Because they were crap. Lights this big on a modern car just make you think they might well be incredibly inefficient, possibly run by dynamos in the wheelbearings, or the reflected glories of really big candles. They just don't look very good. And I've been staring at the car for two days.
For the sake of clarity, the big ovals are the main headlights, the two smaller blobs set diagonally downwards outside them house the daylight running lights wrought in a ring of LEDs, with a traditional orange indicator in the middle. They look passable when the car is moving and the lamps lit, though this might possibly also be because the car is slightly blurred. You can never really tell.
Still, enough whining. It's the archetypal Marmite car: you either love it, or it makes you want to self-harm. The only cure? Walk around the rest of the Mulsanne. Walk along the sides, where the solid and graceful superformed panelwork along the front wings will make you much happier. Follow the defined crease of a swage line that runs from the nose to rear, to where a genteel but slightly so-so back end treatment is livened up by a pair of long, flat, shovel-shaped exhausts.
Or just get inside and have your indignation assuaged by genial, last-century opulence punctuated by decent slabs of sharp 21st-century technology. It may have what looks like a latest-gen Audi satnav, modern frigid zoned aircon and a Naim 2,200-watt, 20-speaker audio system (more of that later), but the Mulsanne still manages to be nothing other than a Bentley. Honestly, even though the Mulsanne's interior may not be the last word in boundary-breaking design - it makes do with a traditional ‘T' shape centre console that rides high in the waist and makes you feel as though you're piloting a small library - it has the uncanny effect of making you very happy indeed. The kind of serotonin rush not induced by heroin, but the inhalation of almost overpowering leather smell. Chasing the bullock, rather than the dragon. Wood so deeply polished it looks endlessly 3D, bezels and knurls and organ stops for the vents that not only feel like metal in temperature, but have the heft and swing of real steel. No ‘metal effect' here. With such stout attention to the interior tactility, it must weigh a bloody tonne.
Several tonnes. Actually two-point-six. Which is a smidge lighter than a well-specced outgoing Arnage, even with the dragging weight of gorgeous interior appointment. You look out and over a plain of bonnet, sighting down the (unfortunately optional) iconic flying ‘B' some 30 yards out front. But where you think the Mulsanne is going to be a boat, it isn't. Where you think the car is going to be wrestling the inevitable gods of momentum and heavy and enormous, it isn't. Well, isn't as much as it looks like it should be, anyway. Most of that has to do with the steering. There's a very tricksy hydraulic system calibrated to filter out short, sharp amplitude movements, but still steer instantly when you make a defined and smooth input. This isn't a variable rack - it's only the power assistance that changes at speed - but a clever tuning of the hydraulics.
It works. It allows a linearity of input that means you can place the Mulsanne exactly where you want it on the road. You can also see the edges of the bonnet and the ends of things, meaning that although this is still a mighty big car, it's also quite an easy one to thread through the real world. It might be big, but it's not difficult. Of course, when you go fast, that's even more of an advantage. And the Mulsanne can do fast with the best of them. Quite startlingly fast, actually. The raw numbers are 0-62mph in about 5.3 seconds, and an unlimited 184mph top end, but the delivery is pure Bentley and something to treasure. This car doesn't rev so much as bellow, accelerate so much as fall up the road. The venerable 6.75-litre V8 twin turbo warbles away, producing 505bhp at 4,200rpm (the redline tops out at a meagre 4,500rpm) and 752lb ft from an idle 1,750rpm. I know, that's a slew of numbers. But what it means is that the Mulsanne accelerates, puts on speed, in a very defined way. A very Bentley way. It's like a very modern Arnage. But of course the Arnage was a bit of a dinosaur when the world was new, so the six-and three-quarter has been modified to be able to breathe 21st-century air.
There's cam-phasing - which essentially acts like a variable valve timing system - new cams, new internals, lighter bits and bobs that reduce frictional losses, and even cylinder shutdown. Basically the new version of the V8 can shut down four of its cylinders when under 2,000rpm and not under load, clawing back some eight per cent in fuel/emissions on a big cruise, and more like five per cent in mixed driving. Which is a hell of a lot. Now we've seen these systems before - most notably on 5.7-litre Chrysler Hemis - but try as I might, I simply couldn't feel the thing working. Even the exhaust has been tweaked so that you can't hear it kick in. When you put your foot down, the world doesn't exactly blur, but you can shed a hot hatch with imperious disdain. Even on the twisty bits. Adaptive damping allows you to choose between comfort, sport, custom and ‘Bentley' - with Bentley being the best compromise all round, set up by Bentley engineers themselves. Paddles behind the steering wheel allow a greater choice of ratios from ZF's eight-speed auto when ‘making progress'. Gawd knows what it looks like when it comes charging down a complicated back road. Possibly like a walnut and aluminium avalanche.
The rest of the tech is well hidden, in pursuit of Bentleyness. And it's one of the cars that suits such attention to detail. The bootlid is made of composite, allowing it to house all the aerials needed for satnavs and the like, meaning that the Mulsanne does without a shark's fin on the roof. The doorhandles are solid metal, but because keyless entry systems can't work through solid stainless, Bentley has engineered in a glass window on the reverse of the handle itself so that the Mulsanne can have both weighty door-pulls and modern convenience. And the stereo. The stereo is a thing of perfection unparalleled. UK audio heavy hitter Naim Audio has produced a 20-speaker, 2,200-watt system that defies belief. As well as being the most powerful set-up ever fitted to a production car, the system reproduces sound so beautifully that you find yourself hearing things on favourite tracks that you've never heard before. And it's not necessarily all about power; even at low volume levels, the mellowest of audiophiles can tell the difference. If you're serious, you might buy a Mulsanne just for that.
So. The Mulsanne is a car that covers lots of super-luxury bases. It is neither as ultimately wafty in the rear as the £275k Rolls Phantom, or as encouraging as the £200k Ghost, yet somewhere in-between. You can lounge in the back, or drive and be satisfied. But the best bit? This Mulsanne does not feel like anything else on the market. It's not a gussied-up A8, or a tweaked-out Phaeton. It's a Bentley before anything else. And for that, I give high praise indeed.
Tom Ford
On your drive for: £5,426pcm
Performance: 0-62mph in 5.3secs, max speed 184mph, 16.7mpg
Tech: 6750cc, RWD, 505bhp, 752lb ft, 2585kg, 392g/km CO2
Mansory Vitesse Rosé - the name says it all. On the one hand, Vitesse means velocity in French and therefore already the basic model of the Bentley Continental GT Speed is an epitome for swiftness. On the other hand, Rosé is the dominating colour of the luxury coupé which is only offered in a limited edition of three cars.
For already more than 20 years, the company Mansory which is located in the village Brand in Bavaria stands for high-class tuning and is the top address when it comes to extravagant refinement of British luxury automobiles. The main focus are mainly visual modifications which enhance the dynamic character of the cars. The company owner, Kourosh Mansory already follows this trail with the newly designed Mansory Vitesse Rosé which celebrates its world premiere at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show.
Extravagant eye-catcher in unsurpassable quality
The exclusive Mansory aerodynamics package sets benchmarks in quality and appearance. On the one hand, the car body components made of PU-RIM perfectly integrate into the original design, but also render a significant dynamic style. Front- and rear apron in connection with the side skirts form a unit and do not only present a visual and colour-coordinated refinement. LED daylight running lights which are integrated in the front apron render additional passive safety and in combination with the carbon fibre bonnet they enhance the dynamic look of the two-door car. In addition, the component parts optimise the air duct over the car silhouette which renders positive effects on the handling. The necessary extra downforce can be attributed to the carbon rear lip which perfectly flows into the shape of the boot lid and prevents any troubles with the traction.
Top-class twelve-cylinder sound
The newly developed stainless steel exhaust system with two angular, overlapping chrome end pipes render a striking note to the tail and supply the twelve-cylinder with an earthy rumbling sound.
High-tech rims for best road holding
In order to draw level with the extra performance, Mansory developed a light alloy wheel measuring 10.5 x 21 inches. By using weight-saving aluminium alloys and the therefore resulting reduction of the unsprung masses, not only the braking distance, but also the handling is significantly improved. In co-operation with Dunlop, high-performance wheels type Dunlop Sport Maxx GT measuring 285/30 ZR 21 were developed. Moreover, the newly designed control unit for air suspension which allows lowering the sports car´s centre of gravity in different levels, renders additional dynamic high-lights.
Premium and extensive interior programme
Mansory achieves the perfect symbiosis between dynamic functionality and luxurious ambience. Premium materials are chosen for the interior and enhance the comfort. The leather is processed by expert hand and is extremely resilient and still extraordinarily soft. With its individual grain and the manually applied decorative stitching, everything around the newly designed airbag sports steering wheel renders an extravagant atmosphere. The pedals are made of aluminium and in combination with the carbon fibre applications the exclusive interior of the Mansory Vitesse Rosé comes to perfection.
Touring Superleggera was on hand at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show to unveil their new Touring Bentley Continental Flying Star - a shooting brake version of the 2-door coupe. The car is being offered at a base price of €590,000 when based on a Continental GTC.
The Flying Star is powered by a 6.0-liter W12 engine that develops a total of 560 hp and 650 Nm of torque (when based on the Continental GTC). When based on the GTC Speed, it develops 610 hp and 750 Nm of torque. The sprint from 0 to 60 mph is made in 4.8 seconds with a top speed of 200 mph.
Customers may choose from a variety of customization options, ranging from bespoke cabinetry and trim to a wide range of dedicated options. The accessory collection includes the Touring designed luggage set coordinated with the boot trim, and distinctive Borrani X-Ray spoke wheels. Blending advanced technology with craftsmanship, Borrani 20" 9.5j X-Ray spoke wheels provide distinctive design, precision, and comfort.
UPDATE 02/18/2011: A year after the Flying Star debuted at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, the car has finally been put on the market, but anyone with a desire to purchase this extremely limited model better hurry. There are only two units available worldwide with a price tag of $1,000,000.
Press release after the jump.
Press release
It takes an avid and passionate collector, with a taste for special coach building, to be at the basis of a project like the Bentley Continental Flying Star by Touring. Exactly such a person contacted Touring Superleggera in early 2008.
An interesting initial creative process emerged involving parameters for design, proportions, vehicle concepts and - last but not least- feasibility and technical factors. Many steps from design to execution were shared with the customer, who contributed with his own ideas and taste to personalise the project and create a unique automobile. A basic idea was formed by the desire to diversify Bentley’s very successful Continental model range, and to explore new concepts.
The transformation of a 2-door coupé, by expanding the roof line and enlarging the interior dimensions, has led to a design concept baptised as shooting brake: a sports car featuring enough space to join a hunting party or a golf tournament with elegance and efficiency. Touring Superleggera explored the same field back in 1966, resulting in the amazing Lamborghini Flying Star II prototype. It was a dramatic interpretation of a sports car based on a new 2-volume design, safeguarding the dynamic performance. The Flying Star reference is a Touring parameter of sportive elegance, applied to many famous cars since the companies’ start in 1926.
The Bentley Continental GT range set innovative and high standards for a new generation of very sophisticated Grand Tourers. As such, this model triggered the imagination of automotive designers and coach builders elsewhere. The GTC convertible, featuring a very rigid platform, proved to be a fully congruent basis to Touring Superleggera’s plans for the new Flying Star. The new project required the modification of a number of external dimensions starting from the car’s A-pillar backwards: extended roof line, a wider section including the doors, new aluminium door skins and a new all-aluminium, electrically operated tailgate. It also includes a completely new rear compartment with two foldable rear seats and a variable loading space.
This long list of modifications and transformations had to be paired with, and to remain fully compatible to the basic car’s technical layout and components. Given the sophistication of the basic car, a new challenge was laid out for Touring’s craftsmen and engineers. The final result proves that special coach building can live on well into the 21st. century working with respect to the original manufacturers.
Touring Superleggera is particularly proud of the fact that the complete productive cycle of the special coach building process was realized in their workshop near Milano. Modern body engineering went hand in hand with traditional handicraft skills, maintaining the highest quality directives for the final product.
The body engineering processes at Carrozzeria Touring are aimed at safeguarding key parameters for quality, safety and feasibility, within the perspectives of low-volume automotive production. The project went through 1:4 and 1:1 modelling, based on the CAD and CATIA data from the basic vehicle. This digital basis resulted in a milled 1:1 master model and a number of 1:1 moulds for the manufacturing of the new external skin, and for important new body components. The rear bodywork was reinforced with an integrated structure between the rear suspension domes, functioning both as roll bar, and as support for the new, extended roofline.
All structural additions and modifications were thoroughly studied, using advanced simulation methods and FEM-analysis. As a parallel process, these data served for the homologation of the structural changes, including the new foldable rear seats. An important number of hard points from the basic car could be saved and carried-over. The engineering team at Carrozzeria Touring was particularly pleased with the quality assurance support from Bentley engineers.
‘Variations on a theme’ not rarely implicate a larger design challenge, than starting-off with a white sheet of paper. The basic mission was to create a body incorporating the essence of Touring elegance and harmony, while clearly recognizable as a Bentley. This task was challenging because a fully new volume had to be added to the GTC basis. The proportions were totally new, but the overall design had to be kept consistent. That is why only the section in front of the car’s A-pillar, including the windshield has been maintained.
Viewed from the rear, the new tailgate dives between the wide rear wings. The oval rear light chrome bezels are a reference to Bentley fastback cars of the ‘50. The side view features a low roof, prominent quarter panel shoulders and wide wheel arches, suggesting perfectly mastered energy. The Touring Superleggera designers were challenged by the target to give the new interior equal elegance, whether the back of the rear seats are folded or not. The solution was to design an “S” shaped trim of the rear quarter panels linking the passenger area to the rear luggage area. The beige and dark green leather contrast also adds to this visual unity.
First time ever in this class and size, the twin individual rear seats fold completely to create a flat loading surface more than 2m long with 1200lt capacity. This is instrumental to fulfill the functional mission profile, which requires loading in full comfort a wide array of leisure equipment, including 4 full golfing bags with the rear seats up. An example of bespoke finish is the woven leather boot carpet offering superior endurance and coordinated with the special luggage set.
The overall result is perfectly in line with the Touring and Flying Star heritage: a timeless shape, a design statement combining elegance and sportiveness, with a strong and unmistakable own personality and individuality.
When digital technologies are blended with traditional manufacturing skills, a fascinating process emerges that is typical for Touring Superleggera. A discriminating factor for traditional coach building was and is the vast amount of handwork that is involved in the creation of a new body. In this process, multiple practical solutions are also found for a wide variety of minor technical issues. This includes quick, practical solutions based on years-long experience, common sense and an expert eye.
The result is a final product entirely produced within the high quality parameters of today’s automotive industry.
From the A-pillar backwards, new exterior body panels were hand shaped in steel - including the roof, new wider rear wings, and the internal reinforcements of the complete rear section of the car. Aluminium was used for the door skins, and for the complete rear bonnet including its structure. New, handmade brightwork was added according to the new exterior design. The all new rear compartment required shaping of the foldable rear seats and a full set of interior panels, leather trimmed with meticulous care. Wide leather hides were selected with great attention to provide uniform finish to the vast continuous surfaces. After inspection, the body in white was prepared and painted in the Touring state-of-the-art paint facilities. The final result underwent again a special final quality audit.
The Bentley Continental Flying Star by Touring inherits the chassis of the Continental GTC. The 6-liter, W12 engine is available either in the 560HP version which delivers 650NM of torque at 1600rpm or the GTC Speed variant which delivers a massive 750Nm from 610HP. The car exhibited in Geneva Motor Show features the GCT Speed specifications.
Performance braking, cornering and traction functions mesh together to provide precise and immediate driving control under extreme or difficult conditions. Self-adjusting air springs and electronic dampers operate independently for each wheel. Allwheel drive promotes advanced traction.
The model is CEE homologated according to the new low-volume production directive. For the first time since its introduction, the type approval was awarded without destructive test, using simulation and FEM-analysis.
Touring Superleggera undertakes a limited production run of up to 20 units of the Continental Flying Star. This series will be exclusively built to special order and customer specifications. The car is offered at a basic price of € 590.000 when based on a Continental GTC - 560 PS. Other versions on request. The car will be serviced at the Bentley dealers. Bentley Motors and Touring Superleggera have developed a special mutual warranty program, which safeguards warranty clauses for both the basic car, and the transformation by Touring.
The customers are actively involved in the early stage to choose the specifications of their own unique automobile, ranging from bespoke cabinetry and trim to a wide choice of dedicated options. The accessory collection includes the Touring designed luggage set coordinated with the boot trim, and the distinctive Borrani X-Ray spoke wheels.
Blending advanced technology with craftsmanship, Borrani 20” 9.5j X-Ray spoke wheels provide distinctive design, precision and comfort. Featuring monolithic spun aluminium rim and hand assembled steel spokes, they can be tailored to the car’s painting and finish.
