The Bentley Continental Supersports is claimed to be the world’s fastest four-seat car, weighing two tonnes and having a top speed of 336 km/h. To try and put the 336 kays in perspective, I have done 300 km/h in a Lola Formula 5000 (Chev V8 power) and it was blisteringly fast, with corners rushing up so fast you had problems keeping the concentration up. How is Joe Moneybags Blow going to cope at that speed? Simple answer – he can’t. So what is the point of all these incredibly quick supercars?
The big two-door sports car was presented at the Australian F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne, making it not only the most powerful and expensive Bentley Continental ever offered, it is also the last in the current line that stretches back to 2004.
In what signals the start of a new era at the Volkswagen-owned, iconic British-based luxury car-maker, an all-new Continental is expected to be shown at the Frankfurt motor show in September.
This current VW will have a production run of only 710 cars, following in the now current tradition with exclusive cars, by setting deliberately few examples.
The price for the new Supersports has risen A$84,320 from the A$485,200 GT Speed to A$569,522, while the convertible version is more expensive again at A$626,474, which is a A$92,074 increase over its predecessor. (Multiply by 26 to get an approximate baht figure, while forgetting about the 300 percent duty you pay on bringing a car in to Thailand.)
The engine is the 6 liter W12 Volkswagen derived unit fitted with bigger turbos and other new hardware in the 6.0-litre W12 twin-turbo engine, which propels the leviathan to complete the zero to 100 km/h sprint in 3.4 seconds.
Having got to the top of 336 km/h, the new Supersports has what Bentley claim to be the biggest brakes of their type on any production car, being 420 mm carbon-ceramic discs inside the 21 inch forged alloys.
According to the blurb, other external styling changes include unique front and rear bumpers with carbon-fiber splitter and diffuser respectively, along with other carbon-fiber and black-finished trim bits such as side vents.
The grille and side vents have a dark chrome effect while the headlights and tail-lights come with a smoked-glass finish
A carbon-fiber rear wing spoiler can be included, along with a lightweight titanium exhaust pipe, should the buyer wish.
A torque vectoring system, previously employed on the Continental GT3 R, has been included as standard equipment while the suspension has been tweaked to handle the extra speed.
The Supersports’ vectoring system brakes individual wheels in an out of corners while maintaining full power to other wheels to help the car track evenly around the corners
The all-wheel drive system is normally biased 60 percent to the rear wheels.
The interior features quilted seats and door trims in a diamond stitch pattern, along with a carbon-fiber checkered design on the dash. Nine other finishes are available from the standard list, while Mulliner’s bespoke services offer almost endless other options.
