710hp Bentley Continental Supersports confirmed

Make way for the 710hp, 209mph Bentley Continental Supersports

Does anyone need a Bentley Continental Supersports with 710hp, 750lb ft and the ability to go from 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds en route to a 209mph top speed? Probably not. But until such time as the brand is forced to put electrically enhanced four-cylinder Golf diesel engines under those stately bonnets we should celebrate the fact such things can exist!

Fetching

The formula is as familiar as the numbers are astonishing. Take a W12 powered Continental GT, extract a little more oomph from the 6.0-litre motor, add a little extra bling and job jobbed. For this new Supersports the W12 undergoes some significant mechanical changes to first create and then manage the extra power; revised charge air cooling and bigger turbos with increased boost count towards the 80hp and 160lb ft increases over the last Supersports while the engine gets beefed up main and conrod bearings to handle it.

Putting that to the road is the familiar eight-speed automatic gearbox and a four-wheel drive system with a 40:60 rearward bias and brake-based torque vectoring derived from the GT3-R. There's also a "less intrusive" stability control setting. Given that and the fact it'll hit 62mph in just 3.5 seconds from rest it's also reassuring to note ceramic brakes are now standard and the biggest, Bentley claims, of their type.

Ludicrous as it may sound to discuss weight saving in the context of a car with an EU kerbweight of 2,290kg the brakes and the 21-inch forged wheels they sit behind save 20kg in unsprung weight, which as we all know benefits ride quality as much as it does the bottom line on the scales. If you're inspired by that ethos you'll be glad to hear the optional titanium exhaust saves a further 5kg; we'll take a punt on the bragging rights and noise being of greater importance than the weight loss. Even the standard system has been designed with a little stage-managed drama too, providing an "unmistakable Bentley soundtrack" and a "rifle-fire crackle" when you downshift to make the daily commute sound like that time you went deer stalking with an AK-47. Or whatever it is Bentley owners do of a weekend.

Out of my way paupers!

If you want to feel closer to the action there's a Convertible version too, the extra 165kg adding four tenths to the 0-62 time and cutting the top speed to 'just' 205mph. As if it matters neither will get out of the high teens on the combined mpg cycle and both chuff out coal-fired power station quantities of CO2 in a suitably caddish two fingers to those bothered by such things.

When you're not passing in a blur of crackling exhausts and hydrocarbons people will be able to pick out your Supersports from more plebian Continental GTs by virtue of the carbon fibre splitter/diffuser combo on the redesigned bumpers and side skirts and bonnet vents finished in the same material. Dark tinted lights and black chrome trim finish the look. And if all that's not enough for you Mansory and their ilk will be awaiting your call...