Bentley W12: more power coming
Never knowingly underpowered, Bentley's W12 "has much more to give" say the engineers
Despite being the fastest Bentley ever, the new Speed isn't the most powerful Continental GT to date. The 2009 Supersports - based on the pre-facelift model - was marginally more powerful at 630hp. A Supersports version of the latest Continental GT could see that figure rise towards 650hp. Even in 630hp guise the W12 unit develops 105hp/litre, suggesting that there's capacity to extract more power without harming reliability or drivability.
Indeed, engine reliability is a priority for Bentley. One of its durability tests for the W12 unit involves four 100-hour sessions at full throttle. That's the equivalent of nearly 20,000 miles (32,000km in new money) at over 200mph. Another is the scuff test, in which the engine is wound up to the rev limiter 100 times within 30 seconds of a -10 degree centigrade ambient temperature start.
The W12 engine and the Continental GT itself have been huge successes for Bentley. Since its 2003 launch, 26,000 examples of the two-door coupe have been shifted, helping to make Bentley the world's most prolific manufacturer of 12-cylinder engines.
A 6/7 year old one has lost over £100K.
Possibly something to do with the cheap pcp's they were/are offering....
http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/use...
http://www.dealers.motortrak.com/cgi-bin/specsheet...
http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/use...
I've seen quite a few 'pressing on', both on the road and on the by-pass outside the office and they always sound pretty ho-hum.
Certainly it fails in comparission to this stuff:
- some loony in a modded Golf VR6 who often burns past
- The bloke off of PH (somewhere) with the 5cyl Fiat Coupe
- Gallardos
- XKRS's
Over 200 mph = Over 20,000miles
Almost 20,000 miles = Almost 200 mph.
Sorry, it's Friday and I'm bored and this has nothing to do with the story really - those are impressive reliability stats anyway!
Over 200 mph = Over 20,000miles
Almost 20,000 miles = Almost 200 mph.
Sorry, it's Friday and I'm bored and this has nothing to do with the story really - those are impressive reliability stats anyway!
Over 200 mph = Over 20,000miles
Almost 20,000 miles = Almost 200 mph.
Sorry, it's Friday and I'm bored and this has nothing to do with the story really - those are impressive reliability stats anyway!
Over 200 mph = Over 20,000miles
Almost 20,000 miles = Almost 200 mph.
Sorry, it's Friday and I'm bored and this has nothing to do with the story really - those are impressive reliability stats anyway!
Over 200 mph = Over 20,000miles
Almost 20,000 miles = Almost 200 mph.
Sorry, it's Friday and I'm bored and this has nothing to do with the story really - those are impressive reliability stats anyway!
This possibly explains the rather finger-in-the-air 200mph/20,000mile approximations.
Whatever - it's an engine screaming, quite literally glowing red hot, for days on end. I know they do the same with modern bike engines during development, so I'm sure it's the same for all modern engines. Astonishing the punishment these things can take!
I sort of got a figure of around 700 bhp currently running very reliably as an ongoing project with the W12 engine, but just one of many projects which may or may not see the light of day.
Other details he was happy to share was the Bentley have only just recently broken even after their take over by the VW group, and that unfortunately their horrid off road concept vehicle has gone down a storm with Bentley customers,if not the general public and press, so this could get the green light!
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