2010 Bentley Continental Flying Spur

O ne of the oldest car brands in existence, Bentley has been making a strong comeback as of late - and the new Continental Flying Spur sedan is a big part of that renaissance. The interior will remind you of a 19th century English library - all fine wood and leather - while the twin-turbo V12 (rated at an eyebrow-raising 552hp) points to Bentley's long and storied history in auto racing.

On a recent drive, this Bentley had the chance to reveal some of its many charms. After a brief pause for the twin turbos to spool up, the 6.0-liter engine—whose twelve cylinders are uniquely arranged in a ‘W’ formation—lets its 552 horses out of the gate, accompanied by a gravely and potent roar. The car’s mass all-wheel drive reduce the drama to some degree, yet there’s no doubt of the Flying Spur’s prodigious, ferocious thrust.

And as amazing as the shove is from off the line, what really grabs and holds one’s attention is its midrange passing power; it feels as if a titan of the ancient world has decided to launch the Flying Spur from his sling, squashing the occupants into the four sumptuous seats, regardless of velocity and in flagrant disregard of the laws of physics. What solidifies the otherworldliness of the sensation is that all the usual accompaniments, such as road roar or wind noise, are missing. It’s completely hushed and serene, and the ride evens out, giving one the chance to appreciate one of the most perfectly executed interiors in the whole of Christendom.

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SPECS:
Base Price: $170,990
Drivetrain: All-Wheel-Drive
Engine: 6L W12 Twin-turbo
Horsepower: 552
0-60: 4.9s

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“All the world’s a road, and all the men and women merely drivers.

They have their exits and their on-ramps;

And one man in his time drives many vehicles.”

S o I imagine the Bard might have judged the lot of a humble motoring writer such as myself. When the good folk at Bentley honored me with a few days behind the exquisite wheel (created in a five hour process using one continuous piece of thread, meticulously double-stitched through two colors of sumptuous hide) of their latest, the four-door Flying Spur, I was initially at a loss as to what to do with it. Limited to only two hundred miles of driving, I had to be careful while trying to find the proper context for this monster motorcar.

I finally settled on something as quintessentially British as was the Bentley itself: a drive to Boulder to visit the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Here, I thought, was a way to celebrate the culture that had created much of what we hold dear here ‘across the pond’, and to revel in the embrace of history.

For Bentley is a storied marque whose past includes multiple wins at the world’s greatest endurance race, the 24 hours of LeMans (shades of Henry V at Agincourt, perhaps?), first in 1924, most recently—in a rebodied Audi R8—in 2003. In between was enough corporate drama and a cast of personalities colorful enough to be worthy of any of Shakespeare’s plays, including the fabled ‘Bentley Boys’ who would drive round trip from England to LeMans in the same cars they raced, and multiple British corporate owners, who seemed never to value the company as much as the pound.

However, they had nothing on the hubris of the CEOs of Volkswagen and BMW, who waged a bidding war in the nineties for Bentley and parent company Rolls-Royce (who had owned the ‘Winged B’ since 1931), culminating in the separation of the brands into the rivals they were seventy years prior.

The Colorado Shakespeare Festival is also rich in history, being the nation’s second oldest at 49 years, and one of the three most prestigious amidst the thousands of Shakespeare companies present throughout the colonies. The Flying Spur was certainly apropos for such journeys as my trek to Boulder; its shear size and 5500-pound heft demand open space. It feels hemmed in by the confines of the city, and its chassis, designed to cope with its prodigious thrust and 200mph top end, exact a penalty in the form of choppiness over broken bitumen at low speeds that is unbecoming to such a sumptuous chariot.

Once clear road presents itself, the Bentley has the chance to reveal some of its many charms. After a brief pause for the twin turbos to spool up, the 6.0-liter engine—whose twelve cylinders are uniquely arranged in a ‘W’ formation—lets its 552 horses out of the gate, accompanied by a gravely and potent roar.

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Bentley Continental Flying Spur

Bentley Continental Flying Spur

Handcrafted in the same Crewe, England factory that has built Bentleys for seven decades, the Flying Spur shall now be known as Beauty and the V12 Beast.

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