Geneva 2009: Bentley Continental Supersports

It's a strange world we live in.  Banks are going belly up, Wall Street's in turmoil, car sales in China are down, Lexus is making a credible sports sedan, and America has a literate president.  It only stands to reason that Bentley would see fit to introduce an "environmentally friendly" car.

Then again, a Bentley is "Green" in much the same way the Ford Focus RS is a green car. So when Bentley says it's latest model is environmentally friendly, they mean it has 621bhp and will do 204 mph.

I'm being serious, though.  The boys at Crewe started with the opulent 604bhp Continental GT Speed, then converted the massive 6.0L Biturbo W12 motor to run on either dead dinosaurs or decomposed corn.  Since the effective octane rating of E85 (85% bioethanol) is higher than normal petroleum gas (around 105), that means Bentley could crank the boost up just a little more.  So they did!

So modified, the Continental Supersports makes a prodigious 621bhp and 590 lb-ft (800nM) of torque.  They've also managed to shave 110kg from the curb weight of the portly Continental GT, by way of using lightweight materials - like the carbon-bucket seats and carbon-ceramic brakes, which alone are good for a 44lb weight loss.  Most interesting is the replacement of the (rather useless) rear seats with a carbon-fibre clad "parcel shelf" in the back.

Bentley's goal with the interior of the Continental Supersports was to give buyers the traditional Bentley luxury and quality they're used to, but without the whole "tan leather, burled walnut, wool carpets, pipe'n'slippers" feeling that most Bentleys exude.  Nothing wrong with that, but in this tpe of car I think the evil red leather, Alcantara and carbon fibre is more appropriate.

With the extra power and reduced weight, the Continental Supersports will accelerate to 60mph in 3.7 seconds, 100mph in 8.9 seconds, and do 204 miles-an-hour top out.  Green car, indeed.

Additional improvements to the Continental Supersports set it apart from the regular Continental GT line.  The entire suspension has been revised to offer greatly stability and response.  The front suspension gets stiffer bushings, a thicker anti-sway bar, and aluminum forward control arms.  The rear track width has been increased by 50mm, and the spring and damping rates are all increased.  In addition, the CDC (Continuous Damper Control) system has been revised to go along with these suspension changes.

In the drivetrain department, the heavy-duty ZF 6-speed automatic now has a strengthened planetary gearset to deal with the extra power, as well as "Quickshift" programming, which cuts shift times in half.  In addition, it now allows double-downshifts, which is useful for controlling such a heavy car in cornering.  Taking a note from the Audi book, the all-wheel-drive system now has a 40:60 front-rear bias (instead of the previous 50-50 static setup) which provides more understeer-resistant handling coming out of corners.  Sideways Bentley, anyone?

The body modifications done to the Continental Supersports (can we call it SS?) are, to put it nicely, thuggish.  It seems like the sort of car you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley - and not just cause there'll be a chav in a tracksuit ready to jump out of it and sell you some blow.  Up front, the bumper and lower fascia has been redesigned with large vertical ducts to provide more air to the twin intercoolers - while extractor vents are situated on the hood to pull the gathered heat out of the engine bay.

The rear fenders have been flared out to accomodate the wider rear track, which helps to give the Continental Supersports it's menacing stance.  All the exterior chrome has been blacked out with "Physical Vapor Deposition," an advanced coating technique used in high-end production knives, industrial tools and even some medical applications.  The Supersports also gets a gorgeous set of 20" lightweight black alloy wheels, to complete that murdered-out look.

On the ecological front, Bentley says the Supersports has a net CO2 reduction of 70% from "well-to-wheel," meaning overall CO2 emitted from production (at the well) to use (at the wheel.)  This is an interesting way of measuring emissions, but it makes some sense.  Another interesting thing is a built-in fuel quality sensor, which detects what percentage of biofuel-to-petroleum is being run, and adjusts the engine accordingly to produce the same power output whether on biofuel or regular petrol.

Considering Bentley claims all these modifications are the result of after-hours engineers having a bit of fun, I'd be interested to see what sort of green performance vehicles the VW Automotive Group is capable of making when they really throw their weight into it.  Bentley has managed to improve on an already impressive model, both in performance as well as environmental impact, which is impressive considering the minuscule engineering budget of this model.

Sales of the biofuel Bentley start in Fall of 2009, and Bentley claims their whole line will be flex-fuel compatible by 2012.  In the mean time, if you've been looking for a "green" vehicle to make a statement with, this just might do the trick!