BENTLEY AND THE 12-CYLINDER ENGINE

The Bentley Continental GT marked the start into the duration of complete independence. For some 70 years Rolls-Royce and Bentley had been produced side by side until the very last separation of both marques below the wings of various discern companies from 2003 onward. The Bentley Continental GT changed into the fastest genuine 4-seat vehicle within the world - a wearing coupé with out rival. glaringly Bentley remembered key elements from the beyond and combined those with destiny demands as regards an ambitioned thoroughbred sports activities car. As a end result the brand new Continental GT blended best Grand visiting traditions with a number of automotive international’s maximum advanced technology.

It didn’t want time-consuming studies within the business enterprise’s records to discover the legendary Bentley R Continental (1952-1955); at its time the fastest collection-made 4-seat vehicle global. After a gap of about 1/2 a century that role turned into occupied with the aid of a Bentley once more, the brand new Continental GT. it is nicely well worth to factor out with 4 suitable seats this version offered extra than the as an alternative devalued compromise of a 2+2 sometimes found somewhere else. Accelerating from zero to 60mph in 4.7 seconds and able to a pinnacle pace in excess of 190mph (over 300km/h) this 4-seater changed into unique.

The 6-litre twin turbocharged W12- engine’s strength output become 552bhp/411KW. A huge truth become a most torque generated at simply 1.600rpm. never before a 12-cylinder engine were hired on a Bentley motor automobile. The link between engine and wheels was supplied through ZF-built six-speed automatic transmission. thru guidance wheel paddles the driving force can determine on Tiptronic actuation, i.e. pick among conventional automated or clutchless manual gearchange. A six-speed automated become a novelty on a Bentley, that might be stated of 4-wheel drive and air springs used at every nook in vicinity of conventional coils, too. digital traction control and electronic stability programme had been geared up, of course. An extremely-state-of-the-art community of electronic control units processed information fed to them from sensors around the auto and instructed engine, transmission, suspension and brakes to behave in concord.Bentley says that it plans to hold on constructing its W-12 engine for the foreseeable destiny, with a senior supervisor telling us that the agency plans to be the “closing manufacturer of 12-cylinder engines in the international.”

And it possibly can be, despite the fact that Mercedes-Benz has advised us it has a similar intention. Bentley now assembles W-12 engines for the whole Volkswagen organization—even though it uses the tremendous majority of them itself—and will also lead future development. assets in the agency inform us that the 6.0-liter twin-turbocharged unit will quickly switch to direct injection, however otherwise it must be capable of meet all impending emissions requirements on each facets of the Atlantic.

even though the W-12 become first visible within the Audi A8 and the Volkswagen Phaeton within the early 2000s (after being previewed inside the astonishing Volkswagen W12 Syncro supercar concept of 1997), it has emerge as maximum associated with Bentley, powering the brawnier variations of the Continental and Flying Spur degrees. and because the organisation’s approaching SUV will also be supplied with a W-12, production is truely set to boom. Bentley made 5000 W-12s remaining yr, however that’s possibly to rise to approximately 9000 as soon as the SUV comes on line. outside of Bentley, the most effective new automobile nevertheless using the W-12 are range-topping variations of the Audi A8, which sells in tiny volumes. energy outputs are likely to increase slightly—the recently launched Continental speed has 616 horsepower—although we’re advised that the biggest limit on boosting output is the torque restriction of any transmission the engine is fitted to.

Audi is reportedly running on a 600-hp ‘Plus’ version of the four.0-liter dual-turbocharged V-eight it shares with Bentley, which we believe is getting a bit too close for consolation. Of route, Bentley has a proud records of maintaining engines in production for decades, and the W-12 is still a spring hen as compared with the business enterprise’s venerable 6.seventy five-liter V-eight, which, in closely changed form, remains going sturdy inside the Mulsanne, 55 years after it turned into delivered. Oh, and we’ve been advised to assume a pace model of the Mulsanne subsequent yr.