BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT SPEED ETA: NOW
Price: R5 045 000 Engine: 6,0-litre, twin-turbo, W12 Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic Power: 485 kW @ 5 000-6 000 r/min Torque: 900 N.m @ 1500 r/min 0-100 km/h: 3,6 sec* Top speed: 335 km/h Fuel consumption: 13,5 l/100 km* CO₂ emissions: 311 g/km* Rivals: Aston Martin DBS, Ferrari Roma, McLaren GT, Porsche 911 Turbo S, Lexus LC 500 coupé
Early 2007. It's cold. I'm cold. Very cold. Off to the left, a storm approaches. Helblindi the furious, white cape billowing, charging across a frozen Baltic Sea. Actually, it's a Bentley Continental GT Speed - my first in the flesh - on its way to a world speed record on ice. Four-time World Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen is at the wheel. He careens past; it's his second pass, 331 km/h on the bevelled dial. He smashes the Bugatti EB110's 296 km/h record with an average for both runs of 321.6 km/h. Saucy stuff, exhilarating to watch, but terrifying to emulate. Twenty minutes later, strapped into my own - far tamer - Continental... let's just say I felt like a boilermaker in hobnail boots at an audition for Swan Lake.
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