Sex-o-Cars

Bentley's most recent flagship, the Mulsanne, made its debut at Pebble Beach last summer and goes into production this summer; the manner of construction and a final assembly check involving 503 points that requires more than two hours' time hardly qualify it as a production car.

For their strength and power W.O. Bentley's cars were once described as the world's fastest trucks. While the Mulsanne doesn't have the scale and bluntness of the aircraft-carrier-like prow on Rolls-Royce's Phantom it is still a big car, a foot longer than a long-wheelbase Mercedes S-Class and just three inches shorter than a Chevrolet Suburban. Luxury isn't light either, the Mulsanne weighing in at 5700 pounds, and extended-wheelbase versions may follow in the future.

This new model, limited to just 100 cars worldwide, is a celebration of the Company’s world ice speed record set two weeks ago by Finland’s four-time world rally champion Juha Kankkunen in a Bentley Continental Supersports convertible.

Powering the car is a 6-litre, twin turbo-charged W12 engine, producing 471kW of power and 800Nm of torque. Paired with a Quickshift six-speed automatic transmission, the convertible ‘Ice Speed Record’ model can sprint from 0-100km/h in 4.0 seconds.

The additional engine power of the new convertible is the result of fine tuning of the engine to optimise the benefits of the new free-breathing air intake ducts, intercooler system and the exhaust system.

In common with its Continental siblings, the new Supersports model runs on both petrol (gasoline) or E85 bio-ethanol or any combination of the two. Pioneered in the Supersports coupe, this FlexFuel technology offers a reduction of up to 70 per cent in CO2 emissions on a well-to-wheel basis, a measure of a fuel’s net contribution to the atmosphere, not just tailpipe emissions. The on-board fuel supply system monitors the content of the fuel tank and ensures that power and torque remain constant regardless of the ratio of petrol to biofuel.