Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed on the road
In part 2 of our review and road test of the Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed, we look at its performance. Can a big saloon really perform like a Supercar?
A prod on the button yields a turbine-like wail from the starter as it breathes life in to the 12 cylinders. That the background growl of the W12 is audible is a pleasant surprise; Bentley has chosen not to make the Speed experience a silent one.
A prod on the throttle is enough to entice the Speed to leave its stationary position with something very close to instant acceleration. So much torque makes the Bentley move to almost any speed you choose in what feels like an insignificant snippet of time.
There are but a handful of big saloon cars in the world that can accomplish the feat of moving from one speed to another – up or down – without seeming to bother the numbers in between. The Flying Spur Speed is one of them.
The concern for the consternation you doubtless engender in every oncoming driver on a narrow B-Road, as two tons of Flying Spur Speed bear down on them head-on, is balanced by the certainty that any overtaking move is possible; so much torque and power is on hand at any time.
The acceleration is less warp-speed and more transporter; just as with moving off from the start there are no in between places in an overtake; you press the loud pedal, the scenery blurs, and you’re in front of the car you where behind a nanosecond before.
The brutality of the acceleration is accompanied by a growl from the W12 that is more guttural than the roar of a God, but aurally pleasing nonetheless. There’s also the slightest perception of the Devil passing wind as you come off the throttle and on to the brake for a bend as the exhausts sing their understanding of your intent.
There’s an expectation of understeer with a 4WD platform and an engine – however parsimoniously compact for its capacity it may be – that sits almost on the back of the grill. But the FSS feels like a RWD saloon – a very well sorted and able rear wheel saloon – as you turn in to the bend and squeeze on the throttle as you squirt past the apex.
It feels, if you had enough room and had taken your brave pills, as if you could drift the Speed round a bend on the throttle with the tail delicately balanced. But that would have taken more brave pills than this driver had to hand at the time.
Instead of risking oncoming traffic with the tail out, you can take a broadsword attitude to B Roads and simply demolish them with brute force. Hard on the brakes going in to sharp bends, brisk but not stupid through and then rely on the sheer brute force and immense grip to power out.
Do that and you make stellar progress. Curves in the road and ridges on the surface you notice but shrug off, and even sharp bends are pummelled in to submission. It’s an addictive way to cover huge distances in short periods.
But who will buy it?
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