2007 Bentley Continental Gt Coupe 2-door 6.0l on 2040-cars

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Bentley Bentayga takes Pikes Peak SUV record

Earlier this spring, we wrote about Bentley's bid to beat the existing Pikes Peak record for sports utility vehicles, with racing driver Rhys Millen behind the wheel of a bright green Bentayga. And this past weekend, they did it, slicing almost two minutes off the earlier record. Having been set by Paul Dallenbach with a Range Rover Sport back in 2013, the old record stood at 12:35.61. The New Zealand-born Millen completed the course in 10:49.9, at an average speed of 66.5 miles per hour. To pass Pikes Peak scrutineering and to keep Millen safe, the near-stock Bentayga had been fitted with a roll cage and racing seats, along with a harness and a fire suppression system; the only performance modification was a production-specification Akrapovic exhaust system. We expect the engine note to have been crowd-pleasing. The #Bentayga has smashed the Production SUV record at #PikesPeak, beating the previous best by nearly two minutes. @RhysMillen took just 10:49.9 to climb 5000 ft over 12.4 miles #BeExtraordinary pic.twitter.com/sEQ80FgwbE — Bentley Motors Comms (@BentleyComms) June 24, 2018 The 5000-foot climb has 156 corners, which the Radium Satin colored, 600-hp Bentayga attacked on stock Pirelli rubber. After his record run, Millen said: "To take a luxury SUV with minimal modifications and be able to drive up this course in under 11 minutes is a huge testament to the performance and level of engineering in the Bentayga." Related Video: Featured Gallery Bentley Bentayga Pikes Peak Image Credit: Bentley Motorsports Bentley Crossover SUV Luxury pikes peak bentley bentayga hill climb

Meet the Bentley Inspirator, your A.I. Bentayga configurator

The future of the car configurator just sprouted a tender new shoot. The Bentley Inspirator app relieves Bentayga buyers of most of the heavy lifting when they're trying to sort out what kind of image they want their super-luxe SUV to project. Usable on any Apple iOS device, the app plays a video and then scans the viewer's face for emotional cues. The video changes based on the viewer's responses to on-screen images, so theoretically, two viewers shouldn't see the same video. The app achieves this by noting 34 "facial landmarks" based on an "emotion data repository" filled with "more than 12 million emotion data points" provided by 3.4 million faces from 75 million countries. At the end of the film, the app suggests a Bentayga configuration, from colors to veneers to wheels. Now fresh from the effort, the prospective customer can apply all of his or her energies to fine tuning the result. You can download it from Bentley's site or the app store, watch the video of how it works above, and check out the press release below. Related Video: BENTLEY INSPIRATOR: PERSONAL PREFERENCE BROUGHT TO LIFE - Inspirator app is the next generation of digital car configurator - Emotion-recognition technology interprets users' facial expressions and generates vehicle configuration - Bentley Inspirator application available to download now at www.bentleymotors.com/inspirator and in Apple App Store (Crewe, 21 October 2015) Personal style preferences can now be transformed into recommendation, with Bentley's latest innovation: the Inspirator. The application monitors the users' facial expressions and reactions and interprets them in order to configure the perfect Bentley for them. Utilising any iOS device's camera function, the application's facial and emotion recognition software measures and analyses the viewer's emotion based on nuanced facial expressions. 34 facial landmarks are identified at 15 frames per second, as the viewer reacts to stimulating film content. The accurate emotion metrics algorithms are built using the world's largest emotion data repository – 3.4 million faces have been analysed in 75 countries amounting to more than 12 billion emotion data points. The viewer's reactions dictate a unique film narrative; the film changes according to what the user responds to most positively, but also deciphers their preferences, creating a unique configuration revealed at the end of the film.

Bentley unveils 202-mph Continental GT Speed Convertible

That purple haze all in your eyes is the 2013 Bentley GT Speed Convertible. The cynical view is, "Bah, take a GT Speed and cut the top off. There. Pass the salt, please...". But when you're Bentley, more than 90 years old, and charging these kinds of ducats, there's no reason to take the cynic's shortcut. So of course the GT Speed Convertible gets all of the Speed-family accoutrements: matrix radiator grille hiding a twin-turbocharged, 6.0-liter W12 with 616 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque, eight-speed ZF transmission enabling 15 percent better fuel economy, beefier lowered suspension, larger rifled exhaust tips, inlet manifold finished in black crackle and a Mulliner Driving Specification cabin.
Among the many refinements added to the convertible, though, are neck warmers in the seats, the 21-inch wheels unique to this car, class-leading stiffness - admittedly, it's a very small class, but its torsional rigidity of 22,500 Nm/degree is only 500 Nm below that of the Lamborghini Gallardo coupe. The stiffening required to achieve that number will undoubtedly have something to do with the 485-pound weight gain over the GT Speed Coupe.
Still, when the GT Speed Convertible weighs 5,500 pounds, what's a few hundred between friends? More importantly, the weight doesn't scuttle performance: 0-60 comes in 4.1 seconds, a tenth shy of the coupe. The gap stretches as you approach The Ton, the GT Speed Convertible needing just 9.7 seconds to get there, the coupe just nine seconds. Trust us, though, everyone will be too busy blasting along to notice. Everyone will want to pack light, however, because the Speed Convertible loses 3.5 cubic feet of trunk space. It remains the fastest four-seat convertible in the world with a 202-mph top speed.