2008 Bentley Continental Gt 2dr Conv on 2040-cars

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What it's like to drive a brand-new, 92-year-old Bentley Blower

“Vivid” doesnÂ’t even begin to describe this; neither does “damn cold.” The throttle is pinned to the firewall, the needles behind the glass in the dashboardÂ’s 10 dials are twitching and dancing, the supercharger boost gauge is nailed to the lock stop, and the dark-green scuttle is shuddering with the ripples of the concrete banking. Think World War II airplane over the storm-tossed North Atlantic – I even slid a picture of my wife into my breast pocket this morning Â… IÂ’d be grinning, but the freezing blast over the leather-strapped bonnet gives me a rictus grimace. ThereÂ’s a lot to do in this 92-year-old supercharged Bentley as its fish-tail exhaust blares seal-honk indifference at a shoal of insignificant super cars fluttering in its wake; at 100 mph this is motoring at its zenith. They donÂ’t make ‘em like they used to and I used to think that was indubitably true of this car: Sir Henry ‘TimÂ’ BirkinÂ’s Blower Bentley. This was his favorite out of the five Blowers built at the Welwyn factory between 1929 and 1930. It was bankrolled by Dorothy Paget, the Whitney family heiress, and serial race-horse owner and gambler. How famous? This car, known as Number Two, was entered in the 1930 Le Mans 24-hour race. Birkin drove it like a bat out of hell in the initial stages of the race with the tacit approval of the Bentley factory, which had entered a team of "6 1/2 litre" naturally aspirated cars and was looking for its fourth-consecutive Le Mans victory and the marqueÂ’s fifth overall. They used Birkin and this lovely old machine as “the hare,” testing the potential and reliability of the astonishing Mercedes-Benz works supercharged, 7-liter SSK driven by Rudolf ‘RudiÂ’ Caracciola (ironically Paget also owned one of these rare and exotic beasts). The fast and courageous Birkin was sent out to poke a stick at the German ace – it was like poking a waspsÂ’ nest. Twice Birkin overtook Caracciola at over 120 mph at the end of the Mulsanne/Hunaudieres straight, with one wheel on the grass and the rear tire down to its canvas. By all accounts Caracciola was so startled simply because he couldnÂ’t believe that anyone would be actually overtaking him. Legend has it that in pursuing Birkin, Rudi Caracciola damaged the engine by over using the supercharger, which could be clutched in and out, but the truth is more nuanced. Birkin drove his car so hard he twice lost a tireÂ’s tread and had to pit early.

2024 Bentley Bentayga EWB Mulliner is a private jet for the road

The high-riding Bentayga has stood proud as Bentley's range-topping model since the Mulsanne retired in 2020. The brand is cementing its first SUV's flagship positioning by launching an even more luxurious evolution of the extended-wheelbase version called EWB Mulliner. Developed, as its name implies, by the in-house Mulliner division, the long-wheelbase SUV rides on 22-inch wheels fitted with self-leveling center caps and wears a model-specific Double Diamond grille. Designers also added a chromed lower front grille, a Mulliner-branded badge on each fender, and two-tone door mirror caps. The list of options includes an appearance package called Mulliner Blackline Specification that replaces most of the bright trim pieces with gloss black parts and adds gloss black-finished 21-inch wheels for a more subtle look. We doubt anyone will yell "shotgun!" before taking a long trip in the Bentayga EWB Mulliner, as the best seats in the house are in the back. Offered with four or five seats, the SUV comes standard with the Bentley Airline Seat option that brings 22-way power-adjustable rear seats, an automatic climate-sensing system that detects whether the occupants are hot or cold and adjusts the heating or the ventilation accordingly, and postural adjustment technology that continuously changes the shape of the seat to ease pressure points. Two seating modes are available: Relax reclines the seat to nearly 40 degrees and deploys a footrest while Business moves it to its most upright position. Mulliner also added diamond-quilted leather upholstery, wood interior trim, wool floor mats and a three-dimensional diamond-milled finish on the center console, and it lets buyers choose one of eight three-color upholstery combinations created specifically for the flagship Bentayga. Alternatively, customers can work with the brand to design a one-of-a-kind interior. The finishing touch is an analog clock on the dashboard. If you have something to celebrate, Bentley can help: there's space for a bottle and two champagne flutes on the rear center console. Power comes from a 4.0-liter V8 that's twin-turbocharged to 542 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque. It spins the four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission, and it sends this living room on wheels from 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 180 mph. The list of standard features includes rear-wheel steering, a 48-volt anti-roll control system and an air suspension system.

Matthias Muller officially named VW Group CEO

While the vast number of rumors made it seem like a foregone conclusion, Porsche boss Matthias Muller has officially been named Volkswagen Group CEO to replace the recently resigned Martin Winterkorn. His contract runs through the end of February 2020, and until a replacement is found, Muller also gets to hang onto his old job as chairman of Porsche. At the same time, the VW Group Supervisory Board is announcing a massive structural reorganization across the entire company, with the new management model in place by the beginning of 2016. Contrary to previous rumors, Michael Horn remains as President and CEO of VW Group of America. The board wants a greater emphasis on brands and regions going forward, and the scale of this shift can be seen in the US. On November 1, VW Group business in the US, Mexico, and Canada is being combined under the leadership of current Skoda chairman Winfried Vahland. However contrary to previous rumors, Michael Horn remains as President and CEO of VW Group of America. Other brands are also seeing some significant changes mechanically. Porsche, Bentley, and Bugatti now fall under the Group's "sportscar and mid-engine toolkit." This means that the brands will start sharing standardized technical parts. A Chief Technical Officer across all of the company's brands will also start working toward future innovations. The new brand-centric view means the end of a group-wide production department. "Going forward, the brands and regions will also have greater independence with regard to production. So it follows that they should also hold the responsibility for these activities," Berthold Huber, interim Chairman of the Supervisory Board, said in the announcement. In a statement with the press release about his promotion, Muller promised to turn the company around after such an international crisis. He said: "My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group – by leaving no stone unturned and with maximum transparency, as well as drawing the right conclusions from the current situation. Under my leadership, Volkswagen will do everything it can to develop and implement the most stringent compliance and governance standards in our industry." Matthias Muller appointed CEO of the Volkswagen Group Muller remains Chairman of Porsche AG until a successor has been found Matthias Muller (62) has been appointed CEO of Volkswagen AG with immediate effect.