Anyone who has money, style and exquisite taste (or simply wastes a lot of precious life time on the relevant car portals) will have noticed: Bentley will soon be doing away with the twelve-cylinder engine as well. In April 2024, after more than 20 years and more than 100,000 units, the last W12 will roll off the production line. So it’s high time to celebrate the six-litre biturbo TSI once again.
The truth is in the smile, it should be said. Because an honest smile is difficult to imitate. The fact that a Bentley conjures up exactly this smile on the face when driving has been part of the basic equipment for a long time. During a fast-paced Bentley Track Day with different Bentley models, it quickly becomes clear what is changing and what is always the same. A “Pan Am Smile” was once a common term for an artificial, fake smile. It goes back to the American airline “Pan American World Airways”, which demanded a constant smile from its stewardesses – after all, passengers should feel welcome. Unfortunately, the stewardesses were not always in the mood to smile in their everyday work and you could quickly tell that. The human smile is an extremely complex facial expression in which a large number of muscle groups in the face have to be activated. If you don’t feel what you’re smiling, you can often see it right away. The feeling makes the truth. And the participants felt a lot during this ride with Bentley Stuttgart and Bentley Singen. And smiled. Truly smiled.
Together with some customers, photographers and us journalists, we were on the track at the Baden Airpark. The route itself stands for a typical ride, as it is often undertaken here as an escape from everyday life. “A gathering of Bentley enthusiasts that outshines any driving presentation,” one of the participants would later say. While elsewhere people are racking their brains about whether a relocation of car shows could counteract the declining number of visitors that has been going on for years, Bentley is thinking one step further: “The idea of simply putting cars somewhere is outdated – regardless of whether they are shining in Stuttgart, Singen or elsewhere. The consensus is that brands like Bentley need to deliver experiences today if they want to have an effective and positive relationship with their customers. And that’s what they want, because that’s the only way to sell cars. So it’s about creating living environments, encouraging people to participate, having a good time together. And to convey messages and brand values in the process. Our “fountain of youth” is a small airfield. The runway or test track is reserved exclusively for Bentley. A few times under full load from zero to over a hundred and the participants all easily look three to five years younger. The Botox industry is getting its first worry lines, it is heard. The fascinating thing about such a tour is the unreasonableness: like a sniffer dog, each wheel smells the greatest possible grip and pushes the noble bodies forward. The conditions hardly play a role. On irrigated roads, the Bentley takes only a tenth longer to go from zero to a hundred than in ideal dry conditions. Also a new form of efficiency. Like this or like that. But then there are the curves. And when braking, you can’t hide the tons of weight. Mass remains mass. But it’s fun!
At the same time, there is always a pinch of lightness in a new Bentley. It’s a new kind of lightness that is more of an interplay of movement sequences in general: accelerating, steering, braking, sometimes running, the Bentley does all this with a serenity that is as purring as it is cheerful, which has a noticeable effect on the driver’s central nervous system. Time-hopping, so to speak. The opposite would be the flow, the soaking up of the moment, in which, completely absorbed in something, one perceives time only as a blurred line that passes you by. When driving a car, for example. When it’s just a matter of accelerating at the right moment, braking, turning, finding the apex and letting yourself be carried out of the corner. Or to keep the drift on wet roads. The perfect interplay of targeted throttle thrusts and gentle counter-steering, wellness in counter-steering, so to speak. And the real art of all-wheel drifting is precisely not steering. Ideally, the steering wheel should be at twelve o’clock while the vehicle is standing sideways, or better: pushing and pulling. All sensitively steered with the right foot, the left rests on the brake pedal with the great masters, and here and there he gives a short but determined impulse to prevent what no one wants: the malicious grin of the others when he turns one in and his own Bentley runs the risk of turning backwards. It’s a lot of fun in the truest sense of the word. There are probably old instincts at work. And yes, of course it’s an acoustic delight to see a new twin-turbocharged Continental GT Speed 6.0-litre W12 engine blasting across the track, but it also takes a lot of talent and concentration to drift sharply around corners with a flying track. Some people grimace, especially when they take the same curve for the third time. Sound here, sound there. Later in the evening, we discuss in a good mood whether evolution will ever completely drive out this instinct to react to the sound of the engine. Opinions differ. Christian Wild emphasizes that the sound from the natural processes of the drive will also be an acoustic treat later in electromobility, i.e. technically real. Just like the genuine smiles of everyone involved this weekend.
The dynamic Bentleys are certainly true. But even a Continental Speed doesn’t suddenly become a racing car. And why should they? It is the Gran Turismo par excellence. A big, heavy Gran Turismo, not an aggressive cornering GT. But other than that, it’s great cinema through and through. Even the inside of the tailgate is lined with wonderfully fluffy carpet. Louis Vuitton suitcases, Ruinard champagne boxes or the usual two golf bags will cheer with joy.
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