1999 Bentley Azure Rare 1 Of 4 And Is #1...azure That Is Beautiful on 2040-cars

Auto blog

The Windsor Castle Concours d'Elegance in pictures, courtesy of Bentley

Bentley went to the Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance as the main sponsor and showed off six of its best among the gathering of "60 of the finest motor cars in the world," including the 4¼-liter Bentley 'Embiricos' Special built for a Greek shipping magnate and gentleman racer in the 1930s.
Even better, for us at least, is that when Bentley decided to capture the moment it took pictures of most of the metal on the lawn, not just the Bentleys. Thanks to that, we have a high-res gallery that's home to rarities like the Vauxhall 30-98 Type OE Boattail Wensum Tourer, beauties like the Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, long-tail Ford GT40, Maserati Tipo 60 Birdcage, Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, a sinister Ferrari 250 GTO and the even more sinister Rolls-Royce Phantom Aerodynamic Coupe, among others. All you need to do now is click and enjoy.

Bentley EXP 9 F to be redesigned, renamed Falcon?

In concept form, the Bentley EXP 9 F had neither the styling nor the name to impress us when we first saw it earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show, and while we already knew some sort of design change was imminent, we're unsurprisingly now hearing that a name change is also in the cards. Automobile Magazine is reporting that the eventual production Bentley SUV will get a complete redesign from what we saw in the EXP 9 F, and it will wear a new name as well: Falcon.
The article says that Luc Donckerwolke, Bentley's newly appointed director of design, is giving the SUV a complete redesign from the concept vehicle, which goes against what we last heard of the vehicle in August that a "radical redesign" was not in the cards. Donckerwolke has been on the design team at various Volkswagen Group automakers since 1992, helping to pen such memorable designs as the Lamborghini Gallardo and Murciélago, but now he is tasked with giving Bentley an SUV worthy of its lineup. Last we heard, the model could go into production in 2015, but there is no indication whether the Falcon will get three-row seating or a plug-in hybrid version as has been previously rumored.

Bentley designer hints at even faster Continental GT3-R

Does Bentley have room in its Continental GT lineup for an even more extreme version than the new GT3-R? Luc Donckerwolke seems to think so. Speaking with Autocar, the Bentley design chief suggested that an even more performance-focused Continental GT could be in the works, potentially ditching the heavy all-wheel drive system in an effort to further reduce weight, improve handling and drop even more ticks off the 0-60 time that's already down to a best-yet 3.6 seconds in the GT3-R.
To borrow a page from the same playbook used not only by sister-companies Audi and Porsche but also by Renault and Jaguar (to name just a few), we'll tentatively call it the Continental GT3-RS. Whatever the name, though, power would likely come from an even more potent version of the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 co-developed with sister-company Audi. Considering that engine already produces 500 horsepower in the Continental GT V8, 521 hp in the V8 S and 572 hp in the GT3-R, we could be looking at as much as 600 horses to make it the most powerful V8 model to date. With that much juice, it would even eclipse some of the W12 models that start at 567 hp in the core Continental GT and range up to the 616 hp in the Speed, which currently ranks not only as the most powerful Conti yet, but also the fastest road car Bentley has ever made.
Donckerwolke says that Bentley has already sold the entire production run for the Continental GT3-R and that customers are already clamoring for something more focused. Younger buyers are likely to be even further drawn to the brand by the ne-plus-ultra Conti, especially if the racing team advanced from its current fifth place in the Blancpain Endurance Series standings.