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What the heck is a Poker Run? And why did I do one in W12 Bentleys?

Looking for something more interesting to do with your car-loving friends than just standing around a parking lot on Saturday mornings drinking coffee? How about a poker run? Never heard of one? Neither had I until I received an invitation to drive a variety of W12-powered Bentleys on a “poker run” tour of greater Los Angeles. To be clear, you do not need Bentleys to do this, nor do you need to cycle through a variety of cars. You also donÂ’t really need to know how to play poker, which is good, since my knowledge of the game begins and ends with watching the crew of the Enterprise play it on “Star Trek.” This is what happens. Craft a four-stop route of wherever you may live or visit. Coffee or lunch stop, scenic overlook, tourist spot, friendÂ’s mansion, whatever. In this particular poker run, we would be going from the chic Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica (did I mention we were driving Bentleys?) to the Griffith Observatory by way of Beverly Hills, the Sunset Strip and Hollywood. WeÂ’d then drive across Highway 101 (an interstate-style road at this point in L.A.) to the Topanga Overlook in Woodland Hills, down to the Cross Creek plaza in Malibu, and out through the Santa Monica Mountains to Calamigos Ranch for lunch. You can see the route map here. Was it the most dynamic drive in the world? No, but we saw some stuff. And at each stop, plus at the start, we drew a card from a standard deck. With W12 Bentley branding on them no less. With a fifth and final card drawn at Calamigos, we discarded one to craft the best hand possible. The winner in this case would receive the first press loan of the limited-edition Bentayga Speed Edition 12, but you could make the prize whatever you want. I knew enough about poker (thanks Commander Riker) to know that my hand was probably not going to get it done despite an ace of diamonds and a joker. My other choices were 10 of diamonds, two of hearts and five of clubs. And no, bluffing isnÂ’t allowed even if it could be worked into this. Sure enough, I did not win. It was a fun way to spend the day, though, and an idea IÂ’ll try again sometime with friends. IÂ’m guessing we wonÂ’t be in a colorful collection of Bentleys, though, which is of course the other part of this story. You see, the venerable 12-cylinder Bentley is going away after 2024.

2021 Bentley Bentayga Speed previewed in official photos ahead of debut

The Bentley Bentayga Speed is about to be revealed (again), but this time it’ll be sporting all the upgrades applied to the 2021 model year Bentayga. Bentley provided us with a few official preview images of the SUV in camouflage ahead of its unveiling next Tuesday evening. You can check the three photos out in the gallery above. Differences between the upcoming Speed and regular Bentayga are plenty noticeable if you direct your attention to the rear of the vehicle. ItÂ’s sporting an aggressive, winged spoiler atop the roof that produces more downforce than the standard BentaygaÂ’s spoiler. Additionally, this model gets a unique quad-tipped exhaust design and rear diffuser. The front bumper is subtly changed to be a bit more pointy and threatening, but you need to look closer to see the differences here. The biggest change of all will be under the hood. This Bentayga will be rocking the uprated W12 engine that makes 626 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. Since it was just released a little over a year ago, we donÂ’t expect the powertrain to be going through any major revisions. ItÂ’ll likely retain its crown as the “worldÂ’s fastest SUV” with a 190-mph top speed. ItÂ’s 0.5 mph faster than a Lamborghini Urus, so we considered them even. Maybe Bentley has gained something aero-wise with the revisions — weÂ’ll have to wait for the reveal to know. The 0-60 mph time of 3.9 seconds will likely remain unchanged, though. Expect all of the extra niceties announced for the standard Bentayga V8 to be making their way to the Speed, too. You can read our in-depth reveal post for all the details there. Watch out for the revised Speed to make its debut next week. Related video:

Bentley builds a Continental GT as tribute to the car that inspired the model

Bentley is staying quite busy with its tribute models. It's built yet another 2023 Continental GT, in Azure trim, that's based on a notable past model. But unlike the Bathurst cars, this one appears to be just for Bentley, and it's based on a much older car: a 1953 R-Type Continental. More specifically, it's based on the 1953 R-Type Continental Bentley keeps in its historic fleet. It's a car that was purchased by the company in 2001 and has been maintained and preserved. The R-Type Continental is an important model for Bentley for a couple of reasons. It's a neat model on its own as a coupe version of the R-Type sedan that got a relatively light aluminum body, and its 4.6-liter straight-six could propel the Continental to nearly 120 mph. But it also was the inspiration for the first-generation Continental GT launched in 2003. So this special Continental GT Azure brings everything full circle. It's painted Old English White with a Cricket Ball leather interior to match the white-over-red of the '53 example. Bentley says the Burr Walnut wood trim with boxwood inlays was given a natural finish lacquer to match the aged wood on the old car. And as an Azure, this Continental GT comes with a variety of comfort-oriented features such as the active anti-roll bars and ultra-adjustable seats with massage. Under the hood is the standard twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 making 542 hp. Related video: