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Bentley Speed Six Continuation Series revealed at Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Bentley Continuation series of cars is … continuing. Today, Bentley unveiled the Speed Six Continuation Series at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This follows the series of 12 Bentley Blower Continuation models, but apologies youÂ’re only hearing about the new series now, as the 12 Speed Six units are already spoken for. Bentley says it regards the Speed Six as its most successful race car ever because it dominated Le Mans both in 1929 and again in 1930. Just like the Blower, the Speed Six will be built using the same processes as the original car by BentleyÂ’s bespoke and coachbuilding division, Mulliner. Bentley has 80% of the carÂ’s original drawings and is supplementing this knowledge with original mechanicÂ’s notes and data taken from an original 1930 Le Mans racer and a 1930 Speed Six currently residing in BentleyÂ’s Heritage Collection. The “6 1/2 liter” (as Bentley likes to term it) six-cylinder engine required the creation of over 600 new parts to build, and Bentley says initial dyno testing shows itÂ’s making 205 horsepower, which is 5 horses more than the original race engines were documented to produce. Bentley originally put this engine together as a successor to the Blower motor, as the thinking at the time from W.O. Bentley was that increasing displacement would produce better results than supercharging. Every last detail of the Speed Six Continuation Series is scrutinized to be as authentic as possible to the original. The one youÂ’re looking at in photos here is finished in Parsons Napier Green and features a tan leather interior. A total of five authentic colors will be available for the buyers to choose from, too. The craftspeople building the cars will be working alongside younger folks on purpose in an effort to pass down the skills and techniques used to create such vehicles. Before a single screw is turned, though, Bentley says it will be putting “Car Zero” through a real-world durability program with a goal of over 21,000 miles on the road and nearly 5,000 miles on the racetrack. Will any of the 12 customers ever get close to those figures? It sure would be cool if they did. As for those 12 lucky people who will own one of these Speed Six Continuation Series cars, theyÂ’ll all have custom sessions with the Mulliner team to get their cars customized and built to their specific wants. Each Speed Six will then take 10 months from start to finish to complete, and Bentley thinks production will be completed by the end of 2025.

2017 Bentley Mulsanne Speed is more ostentatious than ever

As it was, the Bentley Mulsanne was a pretty bold and ostentatious (and totally awesome) show of luxury. It was big and brutal in a classically British way, but it was also outperformed and out-teched by more modern (and cheaper) luxury sedans from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and even Audi. Buying one was a classic case study in vehicular statement-making, a vote for old-school refinement instead of modern gee-whizzery. Bentley clearly recognized that fact, because it's doubled-down on the big Mulsanne's aristocratic, give-no-craps demeanor as part of its latest aesthetic update. We love it. For one, the car on display in Geneva is painted is painted in an eye-catching (and questionable) metallic yellow-green. It is not subtle, but weirdly, it kind of works. The new, even more imposing grille is similarly blunt. It's been stretched three inches and is now home to polished stainless steel vanes. As we explained in our original post on the Mulsanne, the new headlight arrangement seeks to eliminate the "droopiness" of the current car. The LED units largely succeed, while somehow giving the front end an even snootier look. Styling changes elsewhere are subtler, which is to say there's still no mistaking the Mulsanne for anything else. The tail gets tasteful new LED lights, while changes along the long, smooth profile look to be nonexistent. It's a similar story in the cabin, which is a place filled with leather, chrome, and wood. It's proper and restrained, in contrast to the look-at-me face. But don't let the handsome and clean interior fool you – the only thing less subtle than the Mulsanne's new front fascia is the performance of this Speed variant. The 6.75-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 continues to reside under hood, turning out 530 horsepower and 811 pound-feet of torque. That's good for a 4.8-second 0-60 time and a 190-mile-per-hour top speed. Those are impressive figures for a genuine sports car, but they're just hilarious in a vehicle the size of a New York City apartment and the weight of a piece of construction equipment. The Mulsanne is an unnecessary, silly vehicle – a Mercedes-AMG S65 is a much better value. But simply put, few cars make such a bold statement about your wealth and power.

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: