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2017 Bentley Model Year Preview and Updates

Over the last decade Bentley has done an excellent job in projecting a more sporting presence without in any way jeopardizing its luxury credibility. That luxury cred is again on the line with the launch of Bentley's new Bentayga SUV (pictured); its info is below. BENTLEY BENTAYGA: The biggest news at Bentley – literally and figuratively – is the arrival of Bentley's first SUV, the difficult-to-pronounce but beautifully executed Bentayga. Described as a 'true Bentley', the Bentayga provides expected luxury in combination with unexpected off-road performance. CONTINENTAL: More horsepower – up to 700 horsepower and 750 pound-feet of torque in the Supersports – is provided across the lineup, along with a new Black Edition available for both Coupe and Convertible. FLYING SPUR: A new V8 S model offers enhanced performance and 'sporting' luxury when compared to the more pedestrian V8. MULSANNE: Bentley's big four door receives significant styling revisions to the exterior, new and improved chassis technology and new on-board technology. The new Extended Wheelbase (EWB) adds almost 10-inches of additional rear seat legroom.

On any given Sunday, there'll be a Bentley racing somewhere

Most of us would regard Bentley more as a luxury marque than a racing one. Sure, it dominated Le Mans in the 1920s with five wins (four of them consecutively), but that was a long time ago. It won again in 2003, but that was an exception – right? Bentley doesn't actually race much anymore, does it? The short answer is: yes, yes it does. The automaker rolled out the Continental GT3 a few years ago, following sister companies Porsche, Audi, and Lamborghini into the category. Now you may be scoffing something along the lines of "yeah but it's only GT3," but while you're doing that, Bentley Motorsport is steadily ramping up its racing program. This year we'll be able to see Contis racing in "more than 90 top-level GT races around the world." Count out the off-season that's now drawing to an end as the racing season gears up and you're talking about two races every week. Yeah, that's right: Bentley will, on average, be competing in two races each week somewhere in the world. Those races will be part of series like the Pirelli World Challenge here in America, the Blancpain Endurance Series in Europe, the ADAC GT Masters in Germany, the British GT Championship, and the GT Asia series. So wherever you live, there's bound to be a race coming up where you'll be able to see the Continental GT3 racing towards the finish line. Of course the Bentley Team M-Sport works squad won't be contesting all of those races itself. It has an array of customer and partner teams lined up for series around the world. Instead of fielding, for instance, a works entry in the Nurburgring 24 Hours this year, it'll deligate to the Bentley Team Abt Sportsline. But that's just one of the 90 races in which the Continental GT3 will compete this season, and we're looking forward to seeing how it fares in each. Related Video: BENTLEY ANNOUNCES LARGEST RACE PROGRAMME YET - Bentley Motorsport races across the globe in 2016 - Works team adds Blancpain Sprint Series to calendar - Wolfgang Reip becomes latest Bentley Boy 22 March 2016, Crewe – Bentley Motorsport will contest more than 90 top-level GT races around the world in 2016, as both its works and customer team programmes expand. The Bentley Team M-Sport works outfit will now enter the full Blancpain GT Series and welcomes Wolfgang Reip to the Blancpain Endurance Series line-up.

Gliding on the ice at Bentley's fantasy camp

It was just before 2:00 PM when I landed in Helsinki, bleary-eyed and more than slightly disoriented, after a late-night departure from New York and an early-morning connection in Amsterdam. I was staring at the departures board. There was one more flight to go before I could join Bentley for Power on Ice, its annual ice driving experience in the northerly town of Kuusamo, but there was a problem: There were two HEL-KAO flights on the board, both slated to leave at 4:30, and it was impossible to discern which was Bentley's chartered flight to the alpine ski area. Nonplussed and unable to utter a word in Finnish, I approached a gate agent with rudimentary English to see if she knew which flight was mine. "I'm sorry, sir," she said in an Finnish take on the Omaha dialect, "Your plane does not seem to exist." I winced. Of course it didn't. "My" plane was way out on the tarmac, far away from proletariat jumbo jets, accessible only through a gate that the automaker had staffed and commandeered for the afternoon. It was an auspicious start to three days of attending Bentley's exclusive fantasy camp for its affluent super-fans, which purportedly exists to answer the question: What can you give the Bentley fan who already has everything? For drivers more accustomed to making graceful entries and exits in their posh vehicles, several days of power sliding on a private track more than suffices. You need not be a Bentley owner to participate in the program, but an aficionado of the brand with some cash burning a pretty big hole in the pocket. For the better part of a decade, Bentley has decamped to Kuusamo, the town located just south of the Arctic Circle, to prove the British performance bona-fides of its lineup on 19 square miles of frozen Kuusamojarvi lake, as part of the wintertime Power on Ice event. The program satisfies the need of high-end performance enthusiasts who want something different than arriving at another five-star hotel for another weekend of good eating, drinking, and relaxing. Plenty of brands assert that they have a bespoke answer for discerning customers, but Power on Ice is truly different. You need not be a Bentley owner to participate in the program, but an aficionado of the brand with some cash burning a pretty big hole in the pocket.