2006 Bentley Arnage 4dr Sedan T on 2040-cars

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Pre-Race notes from the 2015 Nurburgring 24-Hours

Autoblog has come to the German countryside to watch the Nurburgring 24-Hour race, and just one day in, we have to say it's outstanding. Le Mans has been the highlight of our summer racing schedule for the past few years, the 'Ring 24-Hour event being the appetizer we always skipped. Earlier this year, however, while visiting Miami to check out the Cigarette Racing 50 Marauder GT S, we met Scott Preacher. He oversees digital marketing for both Cigarette and AMG during the week, then comes to Germany to compete in the VLN race series on the weekends, driving an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for Team Mathol. If Le Mans is the Oscars of endurance racing, the Nurburgring 24-Hour race is the Screen Actors Guild award – the one voted on by the actors, for the actors. In this case it's the race by the teams and fans, for the teams and fans, even though the increasing manufacturer presence has altered the team equation. We were told that it wasn't so long ago that true privateers could win the overall, but that's not really the case anymore. Front-running teams have heavy factory involvement – Audi Sport Team Phoenix, for instance, which finished in first and third last year, has its own 'Ring race center and is running the 2016 R8; Aston Martin is represented by Aston Martin Racing and Aston Martin Test Center, and Bentley has a Bentley Motors team and uses HPT to run another team. The fan component hasn't changed, though, and you can't talk about the race for more than 60 seconds before someone brings up the battalions of spectators. Every driver we spoke to cited them as the most incredible part of this race after the track itself. It feels to us like a giant German Sebring, with thousands of people camped out in the ginormous, forested infield, many of whom have been here since Monday erecting their ornate camping compounds. There will be parties everywhere Saturday night, and so much bratwurst on the grill that the drivers can smell it when as they're blasting full speed through Wehrseifen. Even when we drove a Mercedes S63 AMG Coupe on a lap before the race, the fans waved like it was a competition. Scott Preacher's Australian co-driver Robert Thompson said, "You come around a corner and it's like you're driving full speed through the middle of a carnival." The race field itself could also be called a carnival, with an officially invited field of more than 170 cars. Even on a track that's 24.4-km long, that's like racing on the 405 at midday.

2023 Bentley Bentayga Extended Wheelbase revealed as new flagship

Bentley has been without a true flagship model since it ended production of the Mulsanne in 2020. It pledged to fill the gap, and it kept its promise by developing a longer version of the Bentayga called Extended Wheelbase (EWB) that offers passengers a limousine-like cabin. Stretching the Bentayga, which is Bentley's best-selling model, was more difficult than it might sound; the Volkswagen-owned British firm notes that it spent a nine-figure sum on the new model. It notably redesigned the side panels, the underbody, the rear doors and the roof. The investment should pay off, because the EWB will account for about 45% of Bentayga sales when it enters production later in 2022. About 7 inches were added to the Bentayga's wheelbase, and the rear-seat passengers are the sole beneficiaries of the extra sheet metal. In its standard configuration, the EWB offers a 4+1 seating configuration with outer rear seats that are heated, ventilated, 16-way power-adjustable and capable of giving you one of five massages. Buyers who want the ultimate in comfort can order the Airline Seat Specification, which Bentley calls "the most advanced seat ever fitted to a car" — that's a bold statement. This option brings individual rear seats with a backrests that can recline to a 40-degree angle and a Postural Adjustment function that changes the shape of the seat to ease pressure points. Interestingly, the system is capable of providing 177 adjustments every three hours and making a three-dimensional twist. Selecting the Airline Seat Specification also brings a system called Seat Auto Climate that relies on sensors to maintain a pre-set seat temperature; passengers have six levels to choose from. The contact temperature and the surface humidity are both measured on the cushion and in the backrest, and the seat's heating and ventilated elements are activated as-needed to ensure the occupant is comfortable. Alternatively, buyers can order one of two additional configurations called Four Seat Comfort and Five Seat, respectively. While the regular-wheelbase Bentayga is available with three rows of seats, the EWB is two-row only because it caters to buyers who primarily want space. The list of options is astonishingly long; Bentley notes that 24 billion trim combinations are possible.

Bentley shows Mulsanne Speed 'Blue Train' by Mulliner

Bentley is honoring its racing heritage with a new, very limited-edition version of its Mulsanne Speed sedan. It's called the Blue Train, and it was created to remember the victory of the company's iconic Speed Six in 1930. In that contest, Bentley Chairman Woolf Barnato accepted a challenge to not only beat the high-speed Le Train Bleu from Cannes to Calais, but that he could be in London by the time the train reached the English Channel. Barnato won the race, and from then on, the car he drove was known as the Blue Train Bentley. The spiritual successor to that Speed Six, just four Mulsanne Speeds were handed to Mulliner for another of the coachbuilder's Limited Edition treatments. Exterior upgrades are kept simple, with unique black wheels, a menacing, almost steel-blue paint and grilles that look slightly darkened. In all, it's pretty simple. Interior changes are limited, with Bentley saying the fluting on the door panels is based on the Barnato's Speed Six, while the wood veneer on the dash has an image of the race winner on it. In back, there's a personalized "hamper" (picnic basket, to us Yanks) that's been finished in Burnt Oak and Camel leather, so that it matches the interior. Inside, demanding owners are treated to "Robbe and Berking silver plated cutlery, Haviland Limoges porcelain crockery, Linley crystal champagne flutes and a 100-percent Angora picnic rug, woven in Scotland." Naturally, there are Blue Train details on things like the silverware holders. "The fact that we are producing just four of these Limited Editions is highly significant, as Barnato famously made it to the club in London four minutes before the train arrived in Calais," Bentley's regional director for Europe, Robert Engstler, said in a statement. "The unique design elements bring back nostalgic memories of one of the most legendary Bentleys of all times." We only have a pair of images of the newest Blue Train Bentley right now, and just one of the actual exterior of the vehicle itself. It's a looker, to be sure. Check it out, and then scroll down for the official press release from Bentley.