SINCE the advent of mass-produced cars, there has been an increase in the democratization of personal transport. Unfortunately, this has been accompanied by an equal dilution of the concept of “motoring” to simply “driving.” Driving is full of purpose, the time-pressured horror of getting from A to B as quickly as possible.
Mercifully, Bentley, with its latest generation of the GTC Speed, has delivered undiluted motoring in a superbly crafted package. The essence of motoring is that it incorporates the pleasure of enjoying the vehicle, brand history and sheer magnificence of the car’s engineering. Driving is commuting. Motoring is journeying.
Anyone that ever admits to wanting a car “only to get from A to B” should, and probably will, never own a GTC Speed.
The current Bentley marque has been sneered at as being Volkswagen by another name, being big and too popular with celebrities. To address the criticisms, Volkswagen makes only the engine-block casting because Bentley shut their foundry some years ago. There are many bigger vehicles about and contrary to popular belief, some celebrities exhibit remarkably good taste.
This is a very British motorcar. The builders of the car are extremely conscious of it and the GTC Speed is a direct descendant of the enormously powerful supercharged Bentleys of 80 years ago driven by the “Bentley Boys.” Thanks to the dedication of the group to serious racing and equally serious touring, the company was noted for its four consecutive victories at the 24 hours of Le Mans from 1927 to 1930, taking the first four places in 1929. Their greatest competitor at the time, Bugatti, whose lightweight, elegant but fragile creations contrasted with the Bentley’s rugged reliability and durability, referred to them as “the world’s fastest lorries” — yet they couldn’t catch them.
They were at the leading edge of racing car technology — yet were used daily as tourers. That’s what Bentley does best. It combines genteel practicality with a beast under the bonnet.
The GTC Speed is precisely what it says it is; a Grand Touring Convertible, with speed. It drifts silently through urban settings, the steering light, precise and as well-mannered. The six-speed ZF torque converter auto can feel a little relaxed when you select gear via the fixed paddles, but the engine’s flexibility and vast torque makes that unnoticeable in auto mode. The result is exceptionally refined low-speed manners.
Trickling stealthily through Derbyshire towns, the exhausts emit a sound of distant rolling thunder — absolutely in keeping with the local climate — and scarcely turns a head. However, when unleashed on the high dales, it rolls its metaphorical sleeves up, emits a delicious rising howl of pure joy and hurls you forward with 600hp fed seamlessly from the W12 twin turbocharged power unit through the six-speed ZF box. The 100kph marker flashes past in just 4.8 seconds.
The GTC Speed’s 6-liter, twin-turbocharged W12 engine is produced exclusively at the company’s Crewe engine plant. It is the most compact 12-cylinder engine in production. The huge 405mm front and 335mm rear carbon-ceramic brakes, slammed on as hard as you like, allow the Bentley-bespoke Pirelli PZero ultra-high performance (UHP) tires to extract every scintilla of traction and stop the two-ton car. They are the largest brakes fitted to any passenger car and 2.5cm bigger at the front than those old rival Bugatti fits to its Veyron. Most reassuring.
The GTC handles with the grace and precision that one would expect from the combination of Bentley’s racing and touring heritage, although it lacks the gritty feedback through the steering wheel of an all-out sports car. The power steering has been tuned for better feedback, although it still tends to distance one from the road, and actual response is enhanced by stiffer rear axle bushings. Steering the car became more of a visual exercise rather than a seat-of-the-pants affair. Well, it is a tourer after all. Bentley describes the GTC Speed’s handling as agile. If ever there was a case of understatement, this is it. Assault a corner with speed and line that border on the immoral and the most you get as protest is a modicum of understeer — the equivalent of a bespoke tailor’s single raised eyebrow when asked for a tartan dinner-jacket — but you do have huge brakes and a comforting tsunami of horsepower to pull you out. The GTC-S never feels like an all-out sports car — it is far too luxurious and well groomed for that — but it does have an enormous muscularity to it and never allows you to forget it.
Larger diameter 9.5J x 20-inch, multispoke alloy wheels, lowered and up-rated suspension, wider twin-rifled exhaust tail pipes and a new boot-mounted lip spoiler that enhances high-speed aerodynamics complement the GTC-S’s sporting character. The fabric roof, which folds away in 20 seconds or so and allows a larger boot space than a retractable steel roof would, is a work of wonder. When closed, the inner lining and courtesy light give the feel of a limousine and does not hiss or roar at speed. With a soft top this good, the hardtop coupe seems redundant. Simplicity — or lack of it — is one of the few niggles about the GTC-S. The climate control system is a detailed, multifunctional electronically controlled panel worthy of a space shuttle. I am not sure why anyone would need to adjust temperature to one degree — with individual settings for passenger and driver — in a convertible, but you can. Luddite perhaps, but I feel the simplicity of the slider or wheel control might be a better option, particularly if you use the car at anything approaching its design limits. That applies to the sat-nav system as well. Set low in the central console, while it works well, it requires taking one’s eyes off the road which, if you have any red blood at all, will probably be little more than a gray blur underneath! That said, the GTC-Speed is a real step forward in the GTC range and a joy to behold and drive. And it truly returns the driver to the age of real motoring.
