Bentley Continental Flying Spur - the world's fastest four door saloon

• Twin bi-Xenon headlamps with integrated washer jets to front. • Unique LED bulbless lamps to rear. • Rear spoiler styled into bootlid operates in conjunction with underbody diffuser to provide enhanced high-speed stability, contributing to a low drag coefficient of 0.31Cd. • 19-inch multi-spoke single piece sports alloy wheels as standard. (19 and 20-inch split-rim sports alloy wheels available as an option.) • Traditional Bentley twin oval stainless steel exhaust finishers. • Choice of 16 exterior paint colours. • Full infra-red laminated glazing to all windows (dependent on market). • Rain-sensing windscreen wiper system. • Power-latching to all doors.

Chassis and Engineering

Bentley occupies a unique position in the marketplace. Whereas other manufacturers offer either hard-edged sports saloons or rear-passenger orientated limousines, Bentley effortlessly straddles the gap between these two extremes, building grand touring masterpieces that offer refinement and performance in equal measure.

The Continental Flying Spur is no different, as member of the board, engineering, Dr Ulrich Eichhorn explains: "All Bentleys must be able to pamper and perform when called upon. In the Continental Flying Spur you can be cruising along enjoying the highest comfort and luxury with superb ride quality. Then all you need to do is press the accelerator and the car is transformed. That is the character of the Continental GT coupe and one of our engineering challenges was to keep the family characteristics that people admire so much."

To ensure that the entire Bentley Continental range shared those qualities it was essential that both models had the right building blocks. The basis of the cars is an exceptionally stiff steel chassis and by extending the wheelbase of the Continental Flying Spur by 300mm (12 inches) the design team ensured the car had the spacious rear legroom that was a key objective.

The body of the new Continental Flying Spur is immensely stiff (46Hz resonance frequency) and this provides an extremely stable platform for the suspension and steering components for optimum on-road performance.

An increase in wheelbase helps the refinement and ride quality of any car, but that didn't stop the engineers carrying out a complete chassis retune. The Continental Flying Spur shares the same basic suspension system as its coupe equivalent - a four-link arrangement at the front and a trapezoidal multi-link rear axle with computer-controlled air springs and fully variable, electronically controlled shock absorbers in place of conventional coils. To optimise refinement and ride quality for the longer four-door model, however, significant changes have been introduced: • Redesigned electronic dampers within the air spring units ensure a suitable blend of sportiness and refinement. • New suspension bushes and reconfigured software are also introduced to complement the revised dampers. • A new aluminium subframe at the rear provides a light, stiff and strong platform for the multi-link rear suspension. • New aluminium uprights at the front lower the unsprung weight of the car and consequently improve all-round steering feel and rolling comfort.

One of the immense benefits of computer-controlled suspension is the ability to maintain a static ride height regardless of the load the car is carrying, as Keith Sharp, manager, chassis, suspension and vehicle dynamics, explains: "By adjusting the suspension to control the car's height we can constantly ensure the optimum level of ride refinement. The other major advantage is that we can use the air suspension to change the attitude of the car at higher speeds to improve stability. We have programmed the Continental Flying Spur's suspension to lower the nose by 10mm and the rear end by 25mm at speeds over 155mph (250km/h). This reduces rear end lift at high velocities and means our car feels very stable, rather than nervous, as your speed increases."

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