At 4pm tomorrow, 23 September 2009, a pair of highly exclusive and unique Bentley cars: the Continental Flying Spur Speed and the Continental GTC Speed will cross the border from Singapore going into Malaysia as Bentley Kuala Lumpur brings the 2009 Continental Speed Tour Asia to our shores.

Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed

The tour, scheduled to spend a three-week stint in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand each, gives its guests (by invitation only) the chance to experience both of these remarkable cars in person.

The Continental GTC Speed

Said to have been inspired from the “Speed” models of the 1920s, the current generation Continental Speeds pack as much as 600bhp under their bonnets. They feature edgier and sportier dynamics to your garden variety (relative term, you understand) Bentleys, but still give you the same peerless levels of craftsmanship, comfort and prestige.

The inspiration: the Bentley Speed Six (1927 – 1930)

Partnering Bentley KL in organizing this tour is renowned tyre-maker Pirelli, whose ultra high performance P-Zero rubbers have served as Bentley’s OEM tyres for years.

KON

Bentley has unveiled an all-new flagship grand tourer, the Mulsanne, scheduled to go on sale in 2010. The all-new Mulsanne, reviving a nameplate left in cold storage since 1992, will take the place of the venerable Arnage in Bentley’s oh-so-very-expensive lineup. It is said to be inspired by the 1930 Bentley 8-litre, the last Bentley flagship built and designed before its acquisition by Rolls-Royce.

Speaking at the Mulsanne’s launch at Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance in Monterey, California, Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen, Chairman and Chief Executive of Bentley Motors said, “The challenge we set our engineers was to create a new grand Bentley that would stand as the pinnacle of British luxury motoring, offering the world’s most exclusive driving experience. They have responded to this challenge with real passion and the result is a luxury grand tourer that sets new standards in terms of comfort, effortless performance and hand-crafted refinement – the very qualities for which Bentley is renowned.”

The Mulsanne being unveiled at Pebble Beach.

While the Internet is flooded with various images of the new Mulsanne, precious little details on its underpinnings are being revealed, with Bentley saving all the juicy bits for the upcoming 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. What is known is that the classic 6.75-litre V8, albeit heavily re-engineered, will continue to see service under the Mulsanne’s hood.

Official images of the Mulsanne. We’re eagerly awaiting the juicy details from Frankfurt.

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I’m sure you’ve heard it all by now. Especially those of you who listen to the radio you must have heard a thousand variations of this message, “On 28 Mar 2009, from 8:30pm to 9:30pm, please switch off all your lights for one hour…. bla bla bla…. in support of Earth Hour….bla bla bla….”

Now, this whole Earth Hour business began at Sydney, when on 31 March 2007, 2.2 million homes and businesses switched their lights off from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. In 2008, it became an international event, participated by 35 countries and supported by over 400 cities, including Kuala Lumpur. For the 2008 edition, various global landmarks, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sydney Opera House, and even the Petronas Twin Towers went through an hour of darkness on the night of 29 March 2008. Various sources of estimation put the number of participation anywhere between 36 million people right up to 50 million people.

Sydney, on Earth Hour 2008 (image source: Flickr, by user Leorex)

For 2009, the aim is more ambitious and the whole affair is blown to massive proportions. No less than 82 countries and 2100 cities have confirmed their participation and support, each turning lights off at 8:30pm of their local time. According to WWF, the folks behind this global event, all of us will be getting a vote in this “election” between Earth and global warming – switching your lights on is a vote for global warming, and switching them off is a vote for Earth – which is where you get all the “Vote Earth” catchphrases flying around these days. 

WWF aims to get 1 billion ‘votes’ (don’t ask me how they do the counting) in favour of Earth, with the results to be presented to world leaders at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled to place at Copenhagen in Dec 2009. The United Nations themselves have confirmed their participation in this event, with the lights at the UN building itself set to be switched off for an hour.

UN building will be joining in the fun too. (image source: Scrape TV News)

In the midst of all the buzz and frenzy generated, it is only natural for large corporations to show their support for this meaningful event one way or another. For example, I was reliably informed that the staff working Menara Standard Chartered in KL were told to leave work on time on Friday 27 Mar 2009, because the lifts will be switched off for a whole two hours from 6pm to 8pm.  

Just for Malaysia alone, WWF has targeted 5 million signing-ups for Earth Hour, and among the participants here is the recently opened Bentley Kuala Lumpur showroom at the Pavilion shopping complex. All non-essential lights at their showroom, named The Gallery, will be switched off during the one hour, with their staff also pledging their support to the campaign individually, switching the lights at their homes off as well.

Bentley KL’s lights will also switch off for an hour. (image source: Nazray)

This participation, of course, is inline with the Bentley Environmental Strategy unveiled in 2008 where Bentley pledged to implement a three-stage strategy from then till 2012, where by then they would have reduced CO₂ emissions by 15% across its entire range, introduced a new powertrain offering a remarkable 40% improvement in fuel economy and full compatibility of its range with renewable fuels.

Public opinion will always be divided between two schools of thought – one which ridicules the point of switching your lights off for just that hour and the other which supports it for the message that it sends out. Then there are those who would switch their lights off because everyone’s doing the same. In truth, it matters not whether we switch your lights off tonight at the stipulated hour. What’s most important is that we continuously practice environmentally friendly habits – such as not littering, for a start.

Don’t switch your lights off if you’re driving though!

Those of us who frequent Pavilion at Kuala Lumpur would know that there’s an official Bentley showroom on the second floor situated near the Jaguar showroom. I had first spotted it back in December 2008 while it was still under renovation. Back then, I had speculated that the showroom was about a month away from opening, and I made it a point to walk past the showroom whenever I was having lunch at Pavilion.

I saw things progressing slowly. After the renovation was complete, the showroom premises remained empty for a while. Slowly, furniture went in, then there were display cases with Bentley merchandises, such as die-cast models of various Bentley cars. Then, a notice was placed on the front door inviting prospective salespersons to apply for positions. The last time I walked past, there was a Bentley Azure parked inside, but I didn’t have time to stop too long for a look.

Recently, the international press room of Bentley Motors Ltd has announced the appointment of Bentley Kuala Lumpur as the official importer and distributor of Bentley cars in Malaysia, with the official opening of the showroom scheduled for 11 March 2009. With this appointment, Bentley KL becomes the fourth official dealership for the marque in South East Asia after Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia – all under the watchful eye of David McIntyre, Bentley’s GM for the South East Asia region, an report to Bentley’s regional office in Seoul.

The 5,000 sq ft showroom at Pavilion, called The Gallery, will be supported by a 7,000 sq ft service centre in Glenmarie. They will be providing sales and support for the entire Bentley range in Malaysia, which consists of the Arnage T, Arnage R, Arnage RL, Azure, Continental GT, GTC and the four-door Flying Spur. Also offered are the Speed versions of the Conti GT, GTC and Flying Spur, in addition to approved pre-owned Bentleys as well.

As part of their opening festivities, Bentley will be putting on display past Bentley racers, such as the 1924 Bentley 3 Litre Speed and the 2001 EXP Speed 8. In addition, the 2009 versions of the Conti GT and Flying Spur Speed will also be presented during the showroom opening event.

2001 EXP Speed 8

Bentley Flying Spur Speed

Bentley Continental GT

Stay tuned to Autoworld.com.my for more updates.

Recently, Dr Ulrich Einhorn, Bentley Motors’ Member of the Board for Engineering delivered an interesting talk at the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation Lecture. Titled The History of Another Dimension – 50 Years of Bentley’s V8 engine, this lecture took its participants through the history of one the most enduring engines of all time. After debuting in the Bentley S2 in the form of a 6.23-litre V8, the famous engine has since swelled to 6.75-litres, and is currently used in the Bentley Arnage and Brooklands.

A video playback of the lecture and its slides can be viewed from The Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ website. The video lasts for an hour and 19 minutes, but it’s well-paced, so it doesn’t feel draggy. Unfortunately, the picture and sound quality wasn’t exactly pristine, so listening to Dr Einhorn’s accented English might prove a challenge to some. There wasn’t much to ’see’, because the camera was pointed solely at the talking Dr Einhorn. The slides available for download are in PDF format, so you can’t get the slide animations that were obviously there in PPT or PPS format. If you watch it, I recommend that you just occupy your monitor with the slides while listening to the sound at the background until the Q&A session.

Bentley & Rolls-Royce

The lecture kicks off by showing us the intertwining history between Bentley and Rolls-Royce. Both companies were founded seperately, but RR bought Bentley over in 1931. After the second World War, RR and Bentley moved into the now-famous production plant in Crewe, where Bentley has remained till now. In 1980, RR, and together with it, Bentley was bought over by British engineering firm Vickers.

Vickers decided to sell RR and Bentley in 1998, triggering a bidding war between Volkswagen and BMW. The complicated transfer wrangle eventually resulting in the split of the two names – the Rolls-Royce name and trademark going to BMW, while VW gets Bentley, the Crewe factory, and all associated intellectual properties. As such, the current BMW Rollers bear no technical or corporate relationship to the old ones.

4.56-litre F-head Straight Six

In the 1940s, Bentleys and Rollers were powered by a 4.56-litre straight six that was designed with a rather unique F-shaped cylinder head. This pushrod driven engine had the intake valve situated on top of the combustion chamber, while the exhaust valve sits at the side next to the pistons, creating a bizarrely shaped combustion chamber.

After 20 years of service, this engine was deemed insufficient to meet Bentley and RR’s needs. A new design was needed. In 1954, development work began on a new V8 engine with the goals of achieving 50% torque and power improvement, minimal increase in weight and cost, and undiminished noise, smoothness and reliability compared to the straight six.

Diagram of F-shaped head. Intake valve on top, exhaust by the side.

6.23-litre V8 

A couple of early V8 prototypes were developed and tested before a 6.23-litre unit debuted in the Bentley S2 and Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II in 1959. This engine featured a 90-degree V angle, and had an aluminium block. It was designed to allow for a possible 15-20% output increase in its lifetime. Each engine was handbuilt in Crewe and then subjected to run-in and performance tests before being installed.

6.23 V8 debuted in Bentley S2.

It is a common flaw among engineers when designing products to neglect taking production and maintenance difficulties into consideration. Bentley and RR, despite their lofty standards, were no exception to this rule. The design team was too busy coming up with a brilliant engine, that they neglected to think of the technician at the workshop who has to change the spark plugs.

In the S2, the front wheels have to be removed in order to gain access to the plugs. While this in itself is no major flaw, it does make life a little difficult for the maintenance crew. They must have made their feelings heard to the design people, because in 1963, Bentley rectified this problem in the S3 by angling the plugs to allow access from the top. The S3 was replaced in 1965 by the T1, but the venerable V8 was carried forward with some engineering modifications.

Bentley S3

6.23 V8 in S3

Bentley T1

Restroked to 6.75 litres

In 1970, the engine was restroked to displace 6.75 litres and continued to see action in the T1, its successor T2, and its mechanically identical cousin – the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow until 1980. Throughout the 70s, tightening emission regulations, especially in the US, saw the introduction of various emission reducing innovations into this engine to ensure that it remained compliant to regulations.

The engineers briefly flirted with the idea of designing a new engine to replace this aging powerplant. A smaller V8, codenamed L380 was developed by Porsche but was dropped because it could not simultaneously lower emissions and maintain previous power levels. They did manage the feat with the L410E engine, which was a 7.25-litre V8, but dropped it because the larger engine was judged to be ‘politically wrong’.

1980

The year 1980 saw the take over of Rolls-Royce by Vickers. It also saw the introduction of the Bentley Mulsanne and the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit. Here, the 6.75 V8 comes, for the first time, with Bosch’s K-Jetronic fuel injection system. In 1982, the Mulsanne Turbo, which produced 300bhp and 600Nm, was launched in the Geneva motor show. Then in 1985, came the Turbo R, which was rated at 320bhp and 660Nm.

Bentley Mulsanne

BMW vs Volkswagen

The Rolls-Royce and Bentley engineers continued to develop and re-develop the V8 well into the 1990s. By 1994, it was producing 355bhp and then 420bhp by 1998 – which eventually turned out to be very interesting year. The Mulsanne was replaced by the Arnage, while the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit was replaced by the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph. The 6.75 V8 was replaced by a couple of BMW-sourced powerplants.

The Silver Seraph got the 5.4-litre V12 M73 engine, while the Arnage was fitted with a 4.4 V8 twin turbo that had engineering inputs from Cosworth. In his lecture, Dr Einhorn noted that Bentley customers did not like the high-speed nature of this engine, and the 6.75 went back into the hood in the form of the Arnage Red Label. Well, that’s not the full story.

At that time, Volkswagen and BMW were locked into a fierce battle to buy RR & Bentley. VW had already outbid BMW and won the battle. However, the Bavarians had managed to purchase the rights to the RR name and grille, and also threatened to stop supplying engines with a year’s notice. Eventually, an agreement was reached by the companies where BMW would take the RR brand, but Bentley and all the associated facilities and intellectual properties would remain under VW.

Under the agreement, VW will continue to manufacture RR and Bentleys until 2003, afterwhich, BMW will take over the rights to the RR brand. BMW also agreed to continue supplying engines for the Arnage and Silver Seraph. Knowing that they cannot have such an important division of their business taking engines from their rivals, VW quickly pulled the old 6.75 out of cold storage and shoe-horned it into the Arnage, ensuring that this old workhorse soldiers on

Bentley Arnage

More Recent Developments

With the backing of the VW Group, Bentley has managed keep the V8 sufficiently up to date and still compliant with the latest automotive regulations. The current iteration of the engine features twin turbocharging, producing as much as 530bhp and 1030Nm of torque in the Bentley Brooklands. Far from being antiquated, Bentley claims that this engine complies to LEV2 emission regulations. Impressive, when you consider that an engine dating back to 1959 complies to 2004 standards.

After decades of transmission sourcing from GM, the engine is now coupled with a new 6-speed automatic transmission from ZF. The continued sourcing of GM transmissions have led to rumours that the basic architecture of this engine has been taken from existing GM designs of the day – a rumour Bentley is still doing hard to dispel. As of now, Bentley’s factory in Crewe still produces units of this engine entirely by hand

Arnage Final Series

6.75 V8 twin turbo – 530bhp, 1030Nm

Looking back…

This year, Bentley celebrates the 50th anniversary of this remarkable engine. Despite twice coming close to being decommissioned, this engine has grown from strength to strength. It has retained the same basic block, but power and torque have swelled to three times the original outputs in 1959, and to think that it was only engineered for a 15-20% increase.

When it was introduced back in 1959, this engine was ahead of its time. It is a testament to the superb engineering and craftsmanship of the folks at Crewe that they have managed to keep it relevant 50 years on. Being one of the most powerful production engines in the world, this remarkable powerplant looks set to soldier on for quite some time before being retired. Even when it finally calls time, this enduring powerplant will stay in the memory of car enthusiasts for a long long time to come.

Once again, the video and lecture slides from Dr Einhorn’s lecture can be viewed [here]. Enjoy.

While walking around at Pavilion during my lunch break today, I saw a Bentley showroom under construction at the 2nd floor, along the same row as Sisma Auto’s Jaguar showroom.

For those of you who are familiar with the layout at Pavilion, the easiest way to get there would be to go to the main concourse, and walk out through the glass doors to the valet parking area and go to your left. Keep walking straight, look to your right, you shouldn’t miss the Bentley logo. It’s at lot 2.68.00.

The renovations are hardly finished, but they are already switching the signboard lights on. By my estimates, it should be operational in about a month’s time.

Coming soon to a showroom near you.

Italian styling house and coachbuilder Zagato is known for their radical takes on already excitign design and this time they have turned their attention to the Bentley Continental GT.

The GT is not the most exctiting looking car inthe world, its a very large coupe that’s as big as a small house so there is a lot of scope for improvement and thanks to Zagato, this super exclusive car now has the looks to match its performance.

The extensive styling change includes a more prominent radiator grille, the elimination of the front bumper and a radical take on the front unde bumper air intake. it now runs the entire width of the car.

The bonnet gets two slits that runs parallel to the outer edges while the quad lamps are given new more sloping homes.

On the side the Zagato version gets a more prominent styling crease that runs from the door bottom to hug the rear wheel haunches before tapering off intoa  rounded tail.

The roof gets a twin bubble effect and Zagato made sure that these continue into the rear windscreen and this makes a world of difference to the looks of the car, especially if you are looking at it from above.

No word on engine or other mechanical mods.