Named after the famous British race circuit, scene of many Bentley victories, and bred from the Arnage sedan, and sibling to the Azure convertible, the Brooklands completes the range of big, grand touring Bentleys for a super small, but fanatical niche of wealthy enthusiasts.
As if to underscore its exclusivity Bentley will only build 550 Brooklands coupes, the ultimate in exclusivity.
The styling is bold, confident and sophisticated, but not brash. Director of Design, Dirk van Braeckel says: “We wanted to create a powerful, muscular and rakish grand touring coupe, with classic British proportions in the finest Bentley tradition. The proportions of long bonnet, short front overhang and long rear overhang achieve the design objective perfectly, while the low roofline, steeply raked screens and pillarless side glass convey both power and movement.”
As the Brooklands will be built in very limited volume, the designers were able to introduce unique features that necessitated specialist coach-building techniques, as Programme Director, Ashley Wickham, revealed:
“The ‘floating’ rear screen, for example, is a contemporary take on traditional coachbuilt Bentleys. The lower edge of the screen sits well above the upper edge of the boot lid to provide a flowing, flawless line to the back of the car. This can only be achieved by individually hand-welding the rear wings to the C-pillars.”
Because Brooklands is based on the Arnage platform it’s a big brute and seats four comfortably, but as with all modern Bentleys the main message is power and performance.
Bentley’s 6.75 litre V8 has been massaged to produce 395kW (530hp) and a massive 1050 Nm of torque. All this from an engine which was originally designed in 1959! Bentley’s Director of Engineering, Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn, says it was the outstanding original design of the powerplant which has allowed continued evolutionary development, and the ability to now produce massive power and torque figures.
In its latest iteration the engine features a re-profiled camshaft and two new, low inertia turbochargers, which virtually eliminate turbo lag, and add to the feeling of a ‘wave of torque’ as the engine comes on song.
Matched to the ZF 6-speed automatic transmission that is now common to all Bentley models, the Brooklands steps off swiftly and smoothly.
Imagine planting your foot at a standing start, and with the engine spinning through 6,000 rpm, the power and torque building, you release the beast and in less than four seconds you’ve reached the legal speed limit on many Australian highways.
This penchant for performance may be a Bentley tradition, but in human terms it’s personified by Bentley’s Engineering Director, Ulrich Eichhorn. Eichorn is a dedicated, certified enthusiast, with exceptional driving talents, and a man who has driven the expanded team of Bentley engineers to seek the ultimate in both performance and driveability. The result is a car docile enough to window shop in Rodeo Drive at crawling speed; then flash across the last remaining unrestricted super highways at 250km/h – all in supreme comfort.
It’s that blend of supercar performance, matched to exceptional luxury and the handbuilt nature of the Brooklands which defines the appeal of Bentley’s latest coupe, and its other offerings.
Sure, the acceleration is impressive, but it is really the on-road experience that evidences the effectiveness of Bentley’s chassis tuning and development. Between 2002 and 2007 Eichhorn tasked his engineers with a range of modifications and refinements to the Arnage sedan which has produced an exceptionally stiff bodyframe, which in turn allowed greater potential for micro-refinements to the suspension.
It is the result of this fine-tuning, and stiffening, which gives Brooklands its outstanding ride quality, with unmatched secondary ride, and yet imbues the big car with handling precision you would expect from a much smaller car. Changes to steering and damping on the 2007MY Arnage have been carried over, and have produced a car which turns in very precisely, and gives no indication of its size and weight when driving in tight conditions. It’s no Caterham 7, but its stability, precision and surefooted stance on the road is very surprising.
At cruise, the Brooklands delivers a sublime experience of comfort and performance combined with elegance and exclusivity. How much: $695,710.00
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