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The first Bentley Bacalar W12 engine for a customer is ready

So what’s the most expensive, modern-day Bentley money can buy? That would have to be the $2,000,000 Bentley Bacalar, a two-seater, convertible luxury sports car that comes with the famous W12 engine and uses 5,000-year-old wood on the interior … but wait, sorry, you can’t buy it anymore, all 12 units were sold out by the time this car was unveiled in March 2020.

After a nine-month development period, the ‘Car Zero’ was taking through extensive road testing at speeds up to 200 mph (read our previous article on this), but that was still a production prototype … today the first W12 engine for a customer Bentley Bacalar has passed rigorous testing and will be fitted to the bespoke car soon, a return to coachbuilding for Bentley.

While the Bentley Bacalar takes the chassis from the Continental GT, not a single part of the bodywork will be used from that base, over 750 bespoke Bacalar parts will be created by Bentley, and while the engine is the famous W12 6.0-liter TSI unit we already know since 2003, it has been further enhanced for the Bacalar to offer the smoothest ride possible, but still provide a massive 650 hp and 900 Nm of torque.

Since 2003, the power output for this one-of-a-kind W12 engine has increased by 27%, torque went up by 38% while emissions were reduced by 38%, a major feat by the Bentley engineers, each of these W12 engines takes a team of 45 specialists a total of 6.5 hours to hand-build … only to be taken to a test-facility to be put through her paces for an hour to make sure the engine performs to Bentley specifications.

In fact, there are three separate tests each W12 engine has to endure before receiving her ‘pass’ … first up is a test for leaks when the engine reached the ‘short engine’ state when oil, fuel, and water can be added and a pressure of 0.2 to 5.0 bar can be forced onto the respective parts and they wait for any leaks.

The most advanced test is the second one, the ‘Cold Test’, where the newly assembled W12 is put onto a testbed and gets an electric motor fitted onto the crankshaft, the wire loom is connected and the engine is ‘turned’ for a period of 15 minutes while all the sensors gather data to make sure there aren’t any issues with internal parts.

‘Hot Testing’ is the final stage for this W12 Bentley engine, now the exhaust manifolds, turbochargers, and all ancillaries are mounted. The engine runs at 3,800 rpm for at least 21.5 minutes, a maximum load of 300 Nm is set … this allows the engine test technician to listen for any refinements while the engine is simulated in real-world usage. For every 100 W12 engine, one of them is taken for an 8-hour test, pulling to 6,000 rpm, and it must reach the required 900 Nm.

So after all the testing on Car Zero, the first W12 engine made for the Bentley Bacalar that will be delivered to a customer is ready to be installed now, it won’t be too long before we will finally see this car leaving the factory doors at Crewe … about a year after the model was introduced.

February 18, 2021 / Comments Off

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The MANSORY Bentley Flying Spur W12 conversion

Kourosh Mansory always had a soft spot for premium British cars, he turned his passion into a business when he started MANSORY in 1989 with special attention to Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Aston Martin. Today MANSORY takes that same high-end attention to detail to makes like Porsche, Lotus, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, McLaren, Lamborghini, and Ferrari … MANSORY is at the top of the ‘individualization’ car market.

Many of us will regard a Bentley Flying Spur W12 as a top-of-the-line luxury car with performance in mind, while a Rolls-Royce is usually enjoyed from the rear seat with a ‘chauffeur’, a Bentley is mostly driven by the owner being regarded as the more sporty alternative to a Rolls … and if the standard car from Crewe just isn’t exclusive enough … just have MANSORY to create a bespoke one just for you.

MANSORY brings clear carbon fiber to the front, side, and rear of the Bentley Flying Spur, there is a distinctive lip that’s added to the front bumper, naturally, the air intakes on that bumper get some carbon fiber add-ons too while the grille surround is also replaced by MANSORY. A four-part set of side skirts are available, while not one, but two different rear diffuser options are listed, one with four massive, oval exhaust tips, while the second comes with split-oval tips.

MANSORY offers a replacement engine cover for the Bentley Flying Spur, with integrated air vents, and the option for a carbon fiber ‘bonnet bar’ as they call it. We wouldn’t be looking at a MANSORY car if the exterior rearview mirrors didn’t get a carbon fiber cover too, and just like a small, but tasteful front lip, there is a nice little rear wing available too … and as a finishing touch, you can replace the Bentley logo on the trunk lid with a MANSORY ‘M’ logo.

Some might call it blasphemy, but MANSORY can replace the Bentley exhaust system with twin sport mufflers, there’s even an X-Pipe on the options list, while a 20 to 30mm lowering suspension kit is also possible, to make those custom MANSORY forged wheels come out even better, all in a 22-inch size, 10×22 for the front with 275/35 22 tires, and 11.5×22 at the rear with massive 335/25 22 … personally I love the glossy black FS.23 wheel the best.

While the interior of a factory standard Bentley Flying Spur W12 is already at an extremely high level, MANSORY still adds some personal touches nonetheless, like a bespoke sports steering wheel combining leather and carbon fiber that matches the new shift paddles, and the new door sills, with lighted MANSORY logo naturally, and a new gearshift lever, with the ‘M’ proudly on the top.

But MANSORY also offers a bespoke interior conversion to their customers, using exclusive leather in combination with carbon fiber or wood, whichever the client prefers, MANSORY offers 3D-embossed leather, there is even a multi-piece conversion set for the instrument panel, co-driver board, middle console front 2-parts, middle console rear 2-parts, ashtray, cover front and rear, jalousie front and behind, cover for light system front, 4-parts door panels available with carbon and wood.

Finished in a deep black paint with dark carbon fiber touches, the MANSORY Flying Spur W12 gets a power increase to 710 hp (522 kW) while torque goes to 1,000 Nm … as a result, the top speed goes up to 340 km/h and acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h takes only 3.6 seconds in this behemoth.

February 7, 2021 / Comments Off

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Bugatti Divo will be a $5.8 million hypercar with an appetite for corners

Too much is never enough, especially when you’re talking about Bugatti supercars. The Divo is the next step in Bugatti’s continuing history of building the most covetable vehicles on the planet. Based on the existing 1,479 horsepower Chiron, the Divo is intended to be lighter in weight and significantly quicker around corners. Oh yes, and it’s almost massively expensive, with a starting price of approximately $5.8 million. If you want one, hurry up, because only 40 will be produced.

“Happiness is not around the corner. It is the corner. The Divo is made for corners,” says Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. “With the Divo, we want to thrill people throughout the world. With this project, the Bugatti team has an opportunity to interpret the brand DNA in terms of agile, nimble handling in a significantly more performance-oriented way.”

Little to no details have been released about the Divo ahead of its official introduction this August at Monterey Car Week. The powertrain will likely be carryover from the Chiron, which means the quad-turbocharged W12 will be there in all its decadent glory. The body could be significantly different, however, in keeping with Bugatti’s promise that the car has been honed to go around corners at physics-defying speed.

As for the name, it might conjure up images of a certain 1970s-80s band, but the Divo is named after Albert Divo, a French racing driver who twice won the Targa Florio while piloting a Bugatti race machine.

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July 10, 2018 / Comments Off

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