Fabspeed Motorsports :: Bentley Continental GT

Fabspeed Motorsports manufactures high performance exhaust systems for exotic automobiles such as Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley, Maserati, Mercedes Benz and BMW.  Founded in 1992 by Joseph Fabiani out of Ambler, Pennyslvania, their mission is to provide customers with quality performance products, competitive pricing and unparalleled service.  Fabspeed is compromised of automotive artists; people that eat, sleep, and dream engineering, g-force, horsepower and style.
  
Fabspeed, being no stranger to tuning high performance exotics, was pleased to get the call from Jason Kable from “The Fleet Wholesale” in Baltimore, MD, on partnering together on this build.  The owner purchased the car from Mr. Kable “sight unseen” with intentions of completely transforming this car into what it is today without even seeing the car until it was delivered to him.  The Bentley has a 6.0 Liter, double-vee 12 cylinder engine with twin turbos crammed under the bonnet.  It produces 551 bhp at 6100 rpm and 480 ft/lb of torque at 1600 rpm at the crank.
 
While the car was at The Fleet in Baltimore, it was completely stripped of its original paint and received a new paintjob with the addition of the flat black hood, roof, trunklid and also blacked out trim accents and lights to give it that “murdered out” look. A set of Savini SV 08 22 inch wheels with a carbon fiber lip were custom built specifically for this Continental.  An aftermarket RENNTECH digital lowering module was installed which allows owners to set the car 50 mm below the stock setting, with 8 levels of adjustability. The Bentley resembles liquid midnight when you see it roll by, like its own black hole absorbing light and sound as it travels past you. 
 
From Baltimore, the car was shipped to Fabspeed Headquarters in Ambler, to undergo the performance upgrades.  Priority order of business was for Jeremy D’Avella, General Manager/Performance Specialist to map out Fabspeeds plan of attack for the Bentley CGT.  First the car was strapped down to Fabspeeds AWD DynoJet 434XLC2 to test baseline horsepower and torque.  Fabspeed has the ability to monitor and log many different parameters of the cars computer system with Dynojet’s sophisticated data-logging software.
 
We asked D’Avella to describe Fabspeed’s tuning Methodology.
“Vehicle manufacturers typically tune conservatively.  Fabspeed/PES precisely adjusts the ECU maps that affect parameters such as fuel, timing, boost pressure and throttle response. Part-throttle fueling and timing are optimized to deliver better highway fuel economy, as well as smoothness.  The result is a car with better drivability and more performance.  Important engine data such as air-fuel ratios, cylinder knock activity, EGT’S are carefully monitored during testing. We always encourage the customer to consider our complete performance package for balanced, reliable performance.”
 
In stock form this Bentley put down 412hp and 445 ft/lb torque measured to all four wheels.  Now it was time to install the Fabspeed 80mm downtube/secondary catbypass package which replaces the OEM secondary catalytic converters and resonators. Along with the removal of the catalytic converters, Fabspeed utilizes an H-Pipe to improve mid-range torque and exhaust balancing.  These performance products will bolt directly up to the stock muffler system which in fact is a straight through design when the Pierburg valves are open. With the performance products and custom ECU upgrade installed, overall power was tested at 512WHP/738 ft-lbs of wheel torque, or 691BHP/996 ft-lbs of torque to the crank.  That’s pretty impressive for just bolt on exhaust products and a custom ECU upgrade, but then again that’s just tuning and that’s just what Fabspeed does.

NEW BENTLEY MULSANNE MAKES WORLD DEBUT AT PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE, CALIFORNIA

 

Today, Bentley Motors unveiled the Mulsanne, the company’s all-new flagship grand tourer, at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance in Monterey, California. The Mulsanne is inspired by the company founder W.O. Bentleys crowning achievement in 1930, the 8-litre. And it was W.O.s own sensitively conserved company car that shared the podium with the new Mulsanne in Pebble Beach. This early motoring masterpiece represented the last big Bentley that was designed, engineered and built from the ground up by Bentley engineers – until now.

Nearly 80 years later, while paying respect to this illustrious past, the new Mulsanne is a thoroughly modern statement of luxury driving and grand touring. Conceived, styled and engineered entirely at Bentleys headquarters in Crewe, England, the Mulsanne, with its completely new and unique platform, goes into production next year in a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility within the Crewe factory.

Introducing the Bentley Mulsanne at Pebble Beach, where Bentley was the featured marque, 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 worlds 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 Bentley design team, lead by Dirk van Braeckel, have created a flagship that offers the classic sporting, styling cues long-associated with Bentley – expressed in a thoroughly contemporary way.

From the very first hand sketches in the styling studio, we were inspired by the traditions of the grand touring Bentleys and have sought to evolve this story for a new generation of Bentley enthusiasts.

The return of the Mulsanne name to a car carrying Bentleys iconic Winged B emblem underlines the companys racing pedigree and nowhere reflects that heritage better than the famed Le Mans circuit, the scene of no fewer than six Bentley triumphs. Few places offer a stronger or more emotive connection with the Bentley marque than the famed Mulsanne corner.

The Bentley 8-litre displayed alongside the Mulsanne in California was first shown at the 1930 London Motor Show. It was the second-built and was W.O. Bentley’s company car for two years. Capable of reaching more than 100 mph, the 8-litre demonstrated W.O. Bentley’s ambition and ability to build a grand luxury car capable of surpassing every other leading manufacturer of the day. A total of 100 cars were built in 1930 and 1931.

The 8-litres breathtaking performance and quality was perhaps the finest example of a pure grand Bentley. Every mechanical detail carried W.O. Bentley’s unique stamp and it was the clearest demonstration of a car built without compromise, commented Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn, Member of the Board Engineering.

The Mulsanne has been designed with exactly the same guiding principles, so it is entirely fitting that these Bentleys from different eras share the same stage.

The Bentley Mulsanne will go on sale from mid 2010. It will also be displayed at the forthcoming IAA Frankfurt Motor Show (15-27th September, 2009) where Bentley Motors will provide additional product information.

 

Source: Bentley Press Release

$14 Million Rolls Royce Phantom II

Legendary Rolls Royce collector Hans-Günther Zach, who runs his own museum is offering his entire collection including the famous “Star of India”. It is a one off 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II 40/50 HP Continental “All-Weather Convertible” custom made for the Maharaja of Rajkot. It is expected to sell for as much as $14 million. This would break the old record of the 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa which sold for $12 million.

There are 24 other Rolls Royces for sale as well as 3 Bentleys, bids will be accepted through September 15th.

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