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The ponderous Bentley Supersports claims it's lost weight

The undeniably gorgeous Bentley Continental Supersports convertible will appear in Geneva this week after recently setting an Ice-speed record on the frozen plains of the Baltic Sea. The question is whether it’s new titanium frame has managed to trim down the bombshell’s three-ton curb weight.
Posted: March 1, 2011 - 1:49PM
Author: Don Bain

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It is a stunningly designed and crafted vehicle that much like a Hollywood starlet it is eminently approachable, but nearly impossible to possess.

Only 100 of the Limited, lighter-weight vehicles will be built. One or two will be trotted out for the paparazzi in Geneva this week.

The company is rightfully proud of the 6-liter, 621-bhp engine that will propel you from 0 to 60 in 3.8 seconds – that is quick. However, that many horses could well catapult you across the landscape like a rocket sled if not for the extreme density of this vehicle.

Of course, no rocket-car is as pretty or desirable as this open-air convertible.

Remarkably, the Supersports gets a combined mileage rating of 17-mpg, with only 11-mpg in town but an impressive 24.3-mpg on the open road. That says something about the advanced engineering of the W-12 engine.

Bentley is also quite proud the vehicle is flex-fuel capable – a concept that seems to have fallen from favor here in the U.S. though flex-fuel vehicles still sell very well in Brazil and in Europe to a lesser extent.

It is also notable that Juna Kankkunen got the convertible (presumably with the triple-wall soft-top closed) up to 205.48 mph on the ice of the Baltic, one of very few places you can travel that speed safely. It is still a significant achievement.

It is also impressive this is an all-wheel-drive vehicle – something you’ll doubtless appreciate should you find yourself careening across a frozen lake at 200-mph somewhere in the U.S. in the beautiful Bentley.

When the Bentley Continental Supersports Limited is paraded before the folks in Geneva, it is sure to get star treatment. Nevertheless, the new lightweight model is just one-tenth second quicker that the original three-ton model – so what does that say?

Nowhere in the press release or the website specs does the company list the curb weight of the vehicle. Though it may be a star in Geneva, this model is very unlikely to be a winner on The Biggest Loser.

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