For the past year or so Bentley's enthusiastic engineering board member, Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn, has been talking about bio-fuels with a zealot's intensity. He also seemed quite fond of teasing the media, dropping subtle hints about what was to come while never actually revealing anything — the automotive equivalent of a glimpse of Victorian ankle.
Now we know why. The Bentley Continental Supersports revealed at the Geneva Motor Show is the most powerful road-going Bentley to date: 621 bhp and 590 lb.-ft. of torque. No wonder Bentley is claiming a 204-mph top speed and zero to 60 in 3.7 seconds.
Yes, but how does a car this powerful fit into a world dominated by collapsing economies and a need to be more eco-friendly? Think of it from Bentley's perspective: This project probably started 24–30 months ago when the words "sub," "prime" and "mortgage" appeared mostly on Scrabble boards. The car industry is imploding, multimillionaire sports stars can't get loans for cars and we're all going green.
Which is where this latest Bentley fits in: The Continental Supersports is capable of running on either petrol or E85 biofuel, or any combination of the two. E85 biofuel can offer a reduction of up to 70 percent in CO2 emissions on a "well-to-wheel" basis, which is a measurement of a fuel's net CO2 contribution to the atmosphere, not just tailpipe emissions. It includes refinement, distillation and transport of the fuel. The fuel supply system detects the blending ratio of the fuel in the tank and ensures that power and torque remain constant regardless of the ratio of petrol to biofuel.
Now we know why. The Bentley Continental Supersports revealed at the Geneva Motor Show is the most powerful road-going Bentley to date: 621 bhp and 590 lb.-ft. of torque. No wonder Bentley is claiming a 204-mph top speed and zero to 60 in 3.7 seconds.
Yes, but how does a car this powerful fit into a world dominated by collapsing economies and a need to be more eco-friendly? Think of it from Bentley's perspective: This project probably started 24–30 months ago when the words "sub," "prime" and "mortgage" appeared mostly on Scrabble boards. The car industry is imploding, multimillionaire sports stars can't get loans for cars and we're all going green.
Which is where this latest Bentley fits in: The Continental Supersports is capable of running on either petrol or E85 biofuel, or any combination of the two. E85 biofuel can offer a reduction of up to 70 percent in CO2 emissions on a "well-to-wheel" basis, which is a measurement of a fuel's net CO2 contribution to the atmosphere, not just tailpipe emissions. It includes refinement, distillation and transport of the fuel. The fuel supply system detects the blending ratio of the fuel in the tank and ensures that power and torque remain constant regardless of the ratio of petrol to biofuel.
