Twenty hours, three planes, three time changes and 1,120km left to go. Dubai, London, Chicago, San Francisco — the final destination of Las Vegas being via road. In a Bentley. Specifically, Bentley’s new Continental GT Speed Convertible. The GT has always been something of a guilty pleasure, a car that was difficult to quantify, even if its name leaves little ambiguity to what Bentley intends customers to do with it. A Grand Tour, and sitting outside the hotel in San Francisco I can think of few cars I’d rather be in for such a trip.
A colleague points out that we’re lucky to have a red car. Proper Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas specification, though there will be no mescaline consumed on this trip — the only stimulant will be the big scenery promised by a route that takes in Lake Tahoe, Mammoth Lakes, Death Valley and finally that den of iniquity itself, Las Vegas.
Fittingly, given the GT Speed Convertible is Bentley’s hottest cabriolet (the company billing it as the world’s fastest four-seat open-topped car thanks to its 325kph v-max) we’re visiting the hottest place in the world. Death Valley, a favourite testing venue for car manufacturers, lays claim to being the place on the planet with the highest recorded temperature. Its unique geological make up and climatic conditions mean the valley lives up to its name, with punishing temperatures all-year round.
The highest recorded, at 134 degrees Fahrenheit (57 degrees C), makes it a favourite place for car manufacturers to hot-weather test new vehicles, though being February we’re unlikely to be bumping into teams of engineers in taped-up cars. That’s tomorrow though; today is all about escaping San Fran, our ‘St James Red’ Bentley mixing it with the city congestion.
At traffic lights it’s well received — vulnerably roof-down at a red light a down-and-out, who initially frightened with his approach, asking “can I have your car?” smiles, saying “well done, that’s a beautiful car.” Not everything red and shapely that fulfils the American dream comes from Coca Cola, then.
The famously misty city plays ball today, the precipitous air light on moisture and revealing the Golden Gate Bridge in all its glory. The road from San Fran isn’t the stereotypical arrow-straight freeway either, Interstate 80 rising and falling and winding around the hills on California’s West Coast, though the Bentley is barely ticking over with 1,500rpm on its rev-counter sticking rigidly to the frustratingly restrictive 90kph speed limit.
With wanton disregard for speed limits, the 6.0-litre W12 twin-turbo would propel the GT Speed Convertible to 325kph, reaching 100kph in just 4.4 seconds from standstill, its 625bhp making light work of its ample bulk. Speed specification in the Convertible matches that of its coupé relation. Power swells, torque also rising to 800Nm, Bentley’s engineers adding some dynamism by dropping the ride height by 10mm, recalibrating the variable dampers, adding stiffer anti-roll bars and revising the steering ratio for added sharpness.
In the firmer, more sporting settings those variable dampers do upset the GT Speed Convertible’s ride comfort, the steering gaining a patter that reveals the slight loss in rigidity thanks to the removal of the roof. It’s less obvious with the multi-layer acoustically tuned roof up, it both stiffening the structure and damping out the outside sounds. That slight trade-off in rigidity is worth it for the greater access to the W12’s acoustics though, the 6.0-litre engine’s bass-rich tones and quiet crackle on the over-run pleasingly uncouth in such opulent, upmarket surroundings.
Indeed, the interior remains one of the GT’s biggest draws. Nothing at its price point can offer the sort of lavish materials, fitted and finished by skilled craftsmen and women at Bentley’s Crewe production plant. From the chrome organ pulls of the ventilation system to the turned metal finish of the aluminium panels on the dashboard the GT feels very special indeed, making any rival feel pitifully inexpensive in comparison.
Quilted leather heated seats turned up, the wind deflector up and, unusually, the stereo on (the expensive Naim premium system is worth checking out) and some Black Crows delivering a fitting road trip soundtrack, the GT Speed Convertible is a very pleasant place to be. There’s little to do but watch the speed and scenery on the way to Mammoth Lakes, the roads themselves rarely interesting, the Bentley’s nonchalance at such reduced, curve-free velocities making it the perfect conveyance for enjoying the scenery.
As the miles roll by the GT Speed Convertible’s appeal grows further, the temperature dropping as the route climbs to Lake Tahoe and the frequency of ski-hire shops increases, the GT Convertible’s heating meaning the dropping mercury is only notable when actually stopping and getting out of the car.
It shouldn’t be a surprise, but after the best part of 565km and reaching our destination for the night the GT Speed’s effortlessness makes for a refreshed arrival, few cars so effortlessly conveying in comfort. Only fuel has been an issue, the 6.0-litre W12’s far from parsimonious thirst somewhat denting its ultimate continent-crossing ability, so the stops for fuel are frequent.
Not much would usually have me waking up in a ski resort and wanting to leave, but the promise of the wide-open space of Death Valley does. The bright red convertible makes for an arresting sight against the snow-capped mountains, the temperature rising as the gradient drops, to the highs of the low of Death Valley itself.
The arrow-straight black-top (asphalt), so typical of the roads in the US do test your resolve, the promise of all that acceleration and speed so high above the punitively restrictive limits growing increasingly difficult to resist. Opportunity presents itself midway through the morning, a clear, sighted, obviously police-free stretch giving an all-too-brief opportunity to push the GT Speed Convertible’s accelerator pedal to the floor and allow the W12 to do its thing.
The ZF eight-speed automatic transmission drops a few ratios almost imperceptibly and there’s just the slightest pause before the Speed seemingly defies the laws of mass and movement and hurls its bulk towards that massive horizon with relentless force. It’s a short straight, but such is the Bentley’s ability to gather pace that 257kph flashes up briefly before the fear of what could potentially result in jail time reigns in any top-speed thoughts. 325kph?
Given the way it was still accelerating just 60 or so kilometres per hour below that I’d say that it’d be academic — Bentley insiders admit that the quoted figure is always a bit ‘conservative’ So the Grand Touring part of the name is given, the Speed bit too appreciable, and the GT Speed Convertible’s depth of ability far-reaching. Where the GT has always fallen short, and perhaps been overly harshly criticised for, is agility.
Bentley doesn’t claim to make a supercar (the clue is after all in its name), but the revisions its engineers have made to the chassis do manifest themselves with a dynamism that’s unbecoming for something so big and heavy. While the steering lacks the finer turn-in of its V8-engined relative, that additional mass over the front wheels in the W12 out there doesn’t really make itself noticed well beyond what could be considered sensible, or legal on-road pace.
There’s a nice initial weighting at turn-in, the off-centre firmness adding to the GT Speed Convertible’s tremendous high-speed stability, the steering surprising on lock with some feel through the leather rim. Grip is huge, traction — with all four-wheels working — similarly resolute, the GT Speed Convertible’s ability on the sinuous, switchback road that descends into Death Valley so remarkable that when reaching the bottom we turn round and climb back out.
The W12’s engine ricochets off the rock walls, no doubt filling the valley for miles around with its rich, cultured tones. The ZF auto works busily on its own, the best solution at speed to take over via the paddle-shifters, their response to inputs quick and deliberate. Driven so the GT Speed Convertible is indecently quick, steadfast and surprisingly enjoyable. Others would offer greater feel, more precision and the opportunity to power oversteer, but so too would they have brought massive compromises that wouldn’t have made the trip to this road itself so enjoyable, so effortless.
Only the brakes reveal how hard the GT Speed Convertible is working, even the optional carbon ceramic discs on this car delivering a long, spongy feel underfoot after being asked repeatedly to haul in the GT Speed Convertible’s mass. Yet it remains a car of enormous breadth and consummate ease, the Continental GT Speed Convertible a pleasing anomaly, which is arguably unrivalled in its completeness. The compromises are few if any, it and me arriving in Las Vegas as if the previous 1,120km behind it hadn’t happened, yet not so remote and uninteresting to make them forgettable.
