2012 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Series 51
Series 51 represents Bentley design at its most vibrant. It allows customers of both Continental Flying Spur and Flying Spur Speed to order ‘off the peg’ from an innovative and exclusive range of recommended combinations created by Bentley’s colour and trim designers at the company’s headquarters in Crewe, England, as Dirk van Braeckel, Bentley’s director of design comments:
“The Series 51 design concept is inspired by the spirit of the inaugural Bentley styling department in Crewe established by the gifted John Blatchley, who shaped the original and iconic 1950s Bentley Continentals. Today, it provides for a virtually bespoke ordering service due to the thousands of configurations available through Bentley’s expansive colour and trim catalogue.”
First offered on the Continental GT and GTC in 2009, Bentley’s colour and trim team has now created no fewer than14 unique Series 51 designs for the Continental Flying Spur and Flying Spur Speed, enabling customers to tailor their cars to their individual tastes as Melinda June-Jenkins, manager of colour and trim, explains:
“Each Series 51 Flying Spur is instantly recognisable – most notably in the cabin area – where the colour and trim team has created a wide selection of three-tone interiors demonstrating the full potential of the company’s vast colour palette.”
For Series 51 designs, the Bentley styling team operates on a ‘rule of three’ principle to create complex but harmonising colour schemes of depth and beauty, inspired by a customer’s simple choice of three contrasting colours. With luxurious wood veneers and leather hides as the main canvas, the colour and trim specialists begin with a main interior colour (typically a darker shade) and then select a second insert colour to provide an eye-catching contrast. A critical skill is identifying the third ‘accent’ colour for the stitching and piping.
The selection of wood veneers or aluminium panels for the dashboard either complements the overall look or provides even greater contrast if the customer so desires.
Bentley has reserved the limited-edition Sapelli Pomelle veneer (which provides a rare, naturally occurring quilted effect in the wood) for the Series 51 Flying Spur and a range of further options, including Bentley’s leather trimmed child seat and scatter cushions for the rear seats, may also be specified to further complement the exclusive design.
Whilst the 14 options for the Series 51 Flying Spur provide customers with the opportunity to select some of Bentley’s most eye-catching design work, the colour and trim team is also more than happy to create even more bespoke designs, knowing they have only shown a fraction of the possibilities, as Melinda-June Jenkins explains:
“One of the most exciting aspects of the Series 51 designs is the feedback from Bentley customers and their desire to explore further what we can offer. Series 51 provides just a starting point and now we are creating designs which make an even stronger and more personal statement.”
Striking range of Series 51 duo-tone paint options
The same imaginative use of colour is extended to the coachwork of all Series 51 Continental Flying Spurs. A range of striking John Blatchley-inspired duo-tone paint options, with one accent colour sweeping from the bonnet, over the roof and onto the bootlid, may be specified.
The paint range encompasses cool and crisp hues through to rich and fiery shades and everything in between with the Bentley colour and trim team recommending one of the three selected interior colours to complement and highlight the relationship between inside and out.
Bentley has also created a unique Series 51 graphite-finished nine-spoke, 19-inch sports alloy wheel, while twin Series 51 wing badges, positioned behind the front wheel arches, complete the bespoke look.
As a further sporting touch, all the latest Continental Flying Spurs, including Series 51 models, may now be specified with distinctive blue brake callipers and front wing vents styled by Bentley’s head of exterior design, Raul Pires. These sleek vents, positioned to the rear of the front wheel arches, are set into a uniquely tooled wing panel and feature a black or chrome mesh finish.
In Detail
| type | Series Production Car |
| built at | Crewe, England |
| engine | VW Group W12 |
| position | Front Longitudinal |
| aspiration | Twin Turbocharged |
| ignition | Coil-On-Plug |
| block material | ALUSIL Aluminium-Silicon Alloy w/Silicon Crystal Liners |
| valvetrain | Chain-Driven DOHC, 4 Valves per Cyl |
| fuel feed | Multi-point Electronic Sequential Indirect Injection |
| displacement | 5998 cc / 366.02 in³ |
| bore | 84 mm / 3.3 in |
| stroke | 90.2 mm / 3.6 in |
| compression | 10.7:1 |
| power | 449 kw / 602.1 bhp @ 6000 rpm |
| specific output | 100.38 bhp per litre |
| bhp/weight | 243.07 bhp per tonne |
| torque | 750 nm / 553.2 ft lbs @ 1750 rpm |
| body / frame | Unitary Steel Monocoque |
| driven wheels | 4WD |
| wheel type | Flying Spur Speed |
| front tires | 275/35×20 Pirelli P-Zero |
| rear tires | 275/35×20 Pirelli P-Zero |
| front brakes | Carbon Fiber Cross Drilled Discs w/ESP |
| rear brakes | Carbon Fiber Cross Drilled Discs w/ESP |
| front wheels | F 50.8 x 24.1 cm / 20 x 9.5 in |
| rear wheels | R 50.8 x 24.1 cm / 20 x 9.5 in |
| steering | Rack & Pinion w/Power Assist |
| f suspension | Multi-Link w/Air Suspension, Anti-Roll Bar |
| r suspension | Multi-Link w/Air Suspension, Anti-Roll Bar |
| curb weight | 2477.02 kg / 5456 lbs |
| wheelbase | 3065 mm / 120.7 in |
| front track | 1623 mm / 63.9 in |
| rear track | 1607 mm / 63.3 in |
| length | 5290 mm / 208.3 in |
| width | 2118 mm / 83.4 in |
| height | 1465 mm / 57.7 in |
| transmission | ZF 6-Speed Automatic |
| gear ratios | 4.17:1, 2.34:1, 1.52:1, 1.14:1, 0.87:1, 0.69:1 |
| final drive | 3.526:1 |
| top speed | ~321.8 kph / 200 mph |
| 0 – 60 mph | ~4.5 seconds |
| 0 – 100 mph | ~10.5 seconds |
