To celebrate the 60th anniversary of its manufacturing plant in Pyms Lane, Crewe, Bentley created two special ‘Diamond Series’ Limited Edition models. The Arnage Diamond Series, with an extremely short production run of 60 units, was sold out before markets in Asia even had an opportunity to place an order. Bentley was more emphatic for fans of the sub-million dollar Continental GT. They made 400 of them and one of them found its home in Singapore.
What makes the car special? Bits like the sporting gearlever, drilled alloy foot pedals and
embroidered Bentley emblems on the seats that were available as cost options on the ‘Mulliner Driving Specification’ version are standard issue on the Diamond Series GT.
The most unique, and definitely the biggest contributor to that hefty price premium, has to be its set of carbon-ceramic brakes. This is the first production Bentley to employ the material for the anchors. The front discs measure 420mm across and the rear is 356mm, which are probably the biggest in any production car. Incidentally, they are even bigger than the ones fitted on the 1001hp Bugatti Veyron.
Since it is unlikely that the GT will see any track time, the logic behind the massive and exotic stoppers on the car is unclear. Quite typical of such brakes, the pedal feel is snatchier than the conventional steel brakes found on the standard GT.
But for a 2.4-tonne, 6-litre 552hp/650Nm W12 car that tops out at 318km/h and goes from nought to 100km/h in 4.8 seconds, you can never have too much braking power.
To further distinguish the ‘Diamond Series’ version from the standard GT, Bentley offers three unique exterior colours – Moroccan Blue, as well as two special shades of silver. Cunningly, the ‘Diamond Series’ Continental GT registered in Singapore is dressed in a nondescript “standard’ colour. It almost seems like the owner didn’t want to stand out from the crowd.
