LUXURY MOTORING, EXTREME POWER
Bentley Arnage R makes a mark on our JJ
‘The Arnage R is good for nearly 180mph when flat-out’
When Bentley announced that it was slotting an engine it hadn’t built into its first all-new model for nearly two decades, diehard Crewe fans were heard yelling at their butlers from one end of southern England to the other. When the high-profile squabble over ownership of Bentley and Rolls-royce was eventually settled in 1999, continued supply of the Bmw/cosworth twin-turbo M62 V8 – that had been developed specifically for the new Arnage
– was no longer guaranteed. That left Volkswagen with no choice other than to dust off the venerable Rolls-royce L-series 6.75-litre V8 engine that first saw the light
of day in 1959 and feed it with compressed air via a pair of Garrett turbochargers, which is what’s powering this Arnage R. Sold via online auction site The Market, I got a go in this majestic millennial recently and can report that it certainly doesn’t hang about.
That old iron pushrod lump makes 450bhp, meaning the Arnage R is good for nearly 180mph flat-out, sprinting up to 60mph in just 5.8 seconds. Considering that it weighs as much as one of the wings of the mansion in the background, that’s pretty impressive performance.