[Timothy Raines]

[Timothy Raines]

[Timothy Raines]

[Timothy Raines]

[Timothy Raines]

[Timothy Raines]

[Timothy Raines]

[Timothy Raines]

This Flying Spur appears to belong to the Plantation Boat Mart yacht moguls of Florida who created it to take part in the Fireball Run. No, we haven't heard of that rally either, but join you in being positively bewildered by the proliferation of Gumball rip-offs. There don't appear to by any further modifications other than the creepy paint and 22" rimzzz. [via Ultimate Audio]

[AutoTrader.uk]

The Land Rover is the supercharged model with custom rims and some aftermarket trim added, big threatening speakers in the trunk, and paint as Alaska White as the WWE fanbase. We can only assume it's for sale because it turned on him in a surprising act of sudden treachery!

The Continental Speed GT has had some mild chip-and-exhaust work, a grille kit, and custom wheels, but is mostly stock. Like Batista, it probably needs belts, but we assume it face-heel turns on a dime.

[eBay via Celeb Cars Blog]

This new Bentley has been developed ground-up and offers a striking advancement of the classic Bentley design language, though we're not 100% sure it's found a home in our hearts yet. It'll have all the luxury appointments you expect but, more importantly, is that big honking V8.

Upgraded from the Arnage it replaces, the updated version of the timeless Rolls Royce-derived V8 is supposed to conform to the Bentley mission of producing "effortless torque from extremely low revs." And by that we mean it produces 752 lb-ft of twist at just 1800 RPMs with a total power output of 505 HP. It's enough to power it done the namesake Mulsanne straight. If it'll fit.

Long live the Britsh Empire.

For the more discerning Bentley buyer, the Series 51 option is available on either the Continental GT or GTC, and offers an expanded color palette inside and a two-tone option outside, you (well not you, the obnoxious starlets who buy these) also get unique 20 inch wheels and a bigger price tag. The car will make its formal debut in the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. Click through for images and the press release. [Bentley]

NEW SERIES 51 BENTLEY CONTINENTAL RANGE TO DEBUT AT FRANKFURT SHOW

(10 September, 2009. Crewe, England) — Bentley Motors will preview an exciting new design direction for the company's Continental GT and GTC models at the 2009 Frankfurt Show. The Series 51 Continental models represent Bentley exterior and interior styling at its most vibrant and will enable customers to order 'off the peg' from an exclusive range created by Dirk van Braeckel's renowned team of Crewe-based designers.

Series 51 is named after the year that the first official styling department was established in Crewe by the gifted John Blatchley, who shaped the original and iconic 1950s Bentley Continentals. Every Series 51 car will feature a highly-distinctive interior colour palette and unique exterior design cues.

Bentley's Colour and Trim team, managed by Melinda - June Jenkins, have designed some bespoke three-tone interiors which demonstrate the full potential of leather hide colours and showcase the creative application of contrast stitching and piping. The first example of their work will be the Continental GTC displayed at Frankfurt which features Imperial Blue as a main and secondary hide, Linen seat and door inserts and Newmarket Tan as the accent colour.

Series 51 cars will also feature several unique interior details including the use of non-indented hide for diamond quilting, contrast piping for the seats and doors as well as bespoke Series 51 treadplates.

Bentley's designers have also selected a range of premium-quality materials for the dashboard and centre console to complement the three-tone interiors. The Dark and Bright 'Engine Spin' aluminium options provide a striking contrast with darker and lighter hide colour choices and a special, limited-edition Amboyna veneer reserved for Series 51.

A belief that even the smallest detail presents an opportunity to delight and surprise customers has always be a key element of the Bentley design story. Series 51 follows this principle, where even the overmats and boot carpets are now colour matched and given contrast binding.

Both the Continental GT and GTC offer a powerful road presence and the Series 51 cars further accentuate these sporting credentials with some eye-catching exterior styling. A 20" 14-spoke polished Diamond wheel with a dark centre cap provides Series 51 cars with a purposeful and stylish appearance. The cars will be further distinguished by a signature '51' badge on the front wings.

To further enhance and personalise the Continental GT a new two-tone paint can be commissioned which complements the contrasting interior configuration. This highly distinctive colour split (with one colour running over the bonnet, roof and flowing down to the boot) is a classic design used on many sporting Bentleys of the past.

Detailed information about all of the available three-tone interior designs and further additional options and accessories are available at www.bentleymotors.com. The new Series 51 models can be ordered from 1st September 2009.

The Tenure of John Blatchley

John Blatchley's gift for design was recognised from the very outset of his career. Just a few years after graduating from the Regent Street Polytechnic, and still only in his early twenties, Blatchley was heading the styling team at the renowned London coachbuilder Gurney Nutting. His striking and often flamboyant work for Gurney Nutting's customers would in turn see him recruited by Rolls-Royce and Bentley.

Blatchley quickly established himself at Crewe and was renowned for the quality and realism of his water colour renderings, line drawings and wax models. His reputation for being able to turn his hand to any complex or bespoke design task was well-founded - he created a royal crest for Princess Margaret's car over the course of just one weekend.

During an 18-year period as the company's Chief Stylist, Blatchley would design some of Bentley's most iconic post-war models including the MK6, R-type Continental, the S-series and T Series – cars renowned for effortlessly blending the sporting and prestige styling cues associated with the Bentley marque.

Today the Bentley Design team, led by Dirk van Braeckel, continues to use original hand sketches to shape a new generation of Crewe-built cars like the new Mulsanne and Continental Supersports and John Blatchley's original design language is still a source of much inspiration. The almost unlimited palette of interior and exterior colours sourced and created by the Colour and Trim department ensures that every Bentley customer has the ability to create a bespoke design.

The giant Bentley looks sort of like an Excaliburized Flying Spur but, you know, bigger. Almost a foot longer, in fact. What we don't know about the interesting sedan is anything to do with the powertrain, though it's been rumored it could feature a VW TDI engine. If it doesn't get the TDI we expect it has yet another version of the family W12. Full details in the press release under the next picture.

NEW BENTLEY MULSANNE MAKES WORLD DEBUT AT 
PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS D'ELEGANCE, CALIFORNIA

(Bentley Motors, Crewe, England) Today, Bentley Motors unveiled the Mulsanne, the company's all-new flagship grand tourer, at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance in Monterey, California.
The Mulsanne is inspired by the company founder W.O. Bentley's crowning achievement in 1930, the 8-litre. And it was W.O.'s own sensitively conserved company car that shared the podium with the new Mulsanne in Pebble Beach. This early motoring masterpiece represented the last big Bentley that was designed, engineered and built from the ground up by Bentley engineers - until now.
Nearly 80 years later, while paying respect to this illustrious past, the new Mulsanne is a thoroughly modern statement of luxury driving and grand touring. Conceived, styled and engineered entirely at Bentley's headquarters in Crewe, England, the Mulsanne, with its completely new and unique platform, goes into production next year in a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility within the Crewe factory.
Introducing the Bentley Mulsanne at Pebble Beach, where Bentley was the featured marque, Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen, Chairman and Chief Executive of Bentley Motors, said:

"The challenge we set our engineers was to create a new grand Bentley that would stand as the pinnacle of British luxury motoring, offering the world's most exclusive driving experience. They have responded to this challenge with real passion and the result is a luxury grand tourer that sets new standards in terms of comfort, effortless performance and hand-crafted refinement – the very qualities for which Bentley is renowned."
The Bentley design team, lead by Dirk van Braeckel, have created a flagship that offers the classic sporting, styling cues long-associated with Bentley - expressed in a thoroughly contemporary way.
"From the very first hand sketches in the styling studio, we were inspired by the traditions of the grand touring Bentleys and have sought to evolve this story for a new generation of Bentley enthusiasts."
The return of the Mulsanne name to a car carrying Bentley's iconic ‘Winged B' emblem underlines the company's racing pedigree and nowhere reflects that heritage better than the famed Le Mans circuit, the scene of no fewer than six Bentley triumphs. Few places offer a stronger or more emotive connection with the Bentley marque than the famed Mulsanne corner.
The Bentley 8-litre displayed alongside the Mulsanne in California was first shown at the 1930 London Motor Show. It was the second-built and was W.O. Bentley's company car for two years. Capable of reaching more than 100 mph, the 8-litre demonstrated W.O. Bentley's ambition and ability to build a grand luxury car capable of surpassing every other leading manufacturer of the day. A total of 100 cars were built in 1930 and 1931.
"The 8-litre's breathtaking performance and quality was perhaps the finest example of a ‘pure' grand Bentley. Every mechanical detail carried W.O. Bentley's unique stamp and it was the clearest demonstration of a car built without compromise," commented Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn, Member of the Board Engineering.
"The Mulsanne has been designed with exactly the same guiding principles, so it is entirely fitting that these Bentleys from different eras share the same stage."

Based on the Continental GT Speed, the GTZ offered a more pronounced overbite than the standard car, as well as more jewel-like light clusters. And now it has found its way to the city by the bay. Representing the ultimate aspiration of European unity - an Italian body draping the German/English underpinnings - the sliver over forest Zagato maintains the standard car's hoontastic 6.0 litre W12, which should be good for near 200 mph trips to the Gray Poupon concessionaire.

While the plebian Continental GT will set one back a mere $179,200, the asking price of this stile infuso version is a cool 1.3 million.

That means it might be time to start scrounging between the sofa cushions for loose change if this Bentley floats your boat. And hey, they're accepting trade-ins!

Check it out here or over here if somebody has already snapped it up. Hat tip to j money!

The grill is changed, and the corner lights are frenched in.
The rear received the most attention (as you would expect from the Italians) with a rounder boot and more shallow backlight. The traditional double bubble is there too.

Interior upgrades include special upholstery and dash trim.

A biblical 93% of you invoked your Crack Pipe shaman to curse yesterday's Mystery Datsun. Today we have a pair of English twins that thankfully aren't the result of royal inbreeding.

Hal Riney was the rebel ad man who made San Francisco a creative center for advertising. He wrote the Crocker Bank jingle; We've only just begun, which then became a monster hit single for the Carpenters. He made wine coolers something that not just girls drank with his homey and faux-scincere Bartles and James ads. Riney also helped get Ronald Reagan re-elected by intoning it's morning in America; made Saturn a different kind of car company - a different kind of car; and turned Wrigley Gum into something that doubled your pleasure.

Also double the pleasure are Riney's two Bentley Turbo R sedans- a jet black '89, and a BRG '93. Why two Bentley Turbo Rs? Who knows, but the iconoclastic ad man sure must have loved the big, executive-class locomotives. Each is powered by a 6.75 litre OHV V8 of adequate power, which in non-Bentley speak equates to about 300 bhp, although that's only ever been estimated. Backing that up was the ubiquitous TH400 3-speed.

When both Riney's career and his life ended last year, he left a long legacy, as well as these two cars which together total an elephantine 10,570 lbs! Part of that weight comes from the 30-odd head of cattle that gifted each car with the rich Connolly hides that cover every square inch of the interior not swathed in walnut burl. Part comes from the temperamental, smoke-containing electrical system that has become the bane of many an owner. Most of the weight, however, comes from the hand-lain, and heavily leaded body. The Black '89 must have been favored, as it turned 93,000 miles under its blackwalls, while the later, and greener, car has only made it to 55k. Regardless, both cars appear as-new, and are claimed to have been meticulously maintained by British Motors in San Francisco for much of their lives.

So what do you say to a pair of Bentleys that have lived the good life? An '89 for $15,950, and a '93 for $29,950 or maybe you could cut a deal, and get both for a song- and that song may just be- We've only just begun. . .

You decide!

San Francisco Craigslist - 1989, or go here OR Same Place -1993, or over here, should the ads disappear. Hat tip to Eggwich!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a tip.

The $267,000 Bentley makes 621 HP on E85, will hit 60 MPH in 3.7 seconds, continuing on to a top speed of 204 MPH. Of course it's also six and a half feet wide and weighs 5,258 Lbs, which makes Bell's pace on Lord March's driveway all the more impressive, he hits speeds in excess of 100 MPH on multiple occasions.

The Bentley Continental Supersports, the fastest and most powerful car in the company's 90-year history, received the ultimate examination of its supercar handling and performance credentials when Le Mans racing legend and honorary ‘Bentley Boy' Derek Bell spent the weekend driving the 621bhp Bentley at pace during the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The muscular two-seater, which delivers a 0-60mph sprint time of just 3.7 seconds and a maximum top speed of 204mph, produced a series of searing runs up the Goodwood Hill with Bell regularly pushing the car well-over the 100mph mark on a highly challenging course renowned for its narrow road and succession of tight corners and bends.

Designed and built at Bentley's Crewe headquarters, the Continental Supersports combines extreme performance with the pioneering use of FlexFuel technology in the luxury sector. The 6-litre W12 twin-turbocharged engine is capable of running on either petrol, E85 biofuel or any combination of these fuel sources.

BENTLEY TO CELEBRATE 90TH ANNIVERSARY WITH DEBUT OF ALL-NEW MODEL AT PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS D'ELEGANCE

"Cars undoubtedly have a personality to the real enthusiast, to whom they are not mere collections of steel and aluminium, but animal-like, show their spirit just so soon as the clutch bites home and feeling comes through to the driver…."

(Sammy Davis, first Bentley road test report, January 1920)

Crewe: Wednesday 8 July. Bentley Motors today celebrates its 90th anniversary and confirms that its all-new Bentley will be revealed - and named - in August at the Pebble Beach Concours D' Elegance in Monterey, California where the company is a featured marque.

Founded by W.O. Bentley in 1919, the company's first production car, the 3-litre was delivered in September 1921. Over the next ten years, Bentley went on to produce an array of iconic motor cars. At the same time, the exploits of the immortal Bentley Boys – a select group of businessmen, sportsmen and bon vivants – forged the company's proud sporting pedigree both on and off the racetracks of Europe. The Bentley Boys made the legendary Le Mans endurance race their own, winning five times between 1924 and 1930.

The all-new grand Bentley captures the 1920s ‘grand touring' spirit of the Bentley Boys, delivering the effortless driving, exclusivity and adventure desired by the real motoring enthusiast. A unique fusion of elegant design, hand craftsmanship and technological innovation, the new model embodies the potent yet luxuriously refined driving experience that is ‘pure Bentley'. These have been the hallmarks of a Bentley since that first test drive in 1920.

It is fitting that the 90th anniversary of the Company will be marked by an all-new car. Such events are rare milestones in the Company's history. Designed, engineered and built in Crewe, which has been home to Bentley Motors for over 60 years, it has been a ‘once in a career experience' for many involved. The car and its name, which will be revealed at Pebble Beach on 16 August, signal a new era in British luxury motoring.

Judging by spy photos snapped inside the Crewe assembly plant which surfaced over at CAR Magazine, the new Bentley looks a bit, shall we say, odd. When we say odd, we do so with the traditional British penchant for polite understatement. Hopefully we're seeing some kind of engineering prototype far from production intent, because this one looks like a bad Chinese rip-off of a traditional Bentley. If this is the real deal, we almost feel bad for Bentley dealers who'll have to clear space for it next to a Brooklands. [CarMagazine]

Eyewitnesses in Orange County, Florida report seeing 23-year-old Jessica Hazelrigg weaving through traffic at very high speed, racing against her Bentley-driving boyfriend when she lost control and crashed into trees, the impact was so violent the car was split in two pieces. Hazelrigg died at the scene. It's terrible to see this sort of thing happen, but another reminder to keep racing to the track. [WFTV via Motive Forums]

As you can see from the photos, it's a careful dance involving two forklifts, a lift, various staff, and precision timing. This one-of-a-kind Bentley has a high-level of armor capable of protecting the vehicle from sniper fire, landmines, and whatever else baddies can throw at it. On top of all the equipment it's still a custom Flying Spur Speed designed to the specifications of an unnamed head-of-state, which means you don't want to drop it. And because it's an armored car, you want to start off any transportation by assuring the smoke screen works. [Source: TAC]

For serious road racing, you need a car with the engine in the middle: behind the driver but in front of the rear axle. While pretty in its physics on paper, the idea of mid-engined car construction was a difficult birth. In spite of its conception and very successful application by Ferdinand Porsche in the pre-war Benz Tropfenwagen (pictured left) and various Auto Unions, motor racing emerged from World War Two with front-engined cars.

But then physics came marching down on a racing establishment uncomfortable with the idea of horse-pushed carriages. 1958 would be the last season in Formula One won by a front-engined car, followed by Le Mans in 1962 and the Indianapolis 500 in 1964. Since these respective years, all of these races and championships have been won by mid-engined racing cars. Road cars soon followed, with the tiny fiberglass De Tomaso Vallelunga in 1964, then a year later the very car that gave birth to the word supercar: the Lamborghini Miura, with its transversely mid-mounted V12.

In Formula One and at the Indianapolis 500, it was pesky outsiders who convinced the ruling elite with their performances that mid-engined was the way to go. At Le Mans, a most unlikely development occured: reigning Ferrari replaced its front-engined 1962 330 TRI/LM Spyder (a derivative of a five-year-old design) with the radically new 250 P (pictured above at the Nürburgring) for 1963. The scuderia promptly won both at Sebring and at Le Mans.

It was all doom and gloom for the front engine as the Ferraris were followed by the Ford GT40 and decades of Porsches, beginning with the monstrous 917. But then in 1997, an American decided to give the mid-engine the finger. His name was Dr. Donald Panoz and he liked his six-liter V8’s up front, thank you very much.

The Panoz Esperante GTR-1 was a closed coupé with a Roush V8, named after the Panoz Esperante roadster with which it had little in common. In a sense, it was also mid-engined—but unlike every other mid-engined car, it had its engine between the front axle and the driver.

The GTR-1 had its share of teething problems in its debut year, but it returned for 1998 to take seventh place at Le Mans. One of the drivers was David Brabham, the son of triple Formula One world champion Jack "Black Jack” Brabham, who would go on to win last weekend’s race with Peugeot.

At the end of the 1998 racing season, the GT category that the GTR-1 raced in was eliminated. Panoz countered with a brand-new prototype for the next season: the open-top LMP-1. The car retained the GTR-1’s Batmobile proportions and its six-liter thunder-happy V8, presenting an even more Cyrano-esque nose.

The LMP-1 raced at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, a race made famous by the flying CLR’s of Mercedes-Benz. Driven by Brabham and company, the car finished seventh, similar to its closed-top sibling at the previous year’s race. The LMP-1 would produce its best result in 2000 with a fifth overall finish—which it would repeat in 2003 behind the all-conquering Audis and Audi-derived Bentleys.

By then, the LMP-1 was an aging design, and it was replaced with the LMP07, which would prove disappointing. Panoz withdrew from prototype racing and returned to Le Mans in the GT2 class for 2005, to compete against Ferraris, Porsches and Spykers derived from road cars. Their first outing at the scorching 2005 race would produce no results, but a front-engined Panoz Esperante GT-LM driven by three Brits would beat both Ferrari and Porsche to win GT2 in 2006.

While Panoz’s front-mid-engined prototypes could never really hold up against mid-engined racing cars from major manufacturers, they proved that the front-mid engine construction was a viable concept. In the years that followed, a crop of supercars built on the same principle would emerge: the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and the Ferrari 599 GTB. The latter is now also available as a track-only version, for decades inconceivable in a front-engined Ferrari, showing perhaps that we have indeed come full circle since Enzo Ferrari first commissioned a mid-engined prototype for Le Mans in 1963.

All we need now is a team with the funding and the guts to follow through.

Photo Credit: Matt Turner/ALLSPORT, Speedhunters, Lokis_world/Flickr, Mike Hewitt /Allsport, Ferrari, Ker Robertson /Allsport

Audi has won every race at La Sarthe since 1999, the sole exception being the 2003 event—which wasn’t really an exception at all, as the winning Bentley Speed 8 was nothing but Audi’s all-conquering R8 with a roof and a can of British Racing Green paint.

After retiring the R8, Audi returned in 2006 with the R10, the first modern diesel-engined endurance racecar, powered by a V12 TDI engine, which duly took victory at its first outing at Le Mans.

In 2007, Peugeot stepped up to the plate with a similar design, the 908 HDi FAP, which came in second on its inaugural race, retained this position for 2008, then roared back for a 1–2 finish this Sunday against Audi’s all-new R15. This marks Peugeot’s third win at their home race, after the Peugeot 905’s back-to-back wins in 1992 and 1993.

A Porsche RS Spyder entered by Team Essex/Poulsen Motorsport took the LMP2 class. The Corvettes marked their last race before retirement with a fifth class win in GT1, while in GT2 it was all Ferrari, with the top spot going to Risi Competizione’s F430.

Presented here are the best photos from the race.

The Corvette Racing C.6R of Jan Magnussen of Denmark, Johnny O'Connell of the United States of America and Antonio Garcia of Spain drives during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 15, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

Ferrari F430's head through the Dunlop Chicane during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 13, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Jan Magnussen (L) of Denmark and Team Corvette Racing and Nicolas Lapierre of France and Team Matmut drive down the Mulsanne Straight during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 13, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

Nicolas Minassian of France drives the Team Peugeot Total 908 HDi FAP car down the Mulsanne Straight during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 13, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

An Audi R15 heads down to Indianapolis corner during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 13, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

The Peugeot Sport Total 908 HDi FAP of Alex Wurz of Austria, David Brabham of Great Britain and Marc Gene of Spain drives during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 13, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Dindo Capello of Italy drives the Audi Sport Team Joest R15 during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 13, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

The Team RML Lola Mazda of Tommy Erdos, Mike Newton and Chris Dyson drives during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 13, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Johnny Kane of Ireland drives the Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 13, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

Jan Magnussen of Denmark and Corvette Racing drives during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 13, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

Cars go through Indianapolis corner during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 13, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

Cars head towards Terte Rouge during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 14, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

A Kolles Audi R10 drives at sunrise during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 14, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

The Aston Martin Racing Lola of Stuart Hall, Harold Primat and Peter Kox comes in for a pitstop during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 14, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

The Aston Martin Racing Lola of Jan Charouz of the Czech Republic, Stefan Mucke of Germany and Tomas Enge of the Czech Republic drives during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 14, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

Pedro Lamy of Portugal and Team Peugeot suffers rear left hand damage after a collision in the pitlane during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 13, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

Photo Credit: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

We don't know much about it — wait who are we kidding — We know nothing about it other than that the all-new Grand Bentley, as seen in the teaser preview above, will replace the long-in-the-tooth Arnage as Bentley's top model as well as marking the 90th year for Bentley as a company and the 50th anniversary of its storied V8 powerhouse.

We're infinitely curious to learn more about how Bentley plans to combat the newly grown Rolls-Royce lineup, but we expect it'll more luxurious, more powerful and faster than the best offerings from the Spirit of Ecstasy and the spirit-of-poor-marketing, Maybach. It's been rumored that the new Bentley could feature the V12 TDI out of the Audi Q7 TDI as well as a de-tuned version of the W16 from the Veyron, but what about that V8 that the big Bentleys are known for?

We'll continue to collect little luxurious breadcrumbs of information for you prior to the new Grand Bentley's worldwide debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance this August. In the meantime, get that tuxedo of yours steamed and pressed.