This is a big, big car. It sits on the same 3116mm wheelbase as its sister Arnage saloon, but it’s 11mm longer and weighs 70kg more at a colossal 2725kg, making it heavier than a Land Rover Discovery.
Unsurprisingly, this has an equally huge impact on the Brooklands’ dynamics and character, which have been configured to provide quite a sporting demeanour despite its heft. That starts with the 6.75-litre V8, which gains a freer-flowing induction system, a sports exhaust and recalibrated valve timing and engine management to produce a strapping 530bhp and 774lb ft of torque at 3000rpm.
The outputs yielded by these modifications are built on a 2007 rework of the V8 which gave it a more refined and efficient valvetrain, improved turbo response and Bosch engine management. It’s the more powerful 493bhp Arnage T engine on which the Brooklands unit is based and it comes with a six-speed automatic transmission.
Bentley has wisely vested the Brooklands with plenty of stopping power; the biggest disc rotors in the business sit behind each 20in wheel, with the option (at £19,650 and fitted to the test car) of carbon-silicon-carbide discs claimed to last the life of the car.
The chassis upgrades include a beefing up of the body, the A-pillars, sills, rear three-quarter sections and cant rails, although this is partly to compensate for the lack of an upper B-pillar. All-round double wishbone suspension is supported with adaptive self-levelling electro-hydraulic dampers, while the stiffer body allows for lower spring rates than the Arnage T gets, potentially benefiting the ride.
Wrapping all this hardware is a body of rather more grace than the old Continental possessed, the Brooklands’ side profile vested with a fluency of line that almost makes it look lithe despite that bluff front end.