The Flying Spur has long been the Bentley that sneaks a driver’s grin into a chauffeur’s silhouette. Dressed here in Brooklands Green with delicate yellow coachlines, it nods to the Turbo R’s 40th birthday rather than shouting about lap times. The stance remains quietly imposing. Long bonnet, strong haunches, big arches hushed by body color. At a glance it is still the gentleman’s express, only now the gentleman wears studded 21-inch winters.
The stunt took place at Drivecenter Arena in Fällfors, about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle, where winter turns a 3,3 km circuit into polished glass. The Flying Spur Speed circled it in 2 minutes 58 seconds, the quickest anyone has done there in winter, peaking at 193 kmh on sheet ice with a main straight of only 450 metres. The car was standard apart from those studs, and the stability control was switched off. You need confidence for that. You also need the right hardware.
Bentley’s Ultra Performance Hybrid marries a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 to an e-motor inside an 8-speed dual-clutch. In the mood to play, it serves up 782 PS and 1,000 Nm, with the electric shove filling the V8’s breath and then vanishing as the cross-plane thrum takes over. The chassis brings the magic: all-wheel steering that shrinks the wheelbase at turn-in, a clever limited-slip differential, torque vectoring, and active anti-roll control that keeps mass from misbehaving. There is a rearward balance you can feel in your hips, not just on a spec sheet.
Quirk alert. A two-and-a-bit-tonne luxury saloon skating around on studs is inherently ridiculous, which is partly the charm. Winter lap records are not a recognized category for the history books. Yet the point stands. Very few cars with footrests in the back can be driven hard on ice with this much clarity. Fewer still do it while staying quiet enough inside to hear the studs fizz.
Bentley likes its cold-weather folklore. Speed runs on frozen lakes in 2007 and 2011 set the template. This one adds cultural seasoning by echoing the Turbo R, the 1980s pillar of Bentley’s rebirth, right down to paint and pinstripes. It also lands in a moment when the luxury world is deciding what performance looks like in the electrified era.
Here, the answer is not binary. Around town the Spur will float on electrons for up to 47 miles on the EU cycle and up to 87 mph in EV mode. The total range sits at a claimed 515 miles. That matters to owners who split time between city and country and expect silence on one end and a long-legged stride on the other. The hybrid does not dilute the brand’s personality. It reframes it.
You do not need a winter lap record to buy a Flying Spur Speed. What this glacial party trick proves is more interesting. Bentley has built a limousine that behaves like a driver’s car when asked, in conditions that usually punish vanity. The elegance is still there, so is the sense of occasion. Now add a mischievous streak, some heritage-savvy tailoring, and a powertrain that speaks both electric and petrol with fluency.
It is not subtle, and the idea will divide those who believe a luxury saloon should never get its shoes dirty. Everyone else will enjoy the knowledge that their four-door clubroom can, quite literally, keep its cool.
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