Speed thrills for Asian tycoons
Lee Nian Tjoe
The Straits Times
Publication Date : 07-07-2008


Have you ever wondered what it is like to file your nails while driving at say, 325kmh? I am strapped into a Bentley Continental GT Speed, a car designed to cruise at that insane velocity, for a demonstration. And I am thinking about my nails.

The entire range of Continental models are here in the Korean city for a defensive driving experience imaginatively called Bentley Driving.

Up to this point, the event has been exactly as it promised: Participants drive the Bentleys to the best of their abilities and attempt a range of simulated real-life road emergencies.

Bentley has been offering this event for its guests in places like the United States, Europe and the Middle East for some time now. But this is the first time that Bentley Driving is conducted in Asia.

Defensive driving courses are hardly new, of course. In recent months, we have seen and experienced a slew of similar events held by various brands. Mercedes-Benz, for one, is conducting its seventh of such courses this week.

What makes Bentley Driving different, apart from its location, is the one thing Bentley is renown for: speed.

It is funny how speed makes all the difference when attempting the same defensive driving moves.

The straightforward emergency brake manoeuvre is usually conducted at around 80kmh. At Bentley Driving, the cars fly down the stretch at nearly twice that speed.

Stomping on the brake pedal at 160kmh demands serious commitment from both car and driver. Modern safety features like ABS (anti- lock braking system), EBD (electronic brake force distribution) and ESP (electronic stability programme) help to keep the car stable and not lock up the wheels.

Actually, how the technologies work behind the scene to keep the driver safe is a constant theme demonstrated at the event. Take the slalom station, for example.

It takes a Lewis Hamilton to thread the big Flying Spur through the slaloms at 80kmh (again, this is higher than the usual 40-60kmh) without the electronic aids at hand. Since none of the participants are Hamiltons, the cars are often sliding here and there, killing cones along the way.

It is great fun to do this on a circuit, but leaving the aids firmly 'on' is probably the wiser thing to do on the road.

Sometimes, even the cleverest electronics fail to ensure safety. Tucked at one end of the Seoul Proving Grounds is a ribbed surface drenched with water (below). Intended to simulate an icy surface, a speed of 40kmh or so is enough to render steering inputs useless. It is a good thing then that we do not have ice on our roads.

Neither do we have high-speed banked ovals, which are ideal for the Continental GT Speed's enormous propensity for, er, speed. On this stretch, participants sit back and leave the driving to the experts.

Maybe it is how easy the GT Speed makes going at near supersonic speed appear, but as the beast sling-shots its way round a bank, my mind wanders and ponders a manicure.

The writer is the editor of Torque, published by SPH Magazines.