Famous Hollywood actor, and friend of all British car makers including Bentley and Jaguar, Idris Elba set a new ‘Flying Mile’ land speed record at Pendine Sands, Wales, hitting 180.361 mph in a Bentley Continental GT Speed. He broke the 88-year-old record of Sir Malcolm Campbell who clocked 174.8 mph in 1927.
In all fairness what Sir Campbell drove, a Napier-Campbell Blue Bird, was a lot harder to manage and dangerous than the nice and cozy Bentley the actor went in. But still, it is an impressive achievement, especially as it was done on sand and in the face of challenging tidal condition.
Elba said: “I’m absolutely elated to have broken the ‘Flying Mile’ at Pendine Sands. It’s an honour to have taken on the challenge, and to successfully follow in the footsteps of the illustrious Sir Malcolm Campbell.”
As for the car he broke the record with, the Bentley Continental GT Speed boasts a 6-litre twin-turbo W12 engine tuned to make 635 PS and 820 Nm in this variant of the luxury GT. Combined with a ZF eight-speed close-ratio automatic transmission and sophisticated four-wheel-drive, that power takes the GT Speed from 0 to 60 mph in 4.0 seconds (0-100 km/h in 4.2s), on its way to a top speed of 331 km/h (206 mph).
