I have used it as more regular driver since I got it in 2016. Got over 50k miles on it so any sort of collectability is out of the window. Car has a tune on it and a ultra high flow secondary cats (wink, wink) and makes close to 700 hp on the crank. Love looks, interior and amenities but always hated handling. Yes it soaks a bumps great and is amazing on the long stretches of highway, great in rain and snow and very stable at high speed but try to toss it in the corners and you feel AirMatic struggling. Actually probably most stable high speed car I drove. There is a reason Bentley Supersport have set a world record of 209mph driving on ice.
I was looking at some turbos for Audi and came up on Superlative Automotive Performance, company in UK which specializes on Bentley. For about 15k I can get double adjustable Ohlin coilovers, adjustable sways, bushings, etc, big hybrid turbos and huge intercoolers, injectors. Still have to figure out what to do about tune.
I have similar Ohlin setup on my 599 GTB and it handles as good as latest gt3 rs while is well mannered on the street. Supersports has some forged engine internals so it should handle extra power. If transmission gives a problem, Level 10 is just 40 minutes away from me and those guys can build true race version for about 5k. Have their puppy on highly modified qx56 with 900hp and it held up for 154,000 miles and counting)))). And we use that qx56 to tow heavy machinery and plow snow

Now what we should get as a result is a GT which can do 0-60 under 3 sec and should handle rather well. It still be a 5000 lbs car though. Change OD ratio and top speed can be over 230-240mph. It could break under 10s in 1/4. Stock once had run in low 11s, my best result with a tune was 11.2. All wheel drive, great CC breaks and finally a handling it deserved from day one. I don't know how good handling will be, at the end it's still a 5000 lbs car, but hopefully it will be something much better than crappy stock air suspension. Yes its $15 to 20K plus 50 hours of wrench time for me but this car has been growing very long in a tooth for me. If I sell it best, I can hope for is $60k and what can you get for 75-80K nowadays
Or leave the engine alone and just do suspension?
Upgrade electronics with all in Android screen, maybe even front and rear bumper replace and nice mate vinyl wrap.
And interior as well as all the amenities are just amazing. Car is very quiet and Naim sound system is to die for.

 

Why pay for performance you can never really use?

Leave the engine and suspension alone. Do the wrap and the electronics....

 

Wow, I feel bad for a person who is not capable of using Bentley Gen 1 Supersport suspension to the fullest. It's a really easy task even joyriding and taking some winding backroads. - they are not a good suspension by any GT standard.
Engine might be adequate around 700hp albeit a bit boring but suspension on it just sucks.
Quoting my post
"always hated handling. Yes it soaks a bumps great and is amazing on the long stretches of highway, great in rain and snow and very stable at high speed but try to toss it in the corners and you feel AirMatic struggling"
I obviously found enough of use for suspensions to upgrade 599GB to Ohlins clubsports, CLK 62 and non airmatic E55 with KW V3s, Dodge Viper Gen 4 to MCS coilovers. And none of it was done for a track - I have GT2 with full spec RSR on it. So I find it easy to come to fully use up a stock suspension of much better handling cars.
Suspension is a biggest reason why I have both SSports and 599 GTB in my stable. Now - as far as engine goes - while not a cats meow at 7.4 lbs per Hp(I have cars with 2 lbs per Hp) but it's more than adequate for high adrenaline joyriding. Given Sport fat tushy it's equivalent of having 490hp in Viper or 450 in P911. Hardly a crazy numbers. 1000Hp would move it in to 700Hp equivalency fo Viper or 670 for 911. Thats a good, nice and very streetable numbers which can be used even outside of the track. You can do some Ferrari hunting with it on the streets )))))))))))))))))

 

Did you want opinions or an argument?

 

I wanted opinion. And opinion is on the option to rejuvenate SSport or to dump it. And such rejuvenation is clearly centers around my biggest complain with a car - suspension which is crappy by my standards and use. I think with a updated suspension and maybe a bit more juice it can be a world class Grand Tourer. At that point use of bodykit and updated electronics can make car fell modernised. But looks of the car or even dated gizmos are not my problem. Even as it stands right now car is gorgeous and very classy. It still turns heads and it still a Bentley ))))). Electronics still play music from large library on IPod and provider rearview camera and parctronics. And Nav are handled by the phone . It would be nice to have a more cleaner looking Single screen (Tesla mode) but I would not bother with any other available upgrades such as Ben Huer. Spending $250 on the Hudway Drive heads up display paired with your phone is all you need.

 

That's cool - I just don't see the practicality of spending money to have a car with a 240 mph top speed instead of almost 200 (even with my 2005). I hope you'd never test something like that on a public road and if you do I hope I'm not on it.

Maybe posting a pic of your car would be helpful.

 

Do not dump it, I have not heard much of anyone doing mods like you are describing on this forum and I think it is awesome. You obviously have the time and funding to play around, so where else can you get the type of horsepower and speed for $15K that will be in a cocoon of leather that is the interior of a Bentley, and I love the look of these cars, but they are relatively stealth since I don't think people really realize how much performance these cars have at stock setup. I recommend going for it and seeing what she will do. $15K to increase the horsepower 40%, hell yeah, I feel the need, ...................................

In relation to never going 240 MPH, that is just a good indicator of how responsive the car will be at highway speeds. :-) But if you car will do that, please go to the salt flats and take a video showing what she will do when you get her done and share on this forum. And happy hunting on the Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

 

As far as top speed - yes - one of the least usable performance metrics ))))))))). But if you doing much more HP and TQ you might have to do tranny. And if we doing tranny built you might as well have taller final drive ratios to have a good use of extra TQ/HP. At the end our W12 engine are not exactly redline monsters. So with that much extra TQ longer gears make great sense. And they lead to higher top speed as freebee. I have TT Vett which continues to pull hard after 230 - just needs more downforce to be stable. Same thing, final drive ratios were lowered to lay 1600WHp and 1200WTQ down. This is a scary experience going 20 to 120 in second gear But -yes my SSport is supposed to be capable of 209mph and I've never came even close to it. This is more about pushing SSport even deeper into Supercar territory. And right now it severely lucks handling. Thats why one of my potential mod paths is just handling mods(about $7500) and "Tesla screen" plus a bit of body kit just to tighten lines up. Engine power might be quite adequate as is.

 

How about, it's his car and he can do what he wants with it and you should just deal with that.

 

From all your posts, all you do is give bad advice and argue. And now you want to try and pin this behavior on someone else?

 

LCatGA,
Did you ever decide to go the mod route and how is it coming?

 

I can assure you 1st and 2nd gen spurs will both run 200 mph straight out the box with more to go gps verified.
w12 Its a video of a magazine testing the spur with 4 big guy and ac on they hit 208 mph on the track. i think you car search 2006 bentley flying spur at 208 mph.
Autocar has a video of editor Andrew Frankel accelerating up to 208 mph in a Bentley Flying Spur - with 4 people onboard! If you find it post it as im non technicial.

 

Your going ti be doomed at getting much more than 750 bhp.
Its all down to engineering.
Take a look at the exhaust manifolds, they are what in vintage car terms are called Log Manifolds. Absolutely rubbish for power. Google them and look at the log manifold outlet to turbo. The orifice is bearley 2 inches in diameter. This severely restricts the exhaust gasses and caused hugh temperature rises in both the manifold and turbo. You really do need to look at them on Google. They are like that because there is no room at all for anything else. Bentley even fitted EGT sensors to shut down the power when the manifold got too hot.
As to suspension watch Jackie Stewart drive a supersport around the Ring. Why would you want any better than that. You get the best of both worlds with air.

 

Completed last month. Absolutely in love with it. Handling is somewhat mix of modern Austin Martin and my 599 GTB(in a stock HGTE form). We could not find cheater boxes anymore but my tunner ended up programming suspension lights out, Got myself a spare engine and transmission from another 2010 Supersports as a spare and now seriously thinking about built engine. Since its out we could do a lot of harm Thinking about rods and pistons from VR6 engine. No source for crankshaft so lets hope this one can hold 1400HP
Bigger turbos - need to do some research because I dont think hybrids based on existing turbos will flow over 1000HP

Tranny is easy to build - I've actually had ZF built to 1200hp before, upgraded valve body and 2300 rpm stall. Since my lot came with a spare rear diff as well I need to see how much of upgrading does it need. Would like to hit at least 1100HP and ideally up to 1400.

But with this suspension car definitely warrants it

 

Which bushings did you go for? I've done some research and D3-generation Audi A8/S8 bushings seem to be compatible (as few manufacturers specify Bentley), making a full upgrade to 80-ish shore polyurethane a tempting option.

Speed apparently has the same, more aggressive drivetrain programming and less intrusive traction control combination as Supersport and while it's reasonably precise for such a heavy car, a bit more precision and feedback is in order.