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Kyle Fortune drives the new Continental GT Speed ahead of its debut in Frankfurt.

600bhp. Think about that for a moment. Six hundred horsepower. That's exactly how much power Bentley's new Continental GT Speed offers. It's enough grunt to allow Bentley's handsome coupe to reach 202mph, the first Bentley officially able to break the double-ton. It'll get you there quicker than the standard Continental GT too, 62mph arriving in just 4.5 seconds. More impressively, it'll reach 100mph from standstill in just 10.2 seconds. Sure, those figures aren't so far away from the standard Continental GT's, which by any measure is a very rapid car, but there's more to the Speed's transformation than just additional straight-line performance.

Bentley's chassis boffins have been as busy as the engine people. So the Speed features a lower ride height, stiffer dampers and a solid mounted front sub-frame. There's a softer front roll bar - the rear one being stiffened - and also recalibrated steering. The result is difficult to ascertain immediately, but the Bentley GT Speed exhibits slightly sharper steering, with a degree of feedback, while the ride is improved too. That's impressive, as even on the variable dampers' stiffest setting the Continental GT Speed provides a smooth ride, without a reduction in body control. It's sharper, but it's still not exactly loaded with feel, though it does provide remarkable agility for a car that's so weighty and comfortable.

The engine alterations are more immediately apparent. There's a new freer-breathing exhaust, the reduced back pressure allowing more of the 6.0-litre twin-turbo 12-cylinder's voice to be heard. And it's an appealing voice, the purposeful growl emanating from the rear at idle growing to a deep bellow when you're on the move. You'll need to lower the windows to really enjoy it, and if you want instant gratification you'll need to drop the gears in the six-speed automatic yourself; left to its own devices there's a short pause before it kicks down. Not that changing gears yourself is a chore via the nicely positioned paddle shifters, and after all, this is a Bentley that's meant to be driven.

It's unlikely you'll ever tire of the effect that dropping a few cogs and flooring the accelerator brings. The GT Speed gathers pace with relentless urge. It's not savage, but comical, as if someone's attached a massive rubber band to the front tow-eye, pulled the Bentley back a couple of miles and let go. There's no drama from the drivetrain when you subject it to all of its accelerative ability. Its four-wheel drive transmission transfers the entire engine's motive force to the road without fuss through its fat, uniquely developed, tyres. That special rubber is fitted to the Speed's standard, and rather showy, 20-inch alloy wheels.

They're just one of a handful of aesthetic differences over the standard Continental GT. It gets the same new front bumper, a slightly re-profiled grille, chrome headlamp surrounds and some of the cooling enhancements to the W12, twin-turbo 6.0-litre engine. The Speed gets a more purposeful look, with dark chrome on the grille and mesh in the air inlets in the front bumper, along with its lower ride height, but you'd need to be a committed Bentley spotter to really notice.

The differences between the Speed and standard GT are more obvious inside. The Speed gets the 'Mulliner driving specification' as standard. It includes a wider choice of veneers, quilted leather and embroidered Bentley logos on the seats and drilled alloy pedals. If that's not enough to remind you that the Speed's a little bit more special than the regular GT then the Speed badges on the kickplates and smaller diameter, three spoke steering wheel should do the job.

Turning that steering wheel results in a sharper response, though the Speed only really reveals just how competent a handler it is when you're in the upper reaches of its ability and performance. There's plenty of grip and it changes direction with alarming alacrity given its huge weight, but if you intend on using the Speed's prodigious performance properly you'll want the optional £10,000 carbon ceramic brake discs. They promise fade free performance, Ulrich Eichhorn, Member of the Board - Engineering, insisting that at the Nurburgring: "you'll run out of fuel before you run out of brakes." That's not hard to believe, not necessarily due to those optional stoppers ability, but the GT Speed's less than parsimonious appetite for fuel. Officially, it'll return 17mpg. Good luck trying to achieve that!

Impressive as the changes are few will ever find out just how capable Bentley has made the GT Speed. Its limits are so high, so beyond the reaches of legality you'll need a track to really discover how impressive it is. So Bentley Continental GT Speed customers will have to satisfy themselves that the extra £17,000 the Speed commands over the standard Continental GT's £120,500 price brings them the ability to outrun everything short of a jet-fighter. Even if they never actually find the opportunity to do so.

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