2000 Bentley Continental T

By the time you touch redline, both horsepower and torque have dropped back by about 10 percent. However, the perfect selection of gear ratios in the six-speed puts you right into the fat part of the power curve with each upshift and delivers the giddy thrill of spinning the tires hard enough on the 3-4 gear change to bring the "ASR" traction control into effect-at 100 mph! The charge continues right on to the 186-mph top speed, and gets you there in total confidence, thanks to a chassis with titanium-ingot-solid structure and 51/49-percent front/rear weight distribution.

Drive it like a demon, and the 456M is one kick-ass tire-smoking mama. But behave yourself, and the revised version of Ferrari's 2+2 (the "M" is for Modificata) is as refined as a true GT car should be. From the Pininfarina bodyshaping with carbon-fiber and aluminum panels to its ultra-sumptuous all-leather interior, no one does Grand Touring better. The M version delivers a slight styling change to the front end, redesigned spoilers and air ducts, improved anti-dive characteristics of the suspension, a smarter ABS/traction-control system, and some minor interior changes. Lazier, urban bound, rich guys can eschew the six-cog manual in favor of a four-speed automatic (as our test car in California was equipped), which takes a bit of the edge off the performance razor yet accounts for 70 percent of 456 sales. Hmmm.

Topped with the new Grigio Ingrid silver paint (originally mixed for Ingrid Bergman's '54 Ferrari 375 Mille Miglia), the highly exclusive 456M (fewer than 400 to be built in total) represents a great way to burn a quarter-million-dollar hole in that big lottery you're sure to hit. Better order yours now, just in case.
-C. Van Tune

{{{Dodge Viper}}}
Gt2 Championship Edition
500 Lb/Ft @ 3700 Rpm
The Wickedest Snake Of Them All
500. You got it, 500. That's the only number in this story that matters. That's how many pound-feet of tire-melting, retina-flattening twist this limited-edition Viper GT2 cranks out. It takes 10 cylinders and 8.0 liters of displacement to irreverently spew this kind of power, and the Viper has always had both.

Chrysler said it would race and win with its factory built-and-backed Viper GTS-R racer, and indeed it has. And 1997 and 1998 FIA GT2 manufacturer's championships, and a memorable 1-2 class win at LeMans last year, proved the point. So Dodge decided to celebrate these events with a special look-alike-and darn near perform-alike-commemorative model. Available only in coupe form, and only in white with blue trim, the Viper GT2 is indeed something special.

As if the 490 pound-feet of torque (not to mention 450 horsepower) offered up by the standard GTS and RT/10 engines weren't enough, Team Viper reworked the intake tract on this Big Bad Dodge's all-alloy V-10 in search of more. K&N provides special free-flow air filters, and the air intake hoses were revised for smoother flow. The air cleaner housing from the '92-'96 Viper RT/10 is employed, and the NACA duct on the hood is now non-functioning. The result is an increase of 10 horsepower, plus 10 more of those wonderful pound-feet.(Plug a cold-air duct, gain power...go figure).

Another change is the upgrade to an 18-inch wheel: Gorgeous BBS alloys, cast especially for this GT2 and the ACR club-racing edition Vipers, and again patterned after those of the track-bound GTS-R. They're wrapped by newly designed, ultra-sticky Michelin Pilot MXX3 rubber. Brake and suspension systems remain stock.

Besides commemorative badging, graphics, and the obligatory serialized dash plate, you'll have no trouble telling the GT2 apart from garden (snake) variety Vipers. There's a special air splitter up front, ground-effects rocker panels, and front fascia "dive plane" spoilers; the latter are identical to the pieces used on the first iteration of the race car.