Big, brash, British – all words that could only be ascribed to a Bentley. And the ultimate expression of the mighty Bentley ethos must the Brooklands coupe – painstakingly assembled by hand in limited numbers.

Limited is not just hyperbole either: a mere 550 cars left the Crewe factory between 2008 and 2011. A true grand tourer, the Brooklands was the last of the truly old-school Crewe cars. While its modern Continental GT successor was powered by an not-inconsequential twin-turbo W12, the stately Brooklands still received motive power from the tried-and-true 6.75-litre twin-turbo V8.

The power figures of this engine – which can drew a proud line all the way back to 1959 – are anything but anodyne however. 523bhp and 774 lb ft of torque are still respectable figures today – but keep in mind, those figures are achieved at a mere 3200rpm.

As a result: expect truly epic point-and-shoot performance for something so vast. 100kph arrives in a cloud of smoke in five seconds, and the quarter mile in a scarcely believable 13.3 seconds. To put these numbers into perspective – there are slower Porsches. And not SUVs, either.