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British award-winning actor Idris Elba is much more than dialogues and the silver screen. He is also a keen racer. His attempts at racing has ended in him breaking an 88-year-old UK land speed record for the “ Flying Mile” formerly set by the illustrious Sir Malcolm Campbell in 1927.
The run took place on the Pendine Sands in Wales, and was verified by the UK Timing Association. Campbell’s benchmark was a stout 174.8 mph set aboard the iconic Napier-Campbell Blue Bird, while Elba did it in the extremely modern Bentley Continental GT Speed with a speed of to 180.4 mph on wet sand.
The Continental GT Speed represents Bentley performance at its most uncompromising: featuring all-wheel drive transmission, a chassis tune which delivers thrilling agility and a deeper and more exhilarating exhaust note. The GT Speed is capable of devastating acceleration and enduring pace, a trait which the car highlighted while doing the squirmy sand stretch. It does a theoretical top speed of 206mph and comes tuned to an eight-speed automatic. The throbbing heart one can hear in the Bentley is of the twin-turbocharged 6-litre W-12. Unlike most races, a flying mile doesn't start from a dead stop - the driver is allowed to build speed before entering the timed zone.
With such elaborate specs surely Elba had an advantage over the Napier-Campbell Blue Bird. Campbell broke the record in the Blue Bird at Pendine Sands in Wales, and broke the 150mph barrier, hitting 174.883mph on the Flying Kilometre and 174.224 on the Flying Mile.
The record run was done for Discovery Channel series Idris Elba: No Limits, which is set to air in July. According to Bentley, the car that Elba drove was a standard production car and was not modified or enhanced for the test.
If you are still wondering why Elba’s name sounds so familiar then do look up his roles in Thor and Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. He was also the lead of the biographical film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and was in the news for being rumoured to have been considered to play James Bond.
Source:Yahoo Autos
