Hammer Meets Sickle: Bentley Continental GT Speed v Aston Martin DBS

There is so much that binds these two together. When new both were modified versions of existing product rather than all-new designs. Both put their engines ahead of their driver, and found space for no fewer than a dozen pistons and 48 valves under their bonnets. They have identical 0-62mph times. Each provides splendid seating for two and frankly bloody awful seating for two more.

Both of course are British, both from two of our most blue-blooded manufacturers and both were their brand’s respective flagships at the time. They were even launched on the same lawn at the same time, in Monterey, California, in the August of 2007. And yet…

And yet when you park them next to each other it is what sets them apart that you notice most, this slight but discernible wedge of clear air between them becoming only wider and more telling the longer you drive them.