Bentley went on to win LeMans that year, while Bugatti never did get to stand on the victory podium. And, in a strange twist of fate, both Bentley and Bugatti are owned by the same company these days: Volkswagen.

Needless to say, the Bentley of today is anything but a truck, although the new Continental GTC may qualify as the world’s fastest four-seater convertible. Either way, this is an automobile absolutely steeped in racing heritage.

First introduced at the New York Auto Show, in 2006, the GTC is a car of heroic proportions. Everything about it is over the top. For example, the engine is a six litre, twin turbocharged W12. You read that right; not a V12, but a W12, which means that it is essentially a couple of V6 powerplants butted up against each other transversely. With four banks of cylinders, it has 48 valves, four camshafts, two turbos, a six-speed transmission, and develops 552 horsepower. Without much effort, it will take the 2495 kilogram 5500 lb. GTC up to freeway speed in about 4.8 seconds, with a top speed of 312 km/h 195 mph.

By way of comparison, this is the same sort of acceleration you would find with a Porsche Carrera or Ferrari F430. Unlike those two worthies, however, the GTC does it with civility and aplomb. In the finest British tradition, it doesn’t really feel like you’re hurtling along at race car speed, but you are. And once you’re up to 100 km/h, a look at the tachometer reveals that the W12 engine loafs along at a sedate 1800 rpm.

But there’s more to a luxury car than a powerful engine oh, really?. The GTC caresses its occupants in top quality leather upholstery with lamb’s wool floor-mats, wood veneer trim and jewelry-like knobs and controls. The chrome flow-through ventilation controls, for example, are exquisitely crafted and could be used in a pinch as cuff-links. My test car had bird’s-eye maple wood trim and Bentley apparently keeps a sample of the exact wood trim used in every car, in the event they have to replace it.

The GTC is also a convertible, and that means a three-layer, seven-hoop power top that folds flat and disappears into the trunk in about 25 seconds, while featuring a built-in courtesy light and heated glass rear window. It can also be put up or taken down at speeds up to 30 km/h 20 mph. A centre console-mounted button controls the top and in operation, it goes about its business quietly and unobtrusively. Down, it disappears beneath a hard tonneau cover and if, in the unfortunate event that the car turns turn turtle, the seats and windshield frame provide rollover protection. The top itself features acoustic "dampening", which means that you are almost completely insulated from the hurly-burly of traffic. And the really intriguing thing here is that although it is definitely full-size and seats four, the GTC actually feels and behaves like a sports car. A sports car with a stratospheric price tag, but true to its motorsports tradition, nonetheless.

Speaking of which, the GTC is also an all-wheel-drive vehicle. Featuring a Torsen Torque-Sensing centre differential, it regulates engine power during adverse driving conditions and re-directs power to whichever wheels need it most. If the front wheels start to slip, more torque will be directed their way to compensate. That doesn’t mean you should take it up the nearest logging road, but if you get caught in a sudden snowstorm or torrential downpour, your chances of making it home are considerably enhanced with this arrangement. Not coincidentally, it also helps to keep the GTC’s prodigious power output in check. Helping things along in this department is a traction control system that can be manually disabled.

So what’s it like behind the wheel?

Well, one doesn’t want to behave like a toff, but you can’t help but reflect on the fact that you’re piloting one of the most expensive automobiles money can buy....as well as one of the fastest. Few cars can accelerate from a standing start to freeway speed in less than five seconds. Perhaps that chap over there driving the Porsche Carrera can keep up, but - ahem - his car costs $100,000 less.

And people stare when you glide past, possibly expecting to catch a glimpse of a celebrity or sports star....especially if they’re driving another Bentley, or Rolls-Royce. I couldn’t help but feel that I was prime kidnap fodder for terrorists....not that they’d be able to squeeze a nickel out of this ink-stained wretch. On the other hand, with in excess of 500 horsepower under your right foot, any would-be kidnappers would have to step lively.

The twin turbochargers give the exhaust note a faint Formula One rasp; you can just barely hear the wastegates open and close as you accelerate and decelerate. Lovely. Needless to say, the ride is supple yet visceral; if you’ve spent any time driving upscale cars, you can tell immediately that the GTC is, as they say, sorted. Despite its weight, it’s quite nimble all things considered and, again, the parlance of sports car buffs, tossable.

However. I really must protest about the steering column-mounted shift paddles, which are completely alien to the rest of the car. They look like miniature CCM hockey sticks, jutting out on either side. Surely the design team at Pym’s Lane can come up with something a little less obvious here. Other manufacturers - like Porsche, BMW, and Audi, for example - position their shift paddles discreetly on the back side of the steering wheel spokes. Bentley should do the same, and quite frankly, one has a right to expect better from a car with this kind of price tag.

But were he alive today, Ettore Bugatti would probably be angrier than ever.