Returning to Bentley, few need to be enthused about the success and worthiness of its Continental Flying Spur so I’ll save my breath for that hot bowl of porridge. Instead, away from the beautiful stands, cars and assistants we were takeLogo collectionn into a small room by NAIM and subjected to a display of awesome musical reproduction. In a fur-lined room bedecked with hand drawn images of Bentley’s past and present we were taunted with the what might be possible technology used by Bentley. Caramac coloured sofas complemented the beige-out in a moment of rare relaxation at an otherwise hectic show. The huge stack system chosen by Bentley for their cars was miniaturised to what looks like a mini-height half-width rack unit pumping 1.1 kW (electricity not sound) of acoustic loveliness throughout the plush interiors. Indeed, once being auditorially seduced in the NAIM room we were sealed inside a Bentley and subjected to the miniaturised version. Through the jog wheel controlled multi-media display the options include a rebalance of the sound so that the driver is targeted for optimum listening joy or alternately, if chauffeured the rear passengers. According to NAIM the key to good harmonics and fidelity is control of noise reflections from surfaces, most notably windows. Rather than using a microphone and fangled noise cancelling, dismissed by NAIM as “slow” the engine noise is compensated for by a relay from the accelerator, increasing compensation at greater accelerations. Every interior configuration is individually callibrated for using a mid-car mounted internal microphone which feeds back on test sound data during production. Quite simply the result is stupendous, live music reproducibly inside a Bentley.

Aesthetically, the show boasts a great deal to lavish upon the eye in terms of richness, design, grandeur of display and artistry generally. We met with famous designers remaining nameless of course but who tipped the display by Alfa Romeo particularly the MiTo and Prodrive tuned Brera S. The display from Alfa was a joy to behold as our own photographic images do little to contradict.

An other-worldly display from Vauxhall is worth a visit especially their new Insignia, part of a display that reminds me of a tasteful version of the Blackpool illuminations, all of them – every last bulb. Did you know that the old Blackpool illuminations are now used by Sunderland?

Cross-wheel drive was on display on the SAAB Turbo X which is not a new form of Road Rage but written as XWD has been transplanted into the ’93 range. Using sensors the drive ratio between 2 and 4 wheel is controlled by a computer which applies power fore and aft depending on conditions at the wheel, i.e. 4 wheel drive when required but 2 wheel drive when desired, such as on petrol forecourts – where angels fear to tread and mere mortals tiptoe in fear of what Blair described in a Parliamentary question time as his Iron Chancellor’s ‘big hairy fist’.