BRISTOL BLENHEIM UPDATED FOR YEAR 2000

Introduction
For 53 years Bristol has made cars that offer a rare blend of virtues, specially tailored to the needs of up to 150 loyal customers every year. We take pride in ensuring those owners stay satisfied no matter how long they may own their car. Perhaps this is why we are the only remaining British luxury car manufacturer.

In the last two years our traditional customer base has been augmented by new Bristol owners prompted by changes and uncertainties elsewhere. The Blenheim 2 model has done an excellent job satisfying both our new and traditional buyers by offering new levels of luxury and performance while retaining our other traditional virtues.

The new Blenheim 3 continues on a path of painstaking development, rigorous engineering, logical design and peerless build quality. Its extensively revised exterior gives a smoother, more sporting look that is matched to considerable advances in powertrain performance, passenger comfort and chassis dynamics.

Styling
The considerable uplift in engine output envisaged for Blenheim 3 required a matching increase in engine, gearbox and brake cooling. To achieve this without increasing aerodynamic drag we initiated a complete redesign of the car�s front section. At the same time, we continued the smoothing process for the rest of the body that commenced with Blenheim 2 wherever we could combine functional and aesthetic improvements.

The first of these is that the front of the car has been tapered and rounded off in plan view, which allows the car to be parked in a space that is fully 6in shorter than the old model and reduces the possibility of body damage during close manoeuvring. A larger and smoother grille opening between the newly raised wing crowns admits cooling air aided by visually concealed vents located behind and beneath the vehicle�s flush fitted number plate rendering a conventional lower cooling grille obsolete. Ducting for front brake cooling has been properly aligned with air flow in the lower spoiler area allowing for smaller, less obtrusive openings.

As might be expected from a company with its origins in aircraft manufacture the existing Blenheim already demonstrates low overall aerodynamic drag especially in the real world of variable wind directions. However, our new front panels achieve a further reduction in overall drag and the addition of a small splitter plate along the bottom edge of the spoiler reduces lift at speed without any induced drag penalty. Careful optimisation of the underlying body structure permits a reduction in front end weight. External appearance benefits from an enhanced paint process which involves additional intermediate steps and produces a deeper and more durable gloss than has been possible before. No other production motor car enjoys the expenditure of more skilled man hours in its construction and detail finish than does today�s Bristol.

We are confident that this new model meets the needs of a select group of people who require a luxurious sporting car that announces its presence to the world with quiet and dignified good taste.

Luxury
The way in which a Bristol cossets its occupants is central to the marque�s appeal and many detail improvements have been incorporated to ensure that the new car continues to excel. New �armchair� style front and rear seats are much taller and deeper than before with strong but unobtrusive side support to enhance long distance comfort and hold passengers securely against centripetal force.

It remains Bristol�s policy to ensure a superior finish by using a standard of material quality that is unavailable from other manufacturers. To this end we have specified a unique interior leather which exceeds the standard of any other production motorcar. Hides for Bristol are now individually selected from the best available and batch processed and dyed to achieve our desired characteristics. By using only perfect hides, we can reduce the depth of finish coating to allow a more supple, silky feel and an enhanced natural aroma. We only use leather that is free of any blemishes even in areas that will never be seen. Of course our quest for perfection adds to cost of manufacture but it is attention to detail like this that makes a Bristol unique amongst today�s motor cars.

For customers wishing to be more closely involved with the design of their car�s interior the leather may be dyed to any desired colour and even the type of wood and its finish individualised to choice. New for Blenheim 3, the hand-sewn Wilton carpets are edgebound by hand in a leather that matches the seat colour. Particular care is given to the needs of rear seat passengers who enjoy an extra inch of leg room and can now order concealed lockable storage compartments with veneered fold out drink trays for their comfort.

A newly available option for those who usually retain a professional driver is the Town Limousine interior layout. This replaces the passenger�s side front seat with a folding jump seat that normally stows fully forward in the front footwell allowing effortless entry to the rear seats and better leg room than any conventional limousine while still allowing the carriage of four passengers when necessary. Quite a number of Bristols are chauffeur driven and although far slimmer outside than any rival the Blenheim interior is wider between the B pillars than some of the largest saloons available. Similarly its compact overall length is no more than a mid-size saloon�s yet Bristol�s exceptional packaging allows the carriage of four 6-foot passengers with properly generous head, leg and luggage room. A Bristol is probably the only truly luxurious car that remains enjoyable to drive in crowded road conditions due to a combination of compact exterior, delightful outward visibility, instant silken power and the agility of a smaller, lighter car.

Passenger comfort in the new Blenheim also benefits from refinements in cabin sound-proofing while the driver is presented with new, clearer back-lit instruments and a new lighting system for the fascia switch panels. Following recent research, this illuminates switches from the front so that control familiarity is preserved at night as opposed to the more typical internally lit controls, which are alien to their normal daytime appearance. The restyled centre console houses a revised transmission selector with precise roller detents for each gear position. New options that can ease the driver�s task include automatic headlamp illumination and an electronic reversing aid incorporated within the rear bumper panel.

Engineering
Complete reliability and a minimal cost of ownership have always been fundamental Bristol tenets. A number of engineering changes have been incorporated to maintain these objectives while further enhancing the driving experience. An uprated automatic transmission is fitted with a heavier front clutch which reduces wasteful slippage during changes whilst maintaining smoothness under all conditions. Drivetrain cooling margins have been greatly improved by a revised radiator with internal transmission cooler along with new aerodynamic arrangements for the front grille and spoiler areas to maximise air flow without increasing overall drag. Very careful attention, as always, has been paid to underbody airflow and an optional aerodynamic undertray will be made available later.

To reduce wind noise, strengthened upper door frames are fitted with secondary door seals. Driving at high speeds is enhanced by a steering linkage that gives increased precision around the straight ahead position. Handling agility greatly benefits from a 28% increase in roll stiffness which is achieved without resort to harder springs or a lower ride height thus ensuring that passenger comfort is not compromised. An optional handling package is available for drivers for whom high speed driving is the primary purpose and marks the first use of a new patented variable rate shock absorber on a production car. Without resort to electronic controls (with their questionable long term reliability) these unique dampers use a firm rebound circuit in order to control body motion during aggressive driving but switch to a softer rate when rapid wheel excursions are required in the interest of a silent and serene ride.

Routine development of our braking system has allowed us to introduce a shortened pedal travel, lighter efforts and enhanced progression on the new car. A new pad material with a wider heat range is also incorporated. Whilst other manufacturers have recently promoted (and suffered a certain amount of service difficulties with) electronic brake assist systems to ensure more rapid response in emergency conditions, it should be noted that Bristol has been fitting a totally reliable, non-electrical system with this feature for more than 30 years. It utilises twin remote servos with air control valves that respond not only to pedal displacement but also to speed of attack so that they bring in initial servo boost more rapidly in an emergency situation. Our �Sport� pattern 15in alloy wheel remains available as an optional fitment and there will be a 16in sport option with specially developed high-speed tyres later in the year. The benefits of this option include removal of a 150 mph maximum speed restriction.

Performance
Blenheim 3 is equipped with our new TS3 series engine. A development of the 5.9 litre Chrysler Magnum V8 first used in Blenheim 1, it retains legendary reliability, compact size and low weight allowing a perfect 50/50 front/rear weight distribution without needing to locate battery, spare wheel and/or fuel tank in the boot area of the car. Such simplistic solutions used by others can achieve a satisfactory static weight distribution but only at the cost of a higher polar moment of inertia which dulls a vehicle�s responses and can make cars behave unhelpfully in emergency manoeuvres. We know of no other 4-seat passenger car that matches Bristol�s achievement in combining perfect static weight balance with as low a centre of gravity and polar moment of inertia.

Our new engine benefits from a raised compression ratio and high flow cylinder heads which are also designed to improve specific fuel consumption. A longer duration, high lift roller camshaft, more efficient fuel injectors and a new engine management system ensure that torque is increased at all points in the rev range compared to Blenheim 2 but most noticeably in the mid range. As always we decline to discuss maximum power figures since a momentary peak has no relevance whatsoever in normal road driving. However, the power increase is considerable and a very significant pointer to our objectives is that over the engine�s entire rev range, from idle to the red line the average torque available is 88% of peak torque, a figure which is exceptional for a normally aspirated production car. Should you suffer the urge to lurch abruptly from a standstill to 60 miles per hour, the ordeal should be over in less than six seconds.

A side benefit of such a muscular engine is that the gearbox is not constantly called upon for multiplication of torque so that a lightweight, more robust 4-speed automatic transmission can provide a seamless flow of torque from the engine to the road wheels uninterrupted by frequent gear changes. A new stainless exhaust system with twin low restriction catalysts and larger diameter pipes is now fitted as standard and is redesigned to permit an extra �in of ground clearance. The optional sports exhaust system primarily designed for owners who want to take advantage of Bristol�s aftermarket tuning options has four polished tail pipes that emerge from the rear bumper�s lower edge instead of the normal concealed dual outlets. Due to improvements in detail efficiency Blenheim 3 retains its predecessor�s legendary fuel economy which owners compare to vehicles with engines less than half its size. As ever, high speed cruising is accomplished in a long striding 40.7 mph/1000 rpm top gear. Should you be intent on maximising your average speed on long transcontinental journeys you may specify a long range fuel tank and also twin fuel fillers which allow the vehicle to be rapidly re-fuelled at the first available pump.

Production of Blenheim 3 is already under way and first deliveries are expected shortly. The price is �114,000 plus �19,950 VAT, total �133,950. As always, all sales are made from the company�s headquarters at 368/370 Kensington High Street, London, where to any further enquiries may be directed.

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