motoring news Bahrainthismonth.com 74 August 2023 As part of Bentley’s global ‘Extraordinary Women’ programme, students from Dar Al-Hekma University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, experienced a week-long visit to Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe, UK. The ‘Extraordinary Women’ programme is designed to inspire the next generation of female talent from the fields of technology, engineering, design and business and encourage young females to consider careers in STEM and automotive. The 2023 programme has brought together eight students and eight mentors from Saudi Arabia and the UK. Shortlisted students were assigned a specially chosen mentor, known as a Bentley Pioneer, for regular engagements ahead of the visit to Bentley’s facilities. While at the brand’s headquarters, they went behind the scenes of Bentley’s manufacturing operations, met with senior automotive leaders and pitched ideas to a panel of Bentley experts. The Saudi Pioneers were aerospace engineer and founder of MISHAAL Aerospace, Mishaal Ashemimry; Women in Leadership Deliver (WILD) Network member Noha Zagzoug; and Bentley Motor’s product strategy team member, Nicola Gough. The four Dar al-Hekma University students involved were Nada Ayman Alzahrani, majoring in Computer Science; Sarah Nahill Alrawi, majoring in Finance; and Reem Mohammed Alsamkari, majoring in Cyber Security. BENTLEY’S ‘EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN’ INITATIVE THE FIRST ROADGOING CARS IN THE FERRARI XX PROGRAMME Based on the Ferrari SF90 Stradale, the new special limited series SF90 XX Stradale was unveiled alongside its SF90 XX Spider counterpart. To be built in just 799 and 599 examples respectively, these new V8-powered PHEVs represent the latest and most extreme example of a concept of special versions, which pushes the performance of Ferrari’s roadgoing models to new levels. Drawing on its experience in both of these spheres, Ferrari decided to create a road-legal car which embodies the maximum expression of the two programmes’ engineering concepts. The SF90 XX Stradale is based on the supercar in the range, the SF90 Stradale, but raises its already impressively exhilarating track and on-the-limit driving experience to new heights. Performance is boosted thanks to its impressive 1,030 cv (30 more than the SF90 Stradale), specific software logics and the use of radical new aerodynamics solutions, including a fixed rear spoiler – the first to appear on a road-going Ferrari since the days of the F50 – which delivers an unparalleled 530 kg of downforce at 250 km/h. Over the past 20 years or so, Ferrari has developed the XX Programme to offer a select group of expert client drivers extreme cars that are not homologated for the road, but that can be driven at the very limit on the track. All of the models produced by the programme have proved a huge success, with the most recent addition being the FXX-K EVO.
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