Race inspired 2014 Bentley Continental GT3-R
Victory at the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series 2014 at Silverstone is the first British race for Bentley in 84 years. Commemorating this success in style, Bentley Motors unveiled the limited edition Continental GT3-R. As the name suggests, the limited edition is inspired by the Continental GT3 race car and 300 units of the luxurious beast will be hand-built in Crewe, finished by Bentley’s Motorsport division.
Like the race car, the GT3-R uses a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine. The retuned engine develops 572bhp at 6000rpm and a mighty 700Nm of torque from 1700rpm, up by 51bhp and 20Nm over the recently launched Continental GT V8 S. This limited edition also boasts of weight reduction of 100 kilograms and short gearing, all of which enables it to zip past 100kmph in just 3.8 seconds. This translates to the Continental GT3-R being the fastest-accelerating Bentley ever. This increased power is channeled through an 8-speed ZF automatic gearbox. Bentley’s all-wheel drive system now features torque vectoring for the first time which enables torque control at both the rear wheels. The sound track of the vehicle has also been upgraded with a new titanium exhaust to match its race DNA. The new exhaust setup also accounts in weight reduction by seven kilogram.
Apart from the performance figures, Bentley designers have also worked to differentiate the GT3-R from other Continentals. A new front splitter is balanced with a new fixed rear wing fitted to the boot lid, both finished in carbon fibre. The Glacier White paint on all 300 cars will be highlighted with two green graphic lines, one leading backwards from the front wheel while the other tracing the shape of rear haunch. The bonnet incorporates two vents to improve the cooling capacity which also accentuates the sporty look. The visual updates on the exterior concludes with a set of lightweight forged 21-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli tyres. Moving to the interior, the rear seats are taken off to aid weight saving and the front two-seats feature newly designed foam layers in Beluga black leather with diamond-quilted Alcantara leather. The centre console has a touchscreen finished in carbon fibre and GT3-R badge. Like the exteriors, green accents are used in the instrument cluster, door panels and seats, which additionally get GT3-R stitching in the headrests in green.
