Bentley Continental GT Prototype Heralds The Return of the Supersports

Miami Herald

12 hours ago

When one thinks of the Flying B's contemporary wares, there's never any shortage of horsepower, but the racing pedigree that made the brand so successful at the start of the 20th century is a second thought to supreme serenity. Indeed, a Bentley is an ultra-luxurious machine first and foremost, but even among buyers who can tell what forest their wood trim came from just by the grain, there is always a small group of individuals who are bored by opulence alone, seeking to push the limits of performance beyond what their peers think is reasonable. In the 1920s, the Bentley Boys personified this attitude of extremism. In the 2020s, those who choose to get behind the wheel of the monster Bentley is now testing at the Nürburgring will be stealing stares and grabbing glances. Based on the Continental GT Speed, this prototype captured by our spies is preparing to become the most hardcore Bentley yet.
Unlike the regular GT Speed, this prototype has a large spoiler on the trunk and aggressive canards on the front end, and such aggressive bodywork has previously characterized the Supersports. Until the 2017 Supersports, the aesthetic changes were always subtle, but Bentley went hardcore with a vented hood, more aggressive front and rear ends, and a sizable wing on the trunk. It's unclear if this prototype will swap its spoiler for a wing at a later stage, but then again, this may not even be the most aggressive Continental in the Bentley pipeline; previous Supersports variants have arrived at the end of the life cycle, not near the start, so this may well be a hotter Continental, but not necessarily the hottest. That said, the sinister taillights and quad tailpipes are signature styling characteristics of the Supersports. Our spies have also floated the idea of this being named the Continental GT Speed RS.
The wheels on this prototype appear to be fairly vanilla, but other sightings of this hardcore Bentley have shown a more intricate, aggressive dual-five-spoke design. Nevertheless, the Pirelli P Zero tires and large brakes suggest this won't just be an appearance package; we expect more power. The current Continental GT Speed's twin-turbo V8 hybrid delivers a combined 771 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque, so a figure close to or just beyond 800 hp seems reasonable. After all, the last GT Supersports had 79 more horsepower than the car upon which it was based. As we touched on earlier, the current Continental GT Speed has only been around a little more than a year (and this is our first sighting of the sportier special edition), so we doubt this hardcore version, whatever name it bears, will be revealed before the end of the year.
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