| Last year's Paris auto show saw Bentley present its idea for what the Continental GT could look like as a GT3-class race car. But at the time, Bentley's sweet race-car preview lacked a final engine spec and a specific plan for getting the car into racers' hands. Now, at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Bentley has finally ironed out those details and unveiled the Continental GT3 in final form.
The concept car shown in Paris was powered by the brand's 6.0-liter W-12 engine producing an unspecified amount of power. For the real deal, the 12-cylinder mill has been swapped for a juiced-up version of the 4.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V-8 that powers the production Continental GT V8. It has been converted to dry sump lubrication and runs a Cosworth engine management system, and Bentley says it produces roughly 600 horsepower. (The V-8 makes 500 ponies in the Continental GT road car, while the highest-output 12-cylinder in the Conti GT Speed packs 616 horsepower.) The amped-up eight backs up to a carbon-fiber driveshaft, which turns a six-speed sequential transaxle and a limited-slip rear differential. That's right, the production Conti's all-wheel-drive setup has been ditched in favor of good ol' rear drive. More impressive still, Bentley claims to have met its weight target of 1300 kg (just under 2900 pounds). That figure is the minimum weight for FIA GT3 cars, and in case you were wondering, it is an astonishing 2100 pounds shy of Bentley's claimed curb weight for the Continental GT V8. Of course, the race car does away with niceties like wood trim, cooled leather seats, air suspension, a bevy of electronics, and more, but still—the boys in Crewe managed to shave more than one ton from the Conti.
While we imagine the Continental GT3's diet would be enough to make it quite the dance partner, it also packs a control-arm suspension front and rear and adjustable dampers. Ventilated discs clamped by six-piston calipers up front and four-piston units in the rear peek out from behind 18-inch OZ Racing wheels wrapped in racing rubber. A full complement of carbon-fiber aerodynamic filigree and tweaked body panels round out the exterior mods, and the interior is equipped with a roll cage, Sparco six-point harness, and a fuel cell. The hand-stitched steering-wheel, door pulls, and driver's seat are particularly sassy touches, but this is a Bentley, after all. Bentley is merely debuting the GT3 at Goodwood this weekend, and points out that development work is ongoing and that it still must homologate the car for FIA competition. The automaker hopes to slide the Continental into the FIA's Blancpain series for the 2014 season.  from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com | |||
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