Bentley previews 'rare and raring' Continental GT
A special edition GT is coming soon - place your bets now...
It would be reasonable to say that the new hybrid Continental GT has been received extremely well, both overseas and in the UK. Everything that has made the Conti so popular over the past 20-odd years has most certainly been retained with the introduction of PHEV power, alongside a few new tricks up its sleeve as well. Job jobbed, basically, and with the slightly less powerful version still to try.
And the special editions will come, of course. From Ice Speed Record to GT3-R, Bentley hasn’t been shy in tinkering with its core model over the decades. With momentum very much behind it following the launch of the plug-in V8, a limited-run Continental GT is in the works already. Not that much is being given away for the moment. All that’s been shown is this rear image, which seems to show a prominent carbon rear ducktail and some side strakes around the arches. Even in grey, nobody is going to miss this new Bentley.
As for the rest of the car, we’re told that it’ll be nothing less than ‘extraordinary’, one that is ‘rare - and raring to perform’. Which would imply an even speedier version of the current Speed, though surely with the advantage gained through reduced weight rather than more power. Because it has almost 800hp already - so let’s see. Bentley also says that the new Continental GT will resurrect a name first introduced a century ago.
Hopefully a few Bentley boys and girls can help with that; some light Googling would suggest that Speed Six might be the one, given its emergence in the mid-to-late 1920s. Or just Blower Bentley, perhaps. Certainly more modern monikers like Pikes Peak or Supersports seem unlikely; its first Le Mans win came in 1927, so that might be something to bear in mind. Whatever the new Continental GT actually is, we’ve not long to wait; Bentley says more details ‘will be released in due course’.
Other candidates would be R-type, although that was post war so much less than 100 years ago, or EXP, but that has been used several times recently for one-offs. Then there's famous indiviudal racing cars like Old Numer 7 or the Blue Train....
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