Bentley Supersports goes full send with Pastrana

Well if you're going to make the first rear-drive Conti GT, who better to test it?

Certain brands have ambassadors that could hardly be better aligned. Of course, Porsche and Patrick Dempsey have a close relationship, given his passion for motorsport. RTR and Ford make total sense, with Vaughn Gittin Jr’s fondness for Mustangs. And Theo James ub those Range Rover Sport adverts looks clever, doing the suave and sophisticated British thing.

But Bentley and Travis Pastrana? Never in a million years would you put them together. The pinnacle of hand-crafted British luxury and the Gymkhana/NASCAR/Rallycross hero occupy very different spheres of automotive influence. Or that used to be true, at least until Bentley decided it was going to make a 666hp, rear-wheel drive car called the Supersports. And find a way to equip it with a hydraulic handbrake, to make skids even easier. If it needs hooning, Pastrana is your man - so that’s exactly what Bentley has done.

While we’ve all seen cars slide around on YouTube before, this ‘Supersports: Full Send’ vid really is something you have to see. The car in question is still a Continental GT in most respects that matter, a vast luxury coupe that very much still looks like it despite the new livery. We all know what it should theoretically be capable of - but now, with power to the front gone and a pro behind the wheel, it is genuinely extraordinary. While tech advances have made all GTs more capable (and generally speaking, more fun) than ever in recent years, they haven’t been laying down rubber quite like this. Like King Charles doing Crossfit (and doing it well), it’s hard to tear your eyes from.

Pastrana’s going full Gymkhana on it around the Crewe HQ, with proper burnouts, donuts and powerslides, which the Supersports looks to take in its stride (though heaven knows what it looked like by the end). Perhaps unsurprisingly for a powerful RWD car with a long wheelbase, the big Bentley seems entirely at home sideways, and there’s absolutely no trouble when it comes to bonfiring tyres. A special Mildred-embossed handbrake (the project name for the Supersports) is there to help when required. Probably don’t expect that on the Mulliner options list…

Pastrana said: “I knew the Supersports would have a lot of power but I was happily surprised by how nimble and fun it was to drive. I’ve never driven a production-based car to film a video of this magnitude before, without a clutch or modified steering angle, I had my concerns - but the Supersports exceeded all of my expectations. It was exactly what I had hoped for - the perfect combination of luxury and performance.”

What’s the point? To have a laugh, by the looks of it, because if a 666hp, front-engined, rear-drive coupe isn't entertaining, then Bentley has missed its mark. Who wouldn’t want to show that off? Crewe deserves some credit for that - you just try watching this and not dreaming of the next go. Buyers may do nothing more extreme than squiggle off a roundabout with the DSC slackened, but they’ll probably be very happy watching this knowing what their new Bentley is capable of. Something no Bentley has been really able to do before, in fact. When showing off a new car’s USP currently seems to centre on charging it really quickly or an AI gimmick, man is it nice to see Bentley indulge in some old-school skiddy silliness. Looks like 500 customers are going to be very happy indeed - as will their tyre fitters…

OP Posts Only

Prev 2 Next

OP Posts Only

Author

Discussion

Damp Logs

Original Poster

969 posts

155 months