RE: Paris 2012: Bentley Continental GT3 Racer

[dan tournay]

robinessex said:

Who engineered and built it ?

Google tells me "The Bentley Continental GT3 is being developed in-house at the company’s Crewe factory by a team working under Bentley’s head of motorsport, Brian Gush, who also oversaw the Le Mans-winning Speed 8 project."

[Igloo124]

Re the weight - according to Andrew Frankel's tweets last evening, they have shed the equivalent weight to a full road spec VW Polo. No interior, stripped out, carbon this that and the other. Please leave on my driveway, and put the keys through the letterbox.

[Greg_D]

Igloo124 said:

Re the weight - according to Andrew Frankel's tweets last evening, they have shed the equivalent weight to a full road spec VW Polo. No interior, stripped out, carbon this that and the other. Please leave on my driveway, and put the keys through the letterbox.

don't forget that they are going 2wd so there is a lot of drivetrain weight to be saved, as well as a much smaller hewland (presumably) gearbox instead of the massive auto on the road car, there has to be a good 150kg there alone

[Evo]

I'll take mine in British racing green with a big union jack on the side please.

[GroundEffect]

Igloo124 said:

Re the weight - according to Andrew Frankel's tweets last evening, they have shed the equivalent weight to a full road spec VW Polo. No interior, stripped out, carbon this that and the other. Please leave on my driveway, and put the keys through the letterbox.

Interesting. They will be able to use the smaller V8 then if that's the weight they've managed (around 1250kg would be closer to what it'd be). If they want to use the W12, they'll need to go up a weight class, like the SLS is.

[mneame]

Looks pretty mean. But how long before the "Only way is Essex" brigade are sticking bits of tat onto their road versions?

[AyBee]

Chris Stott said:

Looks nice and good for Bentley given their distant herritage in motorsport.

But how on earth are they going to make this competitive given the road car weighs 2,350kg? They'll need to shed somehwre near 1,000kg - how do you possibly lose >40% of the road cars weight? It doesn't need a diet, it needs a gastric band and 2 months of liposuction.

I don't imagine it shares much with the road car apart from the shape so will probably be quite easy - no leather, no electrics (apart from the essentials), no wood, no dashboard, no four-wheel-drive, no grill and then lightened body panels and wheels.

[Krikkit]

Greg_D said:

Igloo124 said:

Re the weight - according to Andrew Frankel's tweets last evening, they have shed the equivalent weight to a full road spec VW Polo. No interior, stripped out, carbon this that and the other. Please leave on my driveway, and put the keys through the letterbox.

don't forget that they are going 2wd so there is a lot of drivetrain weight to be saved, as well as a much smaller hewland (presumably) gearbox instead of the massive auto on the road car, there has to be a good 150kg there alone

Xtrac, most likely, as that's the go-to company for startup GT car boxes these days.

[yeti]

I'm pretty sure its 'rival', the DBRS9 doesn't have a V8

Vantage GTE methinks.

[zebedee]

Is anyone still running DBRS9s in top level GT3?

[M Powered]

dan tournay said:

robinessex said:

Who engineered and built it ?

Google tells me "The Bentley Continental GT3 is being developed in-house at the company’s Crewe factory by a team working under Bentley’s head of motorsport, Brian Gush, who also oversaw the Le Mans-winning Speed 8 project."

I bet the reality is they are based further east... RTN?

[giltranator]

Gorgeous. It will weigh less and 1300kg. Interesting fact: On the road car the door weighs 54kg, on the gt3 it weighs 7kg. (Stolen from Mr Metcalfes twitter)

[hammo19]

Oh man slap me down with a wet stick of celery now that is one beautiful looking car - I don't come from Essex but I would slap some of that on if I had one of those......I like the idea of BRG and the union jack......now let's do that to a Flying Spur as well......

[jamespink]

Serious looking piece of kit... Gorgeous!

[famfarrow]

Evo said:

I'll take mine in British racing green with a big union jack on the side please.

Yes Yes Yes and Yes make that two please

[preciousmetal]

I think this is a better colour scheme on Phantom Motor cars own race bentley GT

[ItsJustARide]

"Bentley Chairman and CEO Dr Wolfgang Schreiber"

There is something so wrong about that. I'm sure Wolfgang is a splendid chap but it's Bentley dammit.

However there is nothing wrong about that car. Really dislike the road car but love the racer.

[J B L]

This looks right out of a video game.

I approve massively

[xxxscimitarxxx]

YEAAAAAAHHHHHHH Baby!

[nismo48]

+1

jamespink said:

Serious looking piece of kit... Gorgeous!