Bentley could be about to offer a slice of its GT3 racing exploits in road-going form. This Continental GT V8, featuring a new spoiler and splitter combo, has been spotted undergoing high-speed testing at Germany’s Nurburgring. It points to an even hotter Conti V8 to sit above the recently revealed V8 ‘S’ model.
Bentley’s mysterious hotter Continental
It’s not just the fixed rear spoiler – in place of the Continental GT’s usual pop-up wing – which marks this Bentley out as being a little unusual. The front bumper too sports a new aerodynamic package, it the form of a lower, more contoured splitter. The 21in alloy wheels are the same design worn by the current Bentley performance flagship, the £151,100 Continental GT Speed.
It also looks as though this particular test car has had its rear seats junked as well. Less weight, and more downforce? It all points to a more extreme Conti in the vein of the old £163,000 Supersports model, which shed 110kg as a run-out special for the Mk1 back in 2009.
While the old Supersports was powered by a twin-turbo W12, the car we’re looking at here uses a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8, like the Bentley GT3 racer. The pinched ‘figure-eight’ tailpipes are the key giveaway; W12s breathe out through oval pipes.
The new GT V8 S produces 521bhp, while the W12-powered GT Speed churns out 621bhp, but in a bid to link its new GT3 race programme to this road-going Conti, we expect the Mk2 Supersports to have eight-cylinder power.
However, the V8 won’t match for the GT Speed’s headline bhp figures – and we hear a W12 engine is also under consideration for the Supersports too – but the smaller engine would help cut weight. That, and it would help Bentley create a distinct separation between existing W12 GT Speed and this potential V8 Supersports.
If Bentley does green-light a ‘hardcore’ Continental GT3, expect a price tag north of £130,000.