Tag Archives: Bentley Videos

Bentley Drifts The Continental GT Speed To Prove It Can Be Raucous As Well As Stately

Bentley has taken the new Continental GT Speed to an abandoned airbase in Sicily to prove that, despite its luxurious demeanor, it’s as raucous as you would expect from a 12-cylinder coupe.

Once the largest NATO airbase in southern Europe, the site has been abandoned for almost 30 years. The film sees the Continental GT Speed race through the airbase that Bentley says was turned into a gymkhana-style playground for the video.

“After the team discovered Comiso Air Station for the launch of the GT Speed, and we’d agreed to create a gymkhana-style course there, the next step was to design a film unlike anything we’d shot before,” said Mike Sayer, head of product communications at Bentley. “Sliding a metallic yellow Bentley around an abandoned airbase is certainly an experience and new territory for us, but the result shows just how dynamic the best Grand Tourer in the world has become.”

Read Also: The Bentley Continental GT Speed Is An Opulent Coupe That Packs A Really Big Punch

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The film was shot by David Hale, an award-winning automotive filmmaker, who was supported by drone pilot and videographer Mark Fagelson.

For the video, the new Continental GT Speed was joined by a 1952 R-Type Continental from Bentley’s heritage collection. In its day, the car was the fastest four-seater in the world and, according to the brand, was the inspiration for the design of the modern Continental GT.

The Continental GT Speed is powered by a twin-turbo W12 engine that produces 626 hp (635 PS/467 kW) and 664 lb-ft (900 Nm) of torque. Although it sends its power to all four wheels, the majority of the torque is sent to the rear, helping it perform the drifts in this video.

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Bentley’s 850 HP Pikes Peak Continental GT3 Vs. A 600 HP Honda Civic Type R Seems Like An Unfair Fight

The challenges unique to the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb are many and this results in a lot of unique race cars. Take, for example, Bentley’s Continental GT3 Pikes Peak racer.

Although it’s based on a GT3 car that competes in sports car racing around the world, the one seen in this episode of Hoonigan’s “This vs That” drag racing series has completely bespoke aero, optimized cooling, and the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 is running 850 hp (862 PS/633 kW).

Weighing in at 3,020 lbs (1,370 kg), it’s also a featherweight when everything is considered. In fact, it weighs about 280 lbs (127 kg) less than a 2019 Honda Civic Type R modified to be the ultimate sleeper.

Read Also: This Is Bentley’s Continental GT3 For The Pikes Peak – And It Looks Really Wild

Unfortunately, the unique demands of Pikes Peak mean that, although the Continental GT is extremely fast, it is by no means optimized for drag racing. Thus the 600 hp (600 PS/447 kW) Civic fares better than you’d expect against the 850 hp (862 PS/633 kW) Bentley that has tons of aero designed for high altitudes, a surprising inability to launch quickly, and the temperament of a true thoroughbred race car.

In the first race, a 1,500-foot (457-meter) drag from a standstill, the Civic Type R looks like it might be able to keep up for the first few feet. Once the Bentley takes off, though, it runs away from the Honda like a rocket.

Although there should be no controversy about the Bentley being the faster of the two cars, when the Civic Type R is given a headstart and the race is shrunk to 1,000 feet (305 meters), it manages to hang on for the win. That might also have to do with the fact that the Bentley‘s battery system was failing, something that prevents it from even putting up a fight in the final roll race.

All of which is an interesting lesson in how specialized race cars are these days and also how temperamental they remain.

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