The Bentley Continental GT3 racer will be co-developed with Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport team.
M-Sport will assist with the design of a number of the GT3’s specialist components, but the project management will be carried out in-house by a newly formed team at Bentley’s Crewe HQ.
WRC specialist M-Sport will also “offer focused technical expertise” as Bentley prepares an assault on the GT3 stage. The car is to make its first on-track appearance by the end of 2013. The race car will make its UK debut at the Autosport show in January.
M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson said: “Bentley’s design and analysis work to date has shown that the Continental GT road car can become an extremely competitive race car, and we are looking forward to capitalising on our extensive competition car development experience and success to help Bentley realise its goals.”
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Not odd, but an enigma
For me, this car illustrates both the best and worst of GT3.
One one hand, it looks fantastic and will probably sound fantastic, and the sight of it bellowing around great racetracks will be fantastic.
On the other hand, a Bentley Continental GT is as unlikely a race car as you are likely to find. To make it competitive for GT3, it is stripped of virtually everything it has and will be parity-adjusted to make it competitive with cars which ordinarily would leave it for dead around any given circuit. Surely GT3 should be retaining some semblance of connection with production, with the currently dormant GT2 and GT1 categories being utilised for cars which are more extensively separated from their street versions? It might not be appropriate to force the cars to carry all their luxury extras, but they should at least be ballasted so that they weigh a similar amount to the production car. Parity formulae are everywhere, and it's getting stale. GT3 has been great, but I fear that adding more manufacturers will start to ruin what was a good thing.
Odd?
Don't think its a Bently odd at all - just the link to M-Sport with its links to Ford and undoubted expertise in the rally world, yes that is odd.
Least suitable donor vehicle
Least suitable donor vehicle for a race car since the Volvo 850 Estate touring car, looks like a pig in a tracksuit.
Bob Cat Brian wrote:Least
I disagree, I don't really like the look of the standard street version, but to me this is a convincing looking race car. The spoilers and splitters suit it and those rear haunches give it a fabulous muscular look. It's the Gallardo's and 458's that look odd in track spec to me, like women playing rugby.
Leslie Brook wrote: I
I'm with you on this. It gives the car a purposeful look and dare I say some elegance that I think the road version lacks.
TegTypeR wrote: Leslie
That front spoiler/splitter won't survive the roads around Prestbury and Alderley Edge in Cheshire!!