Bentley's Continental GT3, the firm's first racing car for a decade, is almost ready to take to the track.
The Continental-based racer is powered by a competition-tuned version of Bentley's 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. A six-speed sequential racing gearbox handles transmission duties.
Exactly how much power the Bentley has is yet to be announced, but the production V8 outputs 500bhp. That allows the standard 2295kg Continental to accelerate from 0-60mph in 4.6sec.
In keeping with its competitive nature, however, Bentley says that over 1000kg of weight has been saved over the Continental GT road car by removing equipment and surplus parts.
The GT3 retains the Continental's silhouette as the main bodyshell is the same, but much of the weight saving has been achieved by constructing the doors, boot lid and bonnet from carbonfibre.
Double wishbone suspension, four-way adjustable dampers and competition brakes make up the chassis system, while the body shell now carries an FIA-specification roll cage and a carbonfibre seat.
The manufacturer says that the Continental GT3 will soon be ready to being testing ahead of an unspecified race debut.
Bentley's Director of Motorsport Brian Gush said "Motorsport is an integral part of Bentley, and the performance and endurance qualities of all of our road cars reflect this racing heritage.
"Not one single part of the GT3 has escaped our attention, and the result is a car that can compete with the field in terms of factors such as power, weight and aerodynamics.”
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Balance of Performance
Whilst the road power output serves as a guide to the potential of the engine in race tuned form, that isn't especially transferable to GT3. GT3 uses a Balance of Performance system, which restricts engine power through the use of an air restrictor, completing changing the engine breathing characteristics from the road version. Many GT3 cars actually have lower outputs than their road going counterparts because of this system.
The same is true of the mass of the car, where tungsten ballast is also added as part of Balance of Performance. The dry mass of the car may well be 1000 kg but the gross vehicle mass after ballasting could be as much as 1400 kg.
Not Much Luxury Here
I wonder if any of the weight savings can be applied to the road cars. With such an amazing engine, that would be amazing!