Continental GT

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The Continental GT Speed Chassis Tech

We’ve published the story on the impressive Bentley Continental GT Speed a while ago, a little after that we even put the story on the Continental GT Speed Convertible online, and as far as we know there hasn’t been a customer car delivered at the time of writing, but Bentley is track testing their GT Speed ferociously it seems, and part of those tests are meant to be able to fine-tune the amazing chassis Bentley is using on the GT Speed version, they call it ‘The most advanced Bentley chassis yet’.

A Bentley is known for being luxurious and comfortable to drive, but their Continental GT Speed is also fast, very fast … and making a car that’s in the supercar league also a GT, Gran Turismo, isn’t as easy as it sounds, so Bentley had to develop a new chassis for this top of the line two-door luxury GT, in comes the Bentley Dynamic Ride and their three-chamber active air suspension with adaptive damping, add the 440mm carbon-ceramic brakes (an option that shaves 33 kg from the overall weight) and you end up with a very impressive car made in Crewe.

The Bentley Continental GT Speed comes with a four-wheel drive, but depending on the mode set by the driver the emphasis can shift more to the rear wheels, for added fun while driving. Both ‘Bentley’ and ‘Comfort’ driving modes come with a nicely balanced setting to the front and the rear wheel, but the ‘Sport’ mode sends more power to the rear wheels only, which happen to steer too on this model, the Bentley Continental GT Speed comes with all-wheel steering.

The All-Wheel Steering on the Bentley Continental GT Speed can move the rear wheels by up to 4 degrees, the steering combined with Bentley’s Dynamic Ride and the electronic limited-slip differential offers a level of agility never seen before on a Bentley road car, when you opt to turn off the ESC, the mechanical grip and inherent balance of the GT Speed becomes apparent, allowing a driver-focused experience previously only found in the famous Bentley race cars.

The eLDS, or Electronic Limited Slip Differential is a first for Bentley on their Continental GT Speed, can shift up to 36% of the 900 Nm of torque to the front wheels in either ‘Bentley’ or ‘Comfort’ mode, if the driver switches to ‘Sport’ mode this figure is limited to 28% to have more Torque on the rear wheels for a more dynamic driving experience.

It seems Bentley really wants to offer the owner of the new Continental GT Speed an innovative experience when it comes to earlier Bentley cars, more driver-focussed, while still offering the trendsetting level of comfort and luxury owners have come to expect from their Bentley.

May 7, 2021 / Comments Off

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The Continental GT V8 Equinox Edition

Before you get your hopes up about adding this stunning white Bentley Continental GT V8 Equinox Edition to your garage, there is one catch with this latest Mulliner Collections Portfolio addition … it’s only available on the Japanese market, and there will only be 10 units ever made for those lucky customers in the Far East.

The special GT will feature a monochrome color theme combining black, silver, and white, the Equinox theme brings power and grace through simplicity, the 10 units of the Equinox Edition are destined for homes across Japan including the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, and Yokohama.

For the body of the Bentley Continental GT V8 Equinox Edition, the Japanee customer can choose from black Onyx or icy cool Glacier White, the aerodynamics of the base Continental GT will receive the Styling Specification for these Equinox Edition versions, created from bespoke, high gloss, black carbon-fiber, the Styling Specification option adds a front splitter, a rear diffuser, a boot lip spoiler, and side sills, showing amazing looking, metal Bentley wings.

To set the Equinox Edition even more apart from the base V8 model, Mulliner adds a pinstripe to the edge of the carbon fiber pieces, finished in ‘Moonbeam’, which is a rich silver shade, this pinstripe is painted by hand onto each of these 10 limited edition cars, it takes a specialist at Mulliner a total of five days to apply this little, but important detail, that looks even better with the 22” Mulliner Driving Specification wheels, which on this special edition are finished in a dark metallic Tungsten paint, only available on the Equinox Edition.

The interior in the Equinox Edition is finished in stunning Beluga black leather, but it is complemented with silver parts on the headrest and the edges of the seats while the stitching is done in silver too to work in perfect harmony with the dual finish veneers done in Piano Moonbeam over Grand Black.

Sadly this car will not be available in the United States nor in Europe, it is a Japan-only special edition after all.

April 16, 2021 / Comments Off

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The new Continental GT Speed

Bentley just released their most performance-focused luxury Grand Tourer ever in their 101-year history, inspired by the 3-Liter Speed models from the 1920s, the first generation Continental GT Speed from 2007 was already a very impressive interpretation of a two-door, four-seat luxury car, but today’s third-generation continues this bloodline as the most powerful expression of Continental GT values, exciting and dynamic, with unique Speed detailing to enhance the ownership experience and offering customers more control over the character of the car.

“The world’s most luxurious Grand Tourer is now truly more capable than ever before, with a new sportier edge which will appeal to performance-focused drivers. The Speed is the latest chapter in the Continental GT story, helping Bentley customers to create their own extraordinary journeys.” Dr. Matthias Rabe, Member of the Board for Engineering at Bentley Motors

The new Bentley Continental GT Speed comes with Electronic All-Wheel steering, meaning not only the front wheels turn, but also the rear wheels steer in a direction depending on speed, at low speed they turn in the opposite direction for a shorter turn radius, while at higher speeds the rear wheels steer in the same direction as the front wheels for more stability, combined with the Active All-Wheel drive this offers an unparalleled driving character for such a large GT.

The Bentley Continental GT Speed offers different driving modes to be selected by the driver, while for the BENTLEY mode and the COMFORT mode, power is balanced between the front and the rear wheels, for the SPORT mode there is a more rear-biased torque–split offered.

This is also the first Bentley to come with an electronic rear differential (eLSD), which together with the traction control and active chassis offers better lateral capacity, more longitudinal stability, enhanced on-throttle adjustability, and boasts improved traction in less-than-ideal road conditions.

The impressive Bentley three-chamber active air suspension with adaptive damping and Dynamic Ride greatly contributes to the level of precision and confidence behind the steering wheel of this new Speed version, this 48V active anti-roll control system features powerful electric motors within each anti-roll bar to resist body roll. In their firmest setting, the motors can deliver 1300 Nm in 0.3 secs to counteract cornering forces and keep the body level.

Optionally you can have new Carbon Ceramic brakes on the Bentley Continental GT Speed, massive braking power comes from ten-piston front calipers and four-piston rear calipers, adding this option to your order will cut 33kg of weight, and help you to keep those stunning 22-inch wheels clean.

The new Continental GT Speed comes with the famous W12 TSI engine, 6.0-Liter delivers 650 bhp and an impressive 900 Nm of torque, a top speed of 208 mph (335 km/h) is reached almost effortless, while acceleration figures come in at 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds (0-100 km/h in 3.6 seconds).

Even the 8-speed transmission has been modified for the new Continental GT Speed, which offers twice as fast shifting in SPORT model on the Speed compared to the regular W12 powered Continental GT.

There is no denying a Bentley Continental GT looks decent enough as is, but for the Speed version, things got developed even further, with a darker treatment of both the front grille and the lower intakes. But also the side sills are bespoke to the Speed model, as are those stunning Speed scripts on the side.

Also bespoke for the GT Speed model are stunning 22-inch wheels finished in silver, optionally available in dark tint or glossy black, while the fuel and oil filler caps come in a ‘Jewel’ finish, and the doorsills show an illuminated Bentley script with the Speed addition.

For the interior of this Continental GT Speed, Bentley went with a special, two-tone combination of smooth leather and Alcantara on the seats, the door panels, and even on the steering wheel. Bentley offers you the option of 15 main colors and 11 secondary hides for the interior, not a fan of Alcantara? No problem, you can opt for a full leather-covered interior too, and the renowned Bentley ‘Diamond in Diamond’ quilting just looks amazing inside the GT Speed.