Yes, just one passenger, because to achieve its 220-pound weight savings
over the regular Conti, the GT3-R goes without back seats, instead
offering a diamond-pleated parcel shelf to go with your diamond-pleated
buckets. This is the first Bentley that anyone at the factory could
remember with absolutely no wood (although the Bentley PR team later
pointed out that the ISR from a few years back
also lacked wood). Instead, the GT3-R features carbon trim on the doors
and the center and overhead consoles. If you miss that detail, the
slashes of grasshopper-green trim fairly scream that you’re in for a
different kind of Bentley experience, despite the fact that the car is
still weighty, at a factory-claimed 4840 pounds.
The deep buckets are about as cushy as a stack of drywall, and once
you’re buckled in, the twin-turbo V-8 alights with a louder, coarser
roar through its titanium exhaust than any street-legal Bentley you’ve
previously encountered. New pistons, turbos, and engine calibrations
give the throttle an urgency it lacks in the Continental S, which,
granted, is deliberately a little squishy. Bentley claims a 0-to-60-mph
time for the R of 3.6 seconds, a realistic number as confirmed by our
well-calibrated keisters. This big B moves out.
We’re told the W-12 wasn’t used because it’s a lot heavier, and trimming
mass was a GT3-R priority. We’d guess that it also doesn’t lend itself
as easily or as cheaply to a power bump as the Audi-developed V-8, which
has already been taken to 560 hp in the RS7. And who knows? Bentley may even drop the W-12 from the Continental in the future and reserve it for sedans like the Flying Spur and the Mulsanne.
Either way, the worked V-8 provides a vigorous if gentlemanly urge to
the GT3-R, grumbling potently without being aurally abusive. A shorter
final-drive ratio (3.50:1 instead of 2.85 in the V-8 S) certainly helps
hasten the GT3-R’s acceleration. You can shift the eight-speed
automatic—which has been tuned for faster changes—with the blocky
paddles or simply select the sportiest mode, which holds the car in
lower gears and seems to have the proper ratio cued up when you want it.
In the curves, the firmer spring rates and revised shock tuning sharpen
the handling, the GT3-R turning into the corner more fiercely and with
less roll. A torque-vectoring rear differential also does its part to
turn this big freighter like a racing sloop. Although the steering ratio
is the same, the R’s synthetic-suede-wrapped wheel feels better
connected and faster, in part because the body isn’t allowed to sway as
much. Despite still being in a massive, wide Bentley, we found corner
placement easy and the grip from the Pirelli 275/40 tires on 21-inch
forged wheels to be unbreakable. Ceramic brake discs, which are even
larger than a regular Conti’s at a satellite-dish-sized 16.5 inches in
diameter up front, stop the car as if it were 1000 pounds lighter.
You can connect corners on your favorite twisty road with a fluidity
that drivers of BMW M3s and Audi S4s will find familiar. No, the GT3-R
doesn’t seem as flickable, but it doesn’t flinch in late braking events
or cause you to sweat a sudden decreasing radius. Luxury machines tend
to disconnect the driver from the road, but the GT3-R does its best to
restore communication through the hardware.
More significantly, the Continental's ZF eight-speed transmission now runs shorter gearing, cranking the acceleration to warp factor nine as the GT3-R streaks to 60mph in 3.6 seconds and beyond to its reduced 170mph top speed. Bad for its Top Trumps status, good in every other meaningful respect. Unless you own your own circuit, which is a distinct possibility at this stratospheric level.
What else is new?
The GT3-R also gains torque vectoring on the rear wheels for the first time, as well as recalibrated software for the car's drivetrain modes and a slightly more playful stability system.
There's also a new titanium exhaust system, which accounts for seven of the 100kg the R has lost, as well as giving it the full Brian Blessed ‘Gordon's alive!' roar. That, plus the glacier white paint-job, green go-faster stripes, wing decals and carbon fibre diffuser and huge rear wing suggest that this particular Bentley isn't backwards about coming forwards. Or possibly sideways.
But will it still waft like a Bentley should?
Obviously there's an overwhelming urge to bury your right foot at the first possible opportunity, but initial impressions are dominated by an amazingly composed ride quality. Despite wearing 275/35 ZR rubber all-round wrapped in 21in forged alloy wheels, it does a fine job of shirking off gnarled tarmac.
The Conti's air springs and dampers have been track-optimised, but the revisions don't hurt its everyday useability.
And inside?
The reworked cabin is a... challenge. The bespoke carbon fibre seats themselves are superb, there's diamond-quilted Alcantara facings on the doors, and handcrafted carbon fibre on the dash. Even the paddle-shifters have been redesigned.
But the greenery on the exterior graphics is nothing compared to the accents that have been added inside. It's Bentley's motorsport colour, and the same shade of green is all over the reception area of its Pym's Lane HQ in Crewe. But yeasty toast enlivener Marmite is nothing compared to this when it comes to polarising opinion.
And what about when you finally bury that right foot?
Acceleration and deceleration - thanks to 420mm carbon ceramic front discs and 356mm rear ones, and eight-piston calipers - is now sufficiently mighty to give you an instant facelift. There's maybe a nano-second of hesitation as the R prepares to throw 2.2 tonnes down the road, but the surge is so brutal it really is scarcely noticeable.
That mass limits just how much fun you can truly have in a corner, but it's still way more than you'd expect. What it lacks in light and shade - the steering could use more feel, for example, the chassis a little more interactivity - it makes up in sheer, unstoppable momentum.
On which basis, Bentley will have no trouble whatsoever selling the 300 GT3-Rs it's planning to build, even at an eye-watering £237,500 each. And you could always wrap it.
Specification: 3993cc twin turbo V8, 572bhp at 6000rpm, 516lb ft, 22.3mpg, 295g/km CO2, 0-60mph 3.6 seconds, 170mph, 2195kg, £237,500
No comments:
Post a Comment