2008 Bentley Flying Spur V12 Low Miles Super Clean on 2040-cars

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What it's like to drive Bentley's Continental GT3 racecar

I'm gliding across the back roads of Napa in a Bentley Flying Spur V8 S, and all is right with the world. Two and a half tons of metal, leather, and hubris provide insulation, while the audio system's eleven speakers smother me with the syrupy sounds of Katy Perry as the landscape floats past. My guilty pleasure is mine alone, because this bank vault on wheels is practically soundproof. But I'll soon be harnessed into a fearsome hellion that would terrify all but the edgiest of Bentley owners. I'm headed to Sonoma Raceway to drive the 2,800-pound, 600-plus-horsepower Bentley Continental GT3 racecar. Goodbye swankiness, hello madness. Bentley probably isn't the first brand you associate with racing, but the Flying B's competition highlights include Le Mans wins in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, and, most recently, a top finish at the fabled endurance event with the brand's 2003 return. The 1-2 victory in '03 came in the wildly engineered LMGTP prototype class; it wasn't until a more relatable, Continental GT-based car was campaigned eight years later that Bentley unlocked the full potential of its rich history. "Motorsports is essentially a business tool," Bentley race boss Brian Gush told Autoblog at the GT3's race debut three years ago, reinforcing the industry's familiar "race on Sunday, sell on Monday" mantra. But let's also tip a hat to the intangible: There's something undeniably cool about watching a beefed-up version of your daily driver battling it out on a world-class track, especially when that car is a fat-cat luxury coupe that seems better suited to the boulevard than the race circuit. After swapping blue jeans for a Nomex jumpsuit, I watch as the GT3 emerges from the transporter, and the sight is downright intimidating. It's wide and low, with an impossibly big wing. There's another source of intimidation: While a small group of journalists has sampled Bentley's media car, I'm about to get behind the wheel of a privateer-owned car. No pressure. "Ever met the owner?" a Bentley rep asks, referring to Team Absolute's Adderly Fong. "He's a big guy, mean, with a really short temper," he quips, which is essentially shorthand for "don't wreck his car." I crack a tentative smile, acknowledging the not-so-veiled message. Bentley test driver Butch Leitzinger gives me the lowdown on this particular GT3, which happens to be coming fresh off a top-ten finish at the weekend's Pirelli World Cup Challenge.

Bentley designer hints at even faster Continental GT3-R

Does Bentley have room in its Continental GT lineup for an even more extreme version than the new GT3-R? Luc Donckerwolke seems to think so. Speaking with Autocar, the Bentley design chief suggested that an even more performance-focused Continental GT could be in the works, potentially ditching the heavy all-wheel drive system in an effort to further reduce weight, improve handling and drop even more ticks off the 0-60 time that's already down to a best-yet 3.6 seconds in the GT3-R.
To borrow a page from the same playbook used not only by sister-companies Audi and Porsche but also by Renault and Jaguar (to name just a few), we'll tentatively call it the Continental GT3-RS. Whatever the name, though, power would likely come from an even more potent version of the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 co-developed with sister-company Audi. Considering that engine already produces 500 horsepower in the Continental GT V8, 521 hp in the V8 S and 572 hp in the GT3-R, we could be looking at as much as 600 horses to make it the most powerful V8 model to date. With that much juice, it would even eclipse some of the W12 models that start at 567 hp in the core Continental GT and range up to the 616 hp in the Speed, which currently ranks not only as the most powerful Conti yet, but also the fastest road car Bentley has ever made.
Donckerwolke says that Bentley has already sold the entire production run for the Continental GT3-R and that customers are already clamoring for something more focused. Younger buyers are likely to be even further drawn to the brand by the ne-plus-ultra Conti, especially if the racing team advanced from its current fifth place in the Blancpain Endurance Series standings.

Bentley Mulsanne 6.75 Edition is the sedan's sendoff into retirement

Bentley is closing the latest Mulsanne chapter with 30 examples the Mulsanne 6.75 Edition by Mulliner, celebrating the 61-year-old V8 that first appeared in the 1959 Bentley S2. Once those 30 cars have been built, the name retires for the second time — after being used on a flagship sedan from 1980 to 1992 — and the Flying Spur takes over as the carmaker's top-tier offering. Starting with the 530-horsepower Mulsanne Speed, the 6.75 Edition adds gloss black and bright chrome jewelry, including a dark tint for the Flying B hood ornament, Mulliner radiator, and exhaust finishers. There are also chrome badges, bright machined faces with black pockets for the 21-inch, five-spoke wheels, and welcome lighting that flashes the special edition name. Under the hood, the normally silver intake cover gets dressed in black, and the engine number plaque bears the signature of brand CEO Adrian Hallmark instead of the engine builder. The interior can be specced in four single-color hides, either Beluga, Fireglow, Imperial Blue, or Newmarket Tan. All are automatically contrasted with silver — silver-painted veneer, silver seat piping and silver sheen that shows through the ventilated thrones, an instrument panel in high-gloss Grand Black, and door trim in Dark Engine Spin Aluminum. Other touches to mark the occasion are ventilation controls designed to look like the engine oil cap, cutaway drawings of the engine on the gauges and clock face, and more 6.75 Edition stitching and badging. The carmaker pointed to the end of the 6.75-liter V8 four years ago, but that was when there were plans for a successor to be powered by a new V12. Times having changed, the Flying Spur will lead the way with its 6.0-liter W12 and 4.0-liter V8 engines sourced from Volkswagen, and a hybrid model coming for 2023.  Bentley didn't mention a price for the Mulsanne 6.75 Edition, because of course. But the 2020 Mulsanne Speed starts at $342,300. Start there and add money.