Bentley Continental GT3-R first drive review
With 572bhp, a top speed of 170mph and a price tag of £237,500, the GT3-R is a glorious tribute to Bentley's return to racing
What is it?
This is the glorious contradiction that is the
Bentley Continental GT3-R.From a distance, you’ll take it for a road-legal competition car with number plates. If not, perhaps, a homologation special. It’s neither – but at the same time, it’s no ordinary luxury grand tourer either.
The GT3-R is, in fact, a tribute to
Bentley’s maiden season back in international motorsport after a gap of more than a decade. It’s also nothing short of the fastest-accelerating, most performance-focussed road car that Crewe has ever made.
It’s also still a rich, luxurious, long-distance machine thoroughly in the traditions of the marque. A stripped-out, silver-tongued heavyweight, in other words.
A limited run of three-hundred GT3-Rs will be made over the coming months, in recognition of Bentley Motorsport’s Blancpain Endurance Series win in the Continental GT3 race car at Silverstone earlier this year.
But unofficially, you could say the car earned its place in the showroom two years ago at the Paris motor show, when Bentley publicly stated its intention to return to motorsport by airing a racing concept version of the
Continental GT.
That show car, with its even more enormous splitter and rear wing, inspired enough direct expressions of interest that a road-going version was a no-brainer. Unbeknown to Bentley, Crewe’s customer base was in love with the idea of a grand British coupé with the soul and sharpened cutting edge of a track special. So it’s made one.
What is it like?
Let’s start in the glaringly obvious place: the spoiler. Sticks out, doesn’t it? Initially you’ll wonder if its really attached or been left there by mistake; some stray bit of winter sports paraphernalia the owner’s forgotten to put in the boot.
But no, it’s an actual bonafide aerofoil – and a sculpted, lacquered piece of carbonfibre as well, the grain perfectly mirror-matched down the spine of the car. It’s an undeniable thing of beauty – whether you think it belongs on a luxury GT or not.
It can’t have been easy to know exactly how much ‘edge’ to give this car – and that spoiler, the other carbon body parts and the decals probably do imply a little more than has ultimately been delivered. Make of that what you will.
But Bentley undoubtedly started in the right place, and made intelligent decisions, in executing this car as it has - with just enough sporting flavour to whet your appetite.
‘The right place’, by the way, was without doubt the 4.0-litre
GT V8 Srather than the W12. Don’t question the sense in that for a second. More responsive and urgent-feeling than Bentley’s woofling twelve, the V8 would be my default choice under the bonnet of any Continental. It's also the basis of the engine used by the GT3 race car.
With new turbos, a new titanium exhaust and a recalibrated ECU, it develops 572bhp and 516lb ft of torque – a hefty chunk more than a V8 S, though not as much as a W12
Speed.
The reasons that the GT3-R can out-sprint a Speed (at least up to a point) are that it’s 100kg lighter than a standard V8 S, and shifts gears more quickly via recalibrated control software. Moreover, it’s got a shorter final drive ratio, pegging top speed at a piffling 170mph, but making this the only Continental capable of dipping under four seconds to 62mph.
This is still a 2.2-tonne car, remember: hats off for that one, chaps. It’s refreshing to see a manufacturer taking such a pragmatic route towards greater performance, when so many opt for longer and longer ratios to the benefit of fuel-efficiency.
Inevitably – particularly given that M-Sport’s racing Continentals are little more than 1300kg – you wonder how much more weight Crewe could have been taken out of this car. But not for long, because the GT3-R just carries on dazzling you with its overpowering material richness, steadily laying waste to your cynicism.
Walk past the spoiler, open the driver’s door and the lacquered carbonfibre theme continues almost ad infinitum – on the fascia, around the perfectly upholstered storage bay where the back seats used to be, and on the interior door casings.
The door still seems to weigh more than your average hatchback. It takes some swinging, and the double-glazed window is still in place. But the glossy carbon itself, on the door top and the interior handle, is utterly gorgeous. Nobody does lavish material majesty quite like Bentley, and the GT3-R wouldn’t be nearly as appealing without its knurled aluminium, its yards of beluga hide and its diamond-quilted alcantara.
It might be lighter – but having inhabited it for the better part of a day, I’m not sure that’d be worth the trade.
The car’s titanium exhaust clears its throat in spectacular fashion when you start the engine, with over-run crackles and pops that’ll pique your interest. But otherwise, the GT3-R feels surprisingly civilised as you settle in. The ride’s been firmed-up, clearly – but not transformed or disregarded.
The Continental’s standard air suspension system has simply been adapted; refocused from the setup on the V8 S. The body feels more intimately connected to the surface of the road, and the 21-inch forged wheels certainly thump a bit over sharper intrusions – but it’s a long, long way from jostling or uncomfortable. A
Jaguar F-Type R is choppier.
There’s a duality to the GT3-R’s powertrain that serves the car well on a route that mixes laid-back touring with a spirited cross-country blast.
There is no complicated drive mode selector (praise be); just the familiar ‘D’, ‘S’ and paddleshift manual modes on the gearbox. In ‘D’, the engine operates at low- to middling revs and subdued noise levels – which is ideal for discretion in traffic and around town.
In ‘S’, the powertrain comes to life, holding onto gears to allow the revs to build, and afterwards for that naughty exhaust to issue forth its fireworks as they settle down again.
I don’t normally go a bundle on ‘Sport’ transmission modes, but the GT3-R’s is quite convincing. It makes the car feel poised and feisty, and generally gives you good response and the right gear to match a keen style.
The GT3-R feels fast when you finally reach the bottom of its accelerator pedal; excessively, but not savagely so. More importantly, its performance is delivered smoothly, cleanly and with full-blooded noise and character.
When you ‘clog it’, factoring in both actual and perceived speed, this is probably a more exciting car than a
Porsche 911 Turbo. It’s got way more attitude than a
McLaren 650S. And getting that in a package that’s also as sumptuous, usable and trick-looking as this may be all that GT3-R owners really desire.
The car’s handling won’t blow your mind in the way that a few might expect of something with ‘GT3’ writ large on its flanks – but the decals are optional. More to the point, it’s not really supposed to.
There is better steering feedback and precision here than you normally get from a Bentley. Higher grips levels, better body control and more balanced cornering manners, too. The latter’s abetted by a default 40:60 front-to-rear torque bias and, for the first time on a Bentley, brake-delivered torque vectoring on the rear axle.
The car tucks into corners flat and poised, with directness and energy. You can string apexes together with instinctive precision; hurry it through as hard as you like without running wide. Move the rear axle around a bit on a trailing throttle if you like. Just a bit. Enough, for a 2.2-tonne, quarter-million pound piece of rolling real estate on a public road.
The car’s still more sporting GT than out-and-out sports car – which is exactly as it should be. But there’s plenty of tactility to the steering out of which to build confidence, and entertainment to be had as you get to know the thing.
Should I buy one?
Why not – assuming you can first understand what you’re buying.
The trick to doing that is not to dwell on the first three characters of that ‘GT3-R’ badge, expecting some thrill-obsessed, circuit-ready driving experience. The last letter’s the key: it stands for ‘road’.
This is a car for Bentley brand devotees who want the spirit and purposeful style of a racing car, but wouldn’t accept the refinement compromises of a hardcore 911,
Ferrari or
Mercedes AMG Black Seriesfor a million quid.
To be frank, you can tell the name was conceived before the car – and it doesn’t describe the finished product all that well.
But if the GT3-R’s concept sounds familiar, it may be because Maserati launched something similar a few years ago in the shape of the
Granturismo MC Stradale.
The Italian’s currency was the same: race-car cool wrapped up in a real-world, high-end luxury package. But Modena didn’t execute its effort with half of the swagger, opulence or genuine point-to-point pace as this.
Bentley Continental GT3-R
Price £237,500;
0-62mph 3.8sec;
Top speed 170mph;
Economy22.3mpg;
CO2 295g/km;
Kerbweight 2195kg;
Engine V8, 3993cc, twin-turbocharged petrol;
Power 572bhp at 6000rpm;
Torque 516lb ft at 1700rpm;
Gearbox 8-speed automatic
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review.../bentley-continental-gt3-r-first-drive-review
