The Telegraph reported that The new Bentley GT3-R, which is making its global debut at Goodwood Festival of Speed,is likely to be followed by other motorsport-inspired Bentleys.The GT3-R was heavily influenced by the company’s GT3 race car,andjust 300 examples will be built. However, Bentley’s sales and marketing director Kevin Rose, said: “Depending on what we do in motorsport in the next few years, there could well be other [motorsport-inspired] models.”
Bentley’s CEO Wolfgang Durheimer added: “I remember the reaction to our Le Mans win in 2003 and seeing how passionate people were about the brand. We need to give this passion back to our customers.” The GT3-R is based on the Continental GT V8S, but its engine has been tuned to produce 572bhp and 516lb ft of torque (up from 521bhp and 501lb ft). This, combined with shorter gearing and a 100kg weight saving, helps make it Bentley’s fastest-accelerating road car yet, with a 3.5sec 0-60mph time.
The GT3-R is also the first Bentley to feature torque-vectoring, which helps improve its agility, but this is likely to filter down to other Bentleys in the near future. Rolf Frech, the company’s board member for engineering, said: “This was always the idea, that we have the possibility of spreading the technology [developed for the GT3-R] on to other models in our range.”
Bentley might have made the GT3-R lighter than other Continental GTs, but it’s still a luxuriously trimmed – and heavy – road car rather than a rival to stripped-out specials such as the Porsche 911 GT3 or the Ferrari 458 Speciale. “It would have been technically possible to make it lighter, of course,” said Frech . “But then we wouldn’t have the customer demand. It still had to feel like a Bentley.”
