Continental GT3 R is Bentley's most powerful V8

Bentley doesn’t have a rich racing heritage like most European marques. So while Bentleys come with powerful V8s and W12s under the hood, the car itself is more luxury and comfort focused than of the time warping super car category. A win at the Blancpain Endurance Series in Silverstone last month with the Bentley Motorsport Division developed GT3 has changed that though. A road car inspired by this race car is now part of the Continental line-up. And it’s some mean machine!

The Continental GT3 R as it is called has been tweaked by the Motorsport Division to eke out 580PS from the twin turbo 4-litre V8 and 700 Nm of torque. That’s about 52PS and 20Nm more than the GT V8 S. The GT3 R can hit the ton from standstill in 3.8 seconds and has a max speed of 273kmph. It’s more than these headline numbers though.

While the GT3 R starts off on the same assembly line as other Continentals, Bentley’s Motorsport Division takes over midway to make it ‘A road car with a racing soul’ according to Bentley. The team has stripped some flab off the bulky Bentley to reduce overall weight by 100kg and given it shorter gearing for faster acceleration. Mated to the ZF 8-Speed automatic transmission, the GT3 R gets a 40:60 torque split sending more torque to the rear wheels. The aim was to make the GT3 R the most dynamic Continental ever. The GT3 R gets air suspension all round and massive carbon silicon carbide discs. A new carbon fibre front splitter and fixed carbon fibre rear wing and rear diffuser further reduce weight and add to its dynamic ability. 

The GT3 R does away with the rear seats and has only front racing buckets but being a Bentley, it is styled with exquisite comfort in mind. Ample use of Leather and Alcantara on the inside and bright green inserts custom to the GT3 R is part of the interior package. On the exterior, you get twin bonnet vents and GT3 R decals to separate it from the rest. 21 inch machine-forged alloy wheels in gloss black finish round up the package. The GT3 R is limited to a total of 300 units worldwide.