Image: Bentley Newsroom.
Bentley may be renowned for luxury land yachts that reside in Monaco's glitzy Casino Square or outside a restaurant in Beverly Hills, but in the beginning, they meant business in the world of competition.
Since 1924, Bentley has taken part in a plethora of motorsport series including their most famous ordeal at the 24 Hours of Le Mans throughout the 1920s with models such as the Speed Six and supercharged 4.5 litre. With dashing personalities like Woolf Barnato and Sir Henry Birkin who would act as gentlemen at parties, yet dominated on the circuit when they needed to, Bentley quickly became a remembered name to many motoring enthusiasts.
After a fairly lengthy hiatus from racing, Bentley made a sterling comeback at Le Mans with the Speed 8 and later the Continental GT3 car. You can tell we are about to enter new times as Bentley's latest competition competitor not only looks spectacular, but also doesn't run on conventional petrol like a normal GT3 would.
Image: Bentley Newsroom.
This mad-looking thing is designed to tackle the world's most challenging hill climb event on the planet: Pikes Peak. Naturally, Bentley have called it the Continental GT3... erm... Pikes Peak.
Noticeably, the front splitter, wing and diffuser have all been changed from the normal GT3 for optimum aerodynamics and downforce. After all, the Peak is quite a twisty course and an error could mean a fatal outcome.
It is powered by the 4.0 litre twin-turbocharged V8 as per the normal GT3, and while Bentley haven't published the exact horsepower and torque figures, it would be plausible to think it would produce more than the 500bhp mark as regulated by the FIA.
Image: Bentley Newsroom.
Bentley also claim that the biofuel-based gasoline the car is meant to be running on reduces the engine's greenhouse gas output by 85%. They say this car is meant to be one of their first steps to researching more sustainable e-fuels and biofuels for Bentley customers on a global scale.
To break the record they're aiming for, the car will have to manage an average speed of more than 78mph. This is while navigating 156 corners on an total incline of nearly 5,000ft. And to make the context even more mad, the starting line is already 9,300ft above sea level!
Until the record attempt day however, preparations still have to be made.
Image: Bentley Newsroom.
Despite the unveiling of this mad machine from Crewe, the car will now enter a major testing and development phase. This will take place in the UK before being taken to the U.S for altitude testing.
After Bentley's crew from Crewe (pun intended) conduct all of that, the record attempt is set to take place at the 99th running of the Pikes Peak hill climb on the 27th June.
Image: Bentley Newsroom.