Bentley takes on Pikes Peak
New Zealander to hunt down Range Rover’s SUV record in lightly modified W12 Bentayga
BENTLEY IS HEADING TO THE Pikes Peak hill climb this June with its Bentayga W12. The British firm hopes to take victory in the SUV class on the hill, although at the time of writing it’s a class of one, including the Crewe effort. More importantly, perhaps, Bentley hopes to break the SUV record set by a Range Rover in 2013. Ironically, the course’s gradual switch to an all-asphalt surface in recent years means it now feels less suitable for vehicles of this type than it might once have been.
Bentley has signed Rhys Millen for driving duties, whose vast experience includes two outright victories and 14 class wins at Pikes Peak. He becomes the seventh official ‘Bentley Boy’, a distinction reserved for drivers contracted to race cars directly from the factory.
The company is keen to maintain the link between its exploits on the hill and its road cars, and so has kept modifications to the Bentayga to a minimum. The 600bhp 6-litre W12 is unchanged, while development work is being restricted to damper settings and anti-roll bars. Removing much of the luxury interior has slashed 300kg from the car’s 2365kg mass, with a full roll-cage and a bucket seat for Millen taking its place. The car will use a homologated road tyre, with either 21-inch or 22-inch production rims, and – wisely – carbon-ceramic brakes.
Millen has already been loaned a road car in the US, after which he requested unique larger gearshift paddles to be made, and his own team will run the car at the event.