BENTLEY CONTI GT SPEED & MULLINER BACALAR
No-one does excess with attitude quite like Bentley. On the following pages we assess the outrageous, £1.5million Mulliner Bacalar, the ballistic Continental GT Speed, and the company’s latest, completely bonkers Pikes Peak hill climb challenger
Two new very special models have emerged from Crewe: the 208mph GT Speed and the £1.5million Bacalar. Stuart Gallagher tries them both
FROM 2030, EVERY NEW BENTLEY WILL BE ELECTRIC. We know this because Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark has told us so, and redevelopment of the Pyms Lane site in Crewe is already underway to allow it to build new electric car platforms.
But Hallmark is also realistic when it comes to where the internal combustion engine goes beyond the next decade. ‘Any car sold at the end of the decade will be on the road for 20 or 30 years,’ he says. ‘We have a responsibility to support our customers after any legislation comes into force.’ Which is why Bentley, along with Porsche and Audi, is looking at how synthetic fuels can play their part.
And before Crewe plugs itself into the grid, there’s nearly a decade of decadence to come, led by the spectacular Bacalar (page 124), a return to Pikes Peak (page 126) and, firstly, the return of the GT Speed name to the Continental family…
CONTINENTAL GT SPEED
‘THIS IS NOT A 911 GT2 RS,’ SAYS THE NICE MAN from Bentley. Why, then, are we standing in the pitlane of Silverstone’s Wing complex, waiting our turn at the wheel?
Two reasons. One, certification for new models is taking some time in these post-wltp days and Bentley needs to stick to its reveal and launch campaign or the well-oiled machine comes to a grinding halt. And second, Silverstone should be a pretty good place to experience the nuanced differences between a regular 626bhp GT and the 650bhp Speed. There have been GT Speed models before, but this latest example is the closest the engineering team has got to what it feels a Speed should be, a consequence of it being part of the product plan from the start of the current Conti GT’S development.
Silverstone’s GP circuit is in play today, which means three long straights to hunt for the additional 24bhp, and every fast corner Silverstone has to offer from Abbey all the way round to Stowe and beyond. It also means there are plenty of big stops for the optional new carbon-ceramic brakes and their 440mm discs to show what they can do.
The Speed’s 664lb ft makes short work of any corner exit and, when that tails off, the W12 delivers a noticeable shove as peak power arrives at 5000rpm (1000rpm lower than in a regular GT) and stays until 6000rpm. The acceleration and top speed gains might be incremental (0.1sec quicker to 62mph and 1mph faster) but from behind the wheel the stronger, more sustained punch from the W12 lifts the Speed from being simply seriously quick to thumpingly so.
Which is all well and good until a corner arrives: in an old GT Speed this was often the car’s undoing. The optional carbon brakes have a longer pedal than expected for ceramics because, on the road, Bentley customers still expect smooth retardation, but they slow consistently lap after lap, while the quicker steering ratio gets the nose into the turn much sooner and with far more confidence-inspiring precision, too.
When you expect the front to begin to wash wide, the Pirelli P Zeros (the same spec and compound found on a regular W12) simply grip and hold on. Yes, the tarmac of an F1-spec circuit provides more consistent grip levels than any public road, but physics still plays a significant part when 12 cylinders and a couple of turbochargers are positioned across a front axle that also carries a pair of driveshafts.
But it’s what is going on at the rear that provides the Speed with its heightened level of dynamic prowess. Here the fourwheel steering system first seen on the Flying Spur is joined by a new electronic limited-slip diff. It means the big Bentley corners as one, pivoting around your hips, the rear of the car in tune with the front rather than trying to catch it up.
With the four-wheel drive recalibrated to suit the Speed’s chassis upgrades and the stability system capable of adapting more quickly, the combined effect is one of unexpected agility and the most unlikely car to go apex-hunting in. Changes have also been made to the Dynamic Ride Control’s Sport setting, the engineers stretching the bandwidth of the operating window. In the past a more focused Sport set-up resulted in a less refined Comfort setting, but here the latter is as per the regular W12 with the Speed setting providing far more opportunities to exploit and explore the chassis further.
Where previously a Conti GT would be working its chassis to the point where the ESC was permanently interfering, now you have a more fluid, adaptable and engaging car that rarely requires electrical assistance. The rear diff hooks up quickly and positively, the steering remains true and the four-wheel drive system manages the torque split adeptly, which all means the GT Speed will no longer plough headlong through a turn when you give it everything, nor does it require a ‘bung’ to get it to move around. Switch the safety systems off and its inherent rear-drive balance comes to the fore, the GT Speed flowing with an unexpected finesse for one so large.
So no, it’s no GT2 RS. Not even close. But it is by far the most surprising car in which to venture on track and experience the thrill of driving. Of course, what really matters is how the GT Speed’s new tech comes together on the road. We’ll find that out this autumn.
MULLINER BACALAR
THINK A 2300KG CONTINENTAL GT SPEED IS OUT of place at Silverstone? How about a £1.5m one-of-twelve coachbuilt Bentley Bacalar at Bedford Autodrome?
Actually, this isn’t one of the 12 Bacalars that will be built by Bentley’s Mulliner division, this is the development car that has been subjected to a simulated 10-year test in a climatic chamber, where temperatures ranged from -10 to +80deg C with 80 per cent humidity thrown in for good measure. It has also covered 10,000 development miles and 9000 durability miles. And all with its carbonfibre body and exquisite interior exposed to every element thrown at it.
Inspired by the EXP 100 GT concept car that Bentley revealed in 2019 as part of its centenary celebrations, the Bacalar was commissioned by a customer who agreed to 11 additional cars being offered on the open market. A number of buyers also bought one of Bentley’s Blower continuation cars. Well, what else are you to do in lockdown other than drop over £4m on a pair of hand-crafted Bentleys?
The Bacalar shares no panels with a regular W12 GT Convertible. Even the lights are unique. True to Mulliner tradition, each car is built up by hand, but quality control insists that every tolerance has to match those achieved by the line-built cars, which has meant Bentley investing in a laser rig to make sure every new panel – a mix of aluminium and carbonfibre – is aligned with perfect precision.
There is a sizeable void where the rear seats would have been (the Bacalar is strictly a two-seater), so a carbonfibre ‘tub’ was designed, partly to provide somewhere for the Shedoni luggage to live, but the main effect has been to increase rearend stiffness over a regular GT Convertible.
That, however, was not all when it came to upping the dynamic ante for the Bacalar, because it also has both the rearwheel steering and electronic rear differential of the GT Speed (you can’t have one without the other). The W12 engine also receives the same mild makeover with an additional 24bhp extracted from its blown 6 litres, but the ESC, four-wheel drive and steering ratio remain as per a regular W12.
While the interior retains the basic architecture of a Conti GT, it’s the level of bespoke detailing and the materials used that demonstrate where your seven figures are going. The bronze finish for the core controls are among the 750 individual pieces (40 manufactured from carbonfibre) that go into each Bacalar, along with the 5000-year-old ‘open-pore’ riverwood for the facias and the wool for the seats. All of this combines to make for a very comforting Bentley interior, albeit one that feels utterly distinctive and unique.
Sink into the driver’s seat, pull the door closed using a door strap that resembles the type you’d expect to see on a GT3 RS, but is of course made from leather rather than some seatbelt fabric. Thumb the starter and the W12 has an edge to it on start-up but remains refined rather than raucous. After all, you wouldn’t want to draw any unwanted attention…
As with the GT Speed, the Bacalar is no track car. Half will live in the UK or the South of France but they'll be cruising the King’s Road or the Rue Grimaldi rather than lapping Bedford Autodrome or Paul Ricard. If, however, an owner should find themselves at the end of a pitlane, the lap back to the sanctuary of the Paddock Club will be swift and rather enjoyable.
It lacks some of the precision of the GT Speed, but the Bacalar responds keenly to your initial inputs and settles quickly, encouraging you to press on and allowing the rearwheel steering and e-diff to get in on the act. When they do, the responses and ensuing fun is wholly unexpected and therefore very much welcome. With so much grunt available from the W12 it’s hard not to be in a power/torque delivery sweet-spot and take advantage of the results. Turn in, wait a split second for everything to settle down, then squeeze the throttle open and listen as the wind rustles over your head and the chunky Pirellis rip at the surface. Through quicker directional changes the combination of rear-wheel steering and the extra stiffness of that carbon tub ties it all together, and you realise that this luxury cruiser is also a bit of a rebel roadster. In today’s mixedup world, that somehow seems entirely fitting.
CONTINENTAL GT3 PIKES PEAK HOW SERIOUS IS BENTLEY ABOUT ADVANCING the development of alternative fuels? Well, consider that it has built this one-off monster to return to Pikes Peak in June, not only to add to its previous two records for the fastest production SUV and saloon car respectively, but also with the express intent of accelerating the development of its engines to run on cleaner-burning fuels as quickly as possible.
To that end, it has worked with one of its GT3 customer teams, Fastr, to construct and develop this extraordinary looking car, the Continental GT3 Pikes Peak, specifically to contest the 12.42-mile hill climb course.
The 4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 from the GT3 race car has been modified to produce its peak power (somewhere around 700bhp) for the duration of the climb from 9000 to 14,300ft while experiencing a minimal performance drop-off along the way. And all on green fuel.
Bentley has said of the project: ‘The adoption of renewable fuel for this project signals the start of a long-term ambition for Bentley, initiating a research and development programme that aims to offer renewable fuels to Bentley customers in parallel to Bentley’s electrification programme.’ Which
suggests that while the company will focus on being a battery electric vehicle manufacturer from 2030, it won’t abandon its existing customer base completely.
Bentley will use its third trip to Pikes Peak to assess both bio and synthetic fuels, with ambitions to introduce them to its current range as quickly as possible, even setting itself the target of every new Bentley to leave its Crewe factory being powered by a bio or synthetic fuel by 2022, perhaps sooner.
In terms of the Pikes Peak challenger itself, aero plays a significant role (had you noticed?) with a rear wing that Boeing would be proud of, along with a rear diffuser that’s installed around the transaxle gearbox. The rear aero is complemented by the two-plane front splitter and shin-shattering dive planes and then it’s a case of carbonfibre bodywork stretched and pulled around a GT3 racer’s safety shell.
Once again Bentley will call upon the services of Rhys Millen to pilot its car as quickly as possible up the course, which features 156 corners and climbs 5000ft, during which the air density drops by a third, and all at an average speed of at least 78mph if it’s to beat the current 9min 36sec time and clinch the Time Attack 1 record.