Bentley Continental GT Le Mans collection joins the Speed 8 | GRR
Le Mans winning royalty came to the 80th Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport. The Speed 8 that swept to victory in the 2003 24-hour race was here to celebrate 20 years since its victory. That was Bentley’s most recent win at La Sarthe, the first being 99 years ago.
The Speed 8 wasn’t alone in marking the firm’s endurance racing successes. Bentley has also marked the occasion with the Le Mans Collection, a limited run of Continental GT and GTC models that commemorate that 2003 win. The cars have been devised by Bentley’s in-house personal commissioning division, Mulliner.
There will only be 48 cars in the run, limited by the fact that each one contains a valve from the winning car’s 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine. The valve is in pride of place in the dashboard in a vitrine that can be rotated to reveal a touchscreen instead. There’s also a six-wreath logo on the dashboard and treadplates marking all the Le Mans wins. The Continental’s usual analogue timepiece is replaced with a digital clock; it does, of course, have the show the time in 24-hour format.
The exterior also celebrates its competition brethren. British Racing Green was really the only choice, and it’s enlivened with Moonbeam Silver racing stripes. The lower front bumper and mirrors are finished in black. The prominent number seven echoes the Speed 8’s race number, while its position on the grille is evocative of Bentley’s 1920s racers.
Under the skin, it’s Continental GT business as usual. That’s to say there’s a 6.0-litre W12 engine that produces 659PS (484kW) and 900Nm (664lb ft) of torque – enough to hustle the opulent coupé to 60mph from rest in 3.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 205mph.
The 80th Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport is live now! You can watch every second of the action right here on GRR.
Photography by Toby Whales