Bentley celebrates Le Mans win with special Continental GT | GRR
Many special editions of cars can be fairly described as cynical exercises in unit shifting and price hiking – a flashy colour, some weird materials and a pretentious name. In the case of the new Le Mans Collection Bentley Continental GT however, we see something a little more special, with pieces of history quite literally embedded in them.
The clue is in the name and indeed the pictures, which see this new Conti running alongside the Bentley Speed 8 at Circuit de la Sarthe: this car is a celebration of Le Mans, both in terms of the Speed 8’s victory in 2003, and the race’s overall 100-year history, with which Bentley has history all the way back to the first ever race. Yes, it was a Bentley that set the fastest lap in the very first Le Mans 24 Hours.
This Continental however pays more mind to the Speed 8’s conquest of 2003, with a number of references to the sixth and last time the Flying B won at the world’s greatest motor race. These include the Moonbeam racing stripe and highlights, the ‘7’ of the race winner flashed into the grille and the Verdant green paintwork. The lower front bumper area is finished in Beluga Black as part of the Blackline specification, which is a nod to the Speed 8’s green and black livery.
It gets even cooler on the inside, though. The highlight of the package is probably that each of the 48 examples – to be split between GTs and GTCs – will have a valve from the winning engine embedded and visible in its rotating display. This features along with an inlay of six winning wreaths (for the marque’s six wins) in the facia, a Speed 8 silhouette on the tread plate and a digital 24-hour clock. There’s a dual finish throughout the cabin of piano black and carbon-fibre.
In terms of the mechanicals, all the Le Mans Collection Continental GTs will effectively be ‘Speed’ spec, equipped with the marque’s grand 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12 producing 659PS (484kW) and 900Nm (664lb ft), going to ground via all four wheels and Bentley’s eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. The 0-62mph sprint takes just 3.5 seconds, on the way to a 208mph top speed. This means these special Le Mans Contis will be among the last W12 Bentleys to be made, as the marque concludes production of the mill next year.