Of all the places Bentley is planning to launch a new car, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is probably the last place you'll guess, given the modern history of bentley's high-performance models. Still, here I am standing in Laguna Seca's pit lane wearing a helmet and riding a few laps behind the wheel of a 2027 Bentley supersport. The new Supersport is the latest in Bentley's line of ultra-sporty Continental GTs, which includes the GT3-R of late teens and the last generation supersport, which is the first rear-wheel-drive continental of the Volkswagen era, and it is not only much lighter than the previous Conti GT, but also much lighter. The carbon fiber body kit, Bentley also made it look clearly sporty.
It has a real performance to back up its looks and positioning, and it's downright fun. This is a whole new kind of Bentley, but it's a Bentley. After walking around a few different specified supersports and really incorporating the car design, I have to say I think it looks awesome. The previous supersport and even the GT3-R were pretty subtle, but the new supersport is more badass in your face and has a much greater need for speed atmosphere than any Bentley before it. Most notably, the mouthy Flo with its dive plane and chin splitter, fender blades just behind the front wheels, a chunky diffuser and a large rear spoiler all of these tweaks add 661 pounds more downforce than the Continental GT Speed.
Other supersport-specific modifications include laser-cut patterns for aluminum grille mesh, 22-inch forged wheels developed by Muncie (it is disappointing and boring to look at), carbon fiber mirror caps and dark-colored headlights. Events of Super Sports 1 is"nightfall"paint scheme, gray paint and subtle gold accents and graphic look. That's okay, but the super Sport deserves a really wild spec, like the Mulliner "Dragon" theme on the 2nd car. Bentley recently started offering ombré paint work with basically any combination of colors that can go up and down, left and right, or back and forth. Off-center stripe and an accent in combination with, I think it looks really cool.
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The interior is almost the same as the normal Continental, but unlike the first generation Supersport, which shared a manually adjustable seat with the Bugatti Veyron, at least as with the original Supersport, the rear seats take in a nice molded carbon parcel shelf in its place, these new ones are still heated and power adjustable. They are really supportive, too, and the seat position is lower than normal Continental. Otherwise, the changes are limited to some super sports specific trim and color scheme options, like the two-way color splitting of the Dragon car. But everyone within half a mile of a super sport will experience one of its more visceral qualities before you watch or get into a super sport: the way it sounds.
While I wait for my turn to drive, I watch my colleagues turn around the last corner of the truck and blast past us under the main straight and mission bridge, but I hear supersport well before I actually see them coming. The titanium exhaust makes a great bass rumble as it rips in, and it's an all-natural sound. When overrun or shifting, there is enough pleasant noise to make the sound of the car exciting, but not overkill. This is more powerful than the Bentayga speed and not far from the base PHEV continental with 671hp and 685lb-ft. The best point of comparison is for the pre-facelift Conti's v542hp and 568lb-ft made just for the V8. It's not as rapid as the all-wheel drive hybrid, but Bentley says the supersport can reach 60mph in 3.4 seconds, and the acceleration is really punchy from behind the wheel.
I don't even push it that hard, and I still carry more speed in and out of the main straight and some corners than I did a 911 Carrera S a few months ago. Immediately after setting off the Super Sport, its weight-saving regimen feels like a completely different animal compared to those of other new Continental GTs, especially the new plug-in hybrid, is a huge part of it. In addition to eliminating the hybrid system, making it rear-wheel drive and taking out the rear seats, Bentley reduced a lot of noise, redesigned the sound system for two passengers and installed a carbon fiber roof. We don't know the final U.S. market weight chart yet, but the Supersport is less than 4,400 pounds, more than 8 pounds lighter than the old nonhybrid v300 and about 1,100 pounds lighter than the new PHEV compared to the hybrid, with most of its weight taken off the rear axle, but with its large rear spoils.
This is part of the reason why there is an error. Its diet has become a huge boon for the steering of super sports. Bentley's current lineup is already great to drive, but without the driving front wheels, all its weight is taken out, a super sports rut It's much more communicative and responsive than other new Bentley and it starts light but the steering is loaded well. The turn-in is particularly sharp and satisfying. Even if Continental's existing all-wheel drive system could have a very rear heavy bias, it's not the same as a pure rear drive setup, and that's a lot of power to put down. There is still an electronic limited slip differential to disperse the torque between the rear wheels, the operation feels quite natural, and the company also remains in the rear wheel steering of the Conti, without intruding or twitching.
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This can be a problem with sports cars with features. On our lap, Bentley keeps all of its traction control and stability systems on, and the car definitely feels more agile and fun when you turn them off or put them into dynamic handling mode, but it still feels playful in the corners. It is not cut too badly. Bentley is a lot of weight removed, the continental air suspension and a 48-volt active anti-roll remains in the system and, more off the corner in the car noticeably flat to keep. Our car and drove the Super Sport is a corner at 1.3g pulled to allow the 22 inch forged wheels with the optional pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS, there are the standard P Zero Pz4S even a good enough one.
Without a doubt, from these cornering speeds to the tasks that reign in the car, the feel of a standard car pedal with a 10-piston caliper and a 17.3-inch disc at the front is excellent, and if you only need a light press to slow down a corner, I often find myself too fast and too hard to brake. The Bentley with the rake tells me that I have to do some careful cool-down laps at the end of my stint but have been running hard for two days around the track without having to service the brakes. Bentley is the new Super Sport 500 going to make, and they are all sold out. In fact, the Monterey Car Week in R&D of the Board of Directors Matthias Rabe said the supersport starts at $490,350, including the GAS-guzzler tax, about GT150k more than the GT speed, and once the options are considered, you have to imagine that most builds start at number 6.
I don't think those 500 customers will be disappointed by what they spent their money on. The new Bentley Supersports is a car with a big personality and a wide range of abilities that will make you feel like you're at home amazingly with one of the best race tracks in America. And in terms of Bentley's ambition to become a more attractive brand for driving enthusiasts, this new supersport is just the beginning. Overseen by the new chairman and CEO Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, the small skunkworks team of Bentley engineers secretly developed this car and immediately turned green, so the only prototype that is convincing Imagine what the company can do now that we know there is a desire for this kind of Bentley.
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