Finally!

http://www.4wheelsnews.com/new-bentley-continental-supersports-will-arrive-in-2014-with-650-bhp/

 

Nice, thanks for posting. It says, "To reduce the weight, Bentley is planning to put in carbonfibre body panels, lightweight composite seats and maybe stripping out the rear seats to create a two-seat cabin". If they can get her down to 4500 lbs i'd be impressed. Am guessing 5200 is what they are shooting for though.

 

The current Supersports is 4940 lbs, so I really hope they are not shooting for 5200

They can easily replace the front fenders, the hoo..sorry, the bonnet and the trun...sorry the boot lid with carbon fibre pieces. Those are standalone parts. If they want to do something awesome, they can do a carbon fibre roof - even BMW is doing that on M cars these days.

 

It sounds like there is an identity crisis about what the car lineup is trying to be.

Is this because people are complaining when drag racing their Bentleys (or better yet, road racing), that they wish they'd have 100 less lbs?

I can understand incremental changes, and the desire to increase mileage / performance. I applaud Bentley for not sitting still while the industry moves on (a la Aston Martin). But I'm curious what the desired effect is (not just weight savings, but the purpose of the car).

 

Well, the 'power wars' are on and losing weight is always a good thing provided it doesn't kill the great reliability.

 

They need to lose even more weight, like Range Rover did.

 

Better for them to add more HP if possible with GT3 tricks but keep cabin luxury the same

 

This was my thought. Thanks for articulating it better.

 

you are welcome! I like my 2011 Supersports with the luxury seat just fine!

 

I my opinion, there is no identity crisis at all. In fact, it's more of going back to the roots. From the beginning, Bentleys were about performance (without compromising luxury). Between 1923 and 1993 Bentley participated in 9 Le Mans races and won 6 of them. In between, they also set new speed and endurance records. I think that releasing a few high-performance models (i.e. Supersports & GT3) falls perfectly in line with Bentley's heritage and definitely helps their image.

Replacing several body panels with carbon fibre will not change the appearance of the car a bit, but it will decrease the weight, which is a win-win.

As far as racing Bentleys is concerned, who in your opinion Bentley was targeting when they released the Supersports? Theoretically, anyone who is looking for prestige, luxury and comfort will be satisfied with a standard GT and those who want "just a bit more of everything" will be perfectly happy with the GT Speed. I am sure there are people who bought their Supersports because it was the fastest Bentley ever, and it's unique in it's own right, etc., but I got mine because it's like a Swiss army knife. It can get me to the office during morning rush hour quickly - few people dare to cut off or tailgate a Bentley. After a long day in the office, I can set the suspension to "comfort", turn on the massage and have a relaxing drive home. On a weekend, I can go to a track day and out-drive people with dedicated "sport cars". I can take my kids to school, take friends to dinner or pick someone up at the airport (with luggage). In the winter, I can throw a set of winter tires on, raise the car up and go skiing to Vermont. All in a single car, without compromise. I applaud Bentley for making a Supersports and hope that the next one will be even more awesome (more power, less weight, better suspension).

Speaking of track events, I went to a Bentley Driving Experience at Lime Rock earlier this week and drove a few different cars. During an autocross in a 2013 GTC, the body roll was atrocious and the car just plowed (see pics). Driving a 2013 GT Speed around Lime Rock felt much better, but the car I was in did not have carbon ceramic brakes and I felt the difference immediately. Engine power and cornering ability also felt different (worse) than my Supersports. Again, different strokes for different folks.

You also correctly pointed out that Bentley is not sitting still when it comes to competition. Everyone knows that 0 to 60 figures are meaningless most of the time (as it relates to real world driving anyway), but they certainly earn publicity when it comes to comparisons, etc. When Supersports was originally released in 2009, very few real life cars could do 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds. Things are a lot different today, when a 4-door family sedan (MB E63 AMG) can do it in 3.4 seconds, Bentley needs a quicker Supersports to distance itself from the pack.

Based on what I hear, GT3 will be produced as well. It will most likely be priced over $500K and will serve two purposes. First, it will serve as a test bed for new technologies and second, it will serve as a "halo" car, associating the brand with racing again, bringing publicity and helping sales (i.e. "Race on Sunday, sell on Monday").

 

I believe the SS is built like this already except for the carbon fiber hoods , bumpers, and trunk. You know they will charge. Also the current SS rear seat deleted and carbon ceramic brakes weigh in at 4750. Our stock GT weighs in at 5150lbs. About 5 thousand bucks of lithium ion batteries and she can lose another 60lbs. It cost to make this girl lighter. But the performance is there.

 

Ek1, excellent post and agree on many fronts. As far as 06 GT versus 07 GTC in handling, the difference is big. The GT felt far better IMHO.

 

Worst write up I ever read

 

Do tell F430 as would enjoy hearing your thoughts.

 

Curious where you got the 4750 Lbs figure? Quite a few web sites on the Internet list the curb weight at 4940 Lbs:

http://www.edmunds.com/bentley/conti...res-specs.html

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...rsports-review