- Around 750 bhp and 1000 Nm from reworked 4.0-litre V8
- First Flying B to run on renewable fuel
Bentley and Pikes Peaks have grown a little love affair between them of late. After setting the lap record on the 12.42-mile course with the Bentayga, the British marque is returning to the annual automobile hill climb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA this year with this – the Continental GT3. And it’d be running on biofuel-based gasoline when it will assault the Pikes Peak on 27 June.
Putting down close to 750bhp and 1000Nm from its race-derived 4.0-litre V8, the Continental GT3 have completed three dynamic test sessions on renewable fuel engine development. Part of the ‘Beyond100’ programme from the carmaker, the GT3 version is said to be the most extreme road-going Bentley ever built.
Needing more air attempting a hill climb from 9300ft to 14100ft, the race-spec engine is boosted to over 2.2bars with new pistons and conrods and an increased dynamic pressure ratio. Its carbon fibre intake manifold is thicker and reinforced with custom, one-off Inconel exhaust manifolds been 3D-printed via laser sintering by Akrapovic.
And the larger turbos are paired with external wastegates, venting into very short exhausts and dedicated screamer pipes that exit behind the front wheels. It also gets a secondary cooling system installed at the back of the car.
For the run, the engine would be running on 98RON renewable racing fuel. Bentley claims that this fuel has a dedicated blend of advanced biofuels specifically designed for motorsport. And it is a part of the Crewe-based carmaker’s attempt in the greenhouse gas reduction of up to 85 per cent.
The black-and-gold liveried Continental GT3 at the Pikes Peak is run in conjunction with British Continental GT3 customer team Fastr. The two chassis setup has been done already at Willow Springs while high altitude testing took place in Aspen Mountains.
To break the record, the Conti GT3 would have to climb nearly 5,000ft – which includes 156 corners – at an average speed of more than 125kmph and cross the finish line in less than nine minutes and 36 seconds. Of course, the three-time Pikes Peak champion and former ‘King of the Mountain’ Rhys Millen would be at the helm at the hill climb later this month. Rhys Millen already holds Bentley’s two other Pikes Peak records.
