Bentley plans race-inspired Continental Supersports

By Stephen Edelstein Published May 2, 2014

The 2014 Bentley Continental GT Speed is already the marque’s fastest-ever production model, but the British luxury brand is reportedly planning another sporty model.

Autocar reports that Bentley is preparing a new version of the Supersports: the most hardcore member of the first-generation Continental family. This outlier hasn’t joined the redesigned lineup like the Speed and other Continental models, but a new version could make a more direct connection between Bentley’s road cars and its Continental GT3 racer.

Like the race car, the new Supersports will reportedly use Bentley’s 4.0-liter, twin turbocharged V8, rather than the 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 found in the Speed. This means the Supersports will possess significantly less power –possibly around 545 horsepower– than the Speed, which is rated at 626 hp and 605 pound-feet of torque.

It’s possible, then, that the Supersports will emphasize other areas of performance besides outright speed. The last Supersports was meant to be a spartan model (at least, spartan for Bentley) focused more on driving excitement than luxury. A new version with the same philosophy would make even more sense now that Bentley has a racing program to plug.

So, don’t be surprised if Bentley customers start trading their smoking jackets for fire suits soon.

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Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

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