Bentley Supersports cuts nearly half a tonne for its most focused Continental GT yet

Many of the world’s great circuits have their signature corners. Spa has Eau Rouge, Suzuka 130R, Monza the Parabolica and so on. Their reputations have been earned for their challenging nature, corners which bring out the best in the best. But there are just a couple which have gained their reputations for being just, well, weird. The Karussell at the Nürburgring, the line actually being a drainage ditch, and the Corkscrew here at Laguna Seca, noted for its blind approach, 18m drop to the left and blind exit to the right. I’m not sure I much like it, but it is both unique and interesting, rarely more so than when your chosen means of descent is a two tonne Bentley. It is, I hope, the closest experience I’ll have to going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

Make that 1.999 tonnes of Bentley. And it’s a figure of which Bentley is rightly proud, marking as it does the near half-tonne weight reduction achieved turning a regular Continental GT Speed into this Supersports. It is the lightest Bentley for nearly 70 years and exists, I strongly suspect, as a balance to the all-electric Torcal SUV. This is Bentley restating what has long been the case: that it is the most broadly defined of all luxury automotive brands. Which other marque, for instance, could claim both to be a multiple Le Mans winner and supplier of the monarch’s State Limousine?

Shedding all that weight appears to have been largely straightforward with none of the witchcraft to which others have reverted to shrug off the kilos. No hollow carpet fibres here… Instead the lion’s share has been done by binning the entire hybrid system, the front driveshafts and differential and the rear seats, belts and bags. Standard ceramic brakes and lightweight forged wheels help too, but otherwise major modifications are not about losing weight, but controlling what remains with revisions to suspension, steering and electronics, and using bigger turbos to replace at least some of the power lost by ditching the hybrid. The result is a car which finds itself in the curious position of having the least power of any car in the Continental range, yet by a distance the best power-to-weight ratio.

All of which, combined with its aggressive appearance and the fact we were only allowed to drive on the circuit, and not at all on the road, suggests clearly that the first Bentley road car intended primarily for track use, at least since the launch of the original 3-litre Supersports back in 1925. But suggestions, like appearances, can be deceptive. This is not a track car, and we’re only driving it at Laguna Seca because Bentley has a grand total of two pre-production prototypes to let the press drive (on a normal launch that number would be around 20) and all 500 of the production run sold long before anyone got a go. Yes, even for over a third of a million pounds each.

It’s hard to reach definitive conclusions about a car when only able to drive it in an environment to which it is not best-suited, and harder still when you’re not allowed to turn off the traction control, lest you stick it in the wall and halve the number of cars at Bentley’s disposal.

“In terms of pure dynamic ability, this is the best Bentley there has been”

But I can tell you that in terms of pure dynamic ability, this is the best Bentley there has been and, if you think about it, it would have been quite curious were it anything less. Even on sticky (optional) Pirelli Trofeo RS track day rubber, traction is limited, but when it grips, goodness me it goes, belting unadulterated thunder from its end-to-end titanium exhaust pipes. And stops. The ceramics are the same as you can option into a Speed, but with the weight of an entire car removed from the job sheet, they may be the most over-specified components on the car.

Even so, it is the way it dives into the corner off the power, all delicious and neutral, and then allows you to slide ever so gently away (we were allowed at least to use the sport setting for the ESC). Because it’s lost the big battery at the back it’s actually fundamentally less well-balanced than a Speed, but you’d never know when driving it. This car is playful in a way I don’t recall any Bentley being playful since perhaps the short-wheelbase Continental T of 30 years back, and about nine hundred times more capable.

And yet it was just a little frustrating, because I have a feeling that this could be a very special car indeed, if let loose among the wide open spaces of Europe. It’s quiet enough at part throttle to cruise and there was no suggestion the ride had gone to pot either. What I suspect this car actually is, is the greatest sporting GT Bentley has ever made. But I cannot say for certain. How happy I would be for the opportunity to prove that point, correct the record and establish this car’s true place in the Bentley pantheon. But with all cars sold and no further press therefore needed, I’m not holding my breath.

Bentley Supersports

● Price £342,900
● Engine 4 litres, eight cylinders, twin turbo, petrol
● Power 657bhp at 6000rpm
● Torque 590lb ft at 2000rpm
● Weight 1999kg (DIN)
● Power to weight 329bhp per tonne
● Transmission Eight-speed double clutch, rear-wheel drive
● 0-62mph 3.7sec
● Top speed 192mph
● Economy 18mpg
● CO2 TBA/km
● Verdict Possibly Bentley’s GT best.

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Verdict: A Hoot to Chuck Around Town.

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