Bentley's limited edition GT3-R, which the company's CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer described to Forbes as the "road-leading derivative of the GT3 race-car," made its North American debut this week.
"Bentley has a very strong racing heritage," Dürheimer explained, which makes this 2.4 ton vehicle a highly relevant addition to the brand's collection. With two seats and the ability to go from 0 to 60 in 3.6 seconds, this isn't your average over-sized touring Bentley.
Although today most people don't necessarily link the Bentley brand with racing, history reflects Dürheimer's explanation. Bentley Motors won the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times between 1924 and 1930. The company is now trying to win back that prestige in the racing world, and the release of the $337,000 GT3-R marks a giant step toward that goal. This new model is something between a race car and a touring vehicle, with a 4.0-liter twin turbocharged V8 engine, 572 brake horsepower, and 518 pound-feet of torque. The car's front wheels feature 16.5-inch carbon ceramic brakes--the biggest on any production car in the world, capable of absorbing 10 megajoules of energy in one stop.
Right down to its green-striped exterior and black-finished 21-inch wheels, the vehicle is race-inspired. Its body is made from steel and aluminum, with a carbon fiber front splitter and rear wing. The bonnet also has cooling vents, typical of a race car. Bentley is manufacturing just 300 of the cars, which operate on 13 miles per gallon of gasoline. Their gas mileage might be less than impressive and design and color customization is not even an option, but Bentley notes that the GT3-R is more of a collector's item than a practical touring vehicle.
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