Hm?! This Bentley Continental GT celebrates an Audi victory at Le Mans
Okay, the headline is very boring. Bentley celebrates its own victory at Le Mans in 2003 with this Continental GT. The marque then came first and second across the finish line with the spectacular Speed 8, a camouflaged Audi R8C.
To say Audi was dominant at Le Mans is an understatement. Between 2000 and 2014, the brand won the 24-hour race no fewer than thirteen times. Fourteen times if we count Bentley’s win in 2003 when Audi didn’t get into a works team.
Bentley won Le Mans a total of six times
Could no one break Audi’s supremacy? Yes, because in 2009 Peugeot succeeded once, with the 908 HDi FAP, which just trumped the Audi R15 TDI.
Anyway, back to Bentley, who won the Le Mans 24 Hours a total of six times, five times in the 1920s and 1930s and thus in 2003.
Bentley Continental GT Le Mans Collection
To celebrate this last podium, the brand is introducing a limited version of the Continental GT and Continental GTC, the Le Mans Collection. Recognizable by the start number 7 in the radiator grille.
Speed 8 bottle valve on dash
They all have Bentley’s well-known rotating dashboard element. This has three sides: one with the infotainment screen in it, one with three analog clocks on it, and one with ‘Nothing’ to keep the dashboard stripe uninterrupted.
In the Le Mans Collection models, the middle clock on the second page has been replaced by a small display case. It incorporates a cylinder valve from the Le Mans-winning Bentley Speed 8’s 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8.
After all, there isn’t a whole valve in it, but half one. Because Bentley demolished 24 of the 32 valves from the eight-cylinder to fill 48 showcases. So many Continental GTs from the Le Mans Collection are built.
A missed opportunity is the color of the special edition. Mulliner, Bentley’s personalization department, didn’t attempt to replicate the Speed 8’s green color, but simply took an existing color that is somewhat similar: Verdant Green.
Only available with 6.0 liter biturbo W12
The Le Mans Collection Continental GT is only available with a 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 with 659 hp and 900 Nm. That’s strange because the V8 would have been a better fit. After all, the Speed 8 – broadly an Audi R8C – was powered by an Audi eight-cylinder.