Since the first Bathurst 12-Hour race in 1991, the overall winning cars have been from many different brands and among them, in the 2020 event, was the Continental GT3. That year, with Bentley’s biggest ever motorsport programme, the Continental GT demonstrated its breadth of ability on the road and on the track.
That memorable victory inspired Mulliner and Bentley Sydney to create a special edition in conjunction with the recent launch in Australia of the new Continental GT S. Focused on driving performance and visual presence, the Continental GT S shares a number of characteristics with its track-based counterpart, thereby providing the perfect foundation for the pair of specially-commissioned road cars.
As reported earlier, Bentley is participating in this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, which took place in the American state of Colorado over the past few days. The car used this year is the Continental GT3 Pikes Peak and apart from its powerful 750+ bhp engine, it has also been tuned to run on renewable fuel.
On the course up the hill, the Continental GT3 proved to be the fastest car running on renewable fuel, finishing 2nd in the Time Attack 1 and 4th overall among all competitors. The car, driven by former ‘King of the Mountain’ Rhys Millen, crossing the finish line in 6:36.281 despite suffering a late engine issue. The time was good enough to beat all other sustainability-focused entrants, including fully electric competitors.
The course was shortened due to snow and ice near the 4,300-metre high summit of Pikes Peak. For safety reasons, the organisers repositioned the finish line at a point at 3,896 metres. This cut out the last third of the normal course which has 156 turns, many of them ‘open-air’ corners. The shortened route also meant that Bentley’s attempt to set a new record could not be achieved.
Nonetheless, the Continental GT3 Pikes Peak – regarded as ‘the most extreme road-going Bentley ever built’ – set a blistering pace over the first two sectors, entering the third and final sector 12 seconds ahead of its nearest rival. A few corners from the finish, a boost pressure problem meant 16 seconds were lost, dropping Millen back to second place in class.
“We know we had the pace today both to win our class, and to break the Time Attack 1 record. The weather sadly wasn’t with us though, with the shortened course meaning our assault on the record was never a possibility. While that’s a bitter pill to swallow, I’m proud to have entered such a strong renewably-powered racing car – the fastest at the event – and equally proud of the team that’s delivered this project. This is the first step on Bentley’s renewable fuel journey, and there will be many more opportunities to come. Perhaps we’ll even come back to Pikes Peak next year…,” said Bentley’s Director of Motorsport, Paul Williams.
Bentley’s participation in the 2021 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was the company’s third in recent years, following successful record runs in both a specially-prepared Bentayga (Production SUV record) and a Continental GT (outright Production Class record).
With regard to the RON98 Renewable Racing Fuel, this fuel is a dedicated blend of advanced biofuels specifically designed for motorsport. It is a technological stepping stone to sustainably-created eFuel with a greenhouse gas reduction of up to 85%.
Up till the 1980s, the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in the US state of Colorado was pretty much an American event, largely unknown to the rest of the world. The first run for the ‘Race to the Clouds’ was held in 1916 and thereafter, it became an annual event that saw new records being set every so often. Then in 1984, Audi showed up; as the era of the Group B super rallycars ended, Audi looked for other events where it could still enter its cars and the Pikes Peak Hillclimb was one of them.
French rally driver Michele Mouton came with the Audi Quattro and, within two years, was able to win overall as well as set a new course record. Other European teams also brought their powerful rallycars to Pikes Peak and the power game escalated. Even electric vehicles started to race up the hill, one of them from Mitsubishi Motors.
Two previous records
Bentley also saw the event as a good place to demonstrate the superior performance of its cars, especially to the US market which takes a lot of them each year. In 2018, it sent Rhys Millen in a Bentayga W12 up the 20-km route with 156 turns and the New Zealander set a new Production SUV record. The following year, Millen used a Continental GT and set the outright Production Car record.
This year, on June 27, Millen will again be racing up the hill and for this run, he has a Continental GT3. The car is now in final preparations which have included three dynamic test sessions and renewable fuel engine development.
Most extreme road-going Bentley
Regarded as ‘the most extreme road-going Bentley ever built’, the Pikes Peak racer will run on renewable fuel, initiating a R&D programme that aims to offer renewable fuels to Bentley customers in parallel to Bentley’s electrification programme. This two-strand strategy is set to maximise the pace of Bentley’s progress towards outright carbon neutrality, as part of its ‘Beyond100’ journey.
Upgraded twin-turbo V8 engine
From the start line at 2,834 metres, the course climbs to around 4,300 metres. As the altitude increases, the air becomes less dense, which has major implications in engine performance. The car’s engine – based on Bentley’s race-proven version of its 4-litre V8 road car engine – can cope with the reduced air density as it is turbocharged. It has been thoroughly reworked to generate more than 750 bhp/1,000 Nm at sea level for testing – and the engine will run even higher power levels for the race itself.
New pistons and conrods are installed to turn additional boost pressure (over 2.2 bar) into power, having to handle an increased dynamic pressure ratio. The carbonfibre intake manifold is thicker and reinforced versus the standard item, for the same reason. Custom, one-off Inconel exhaust manifolds have been 3D-printed via laser sintering by Abramovic, and lead to larger turbos paired with external wastegates, venting into very short exhausts and dedicated screamer pipes that exit behind the front wheels.
The high performance engine places additional demands on the cooling system and for Pikes Peak, the engineering team developed a secondary cooling system that’s installed at the back of the car. Air scoops replace the rear windows, and channel air through a secondary radiator that exhausts through ducts in the boot lid. The system runs via a dedicated secondary water pump.
RON98 eFuel
The engine runs on RON98 Renewable Racing Fuel. The fuel is a dedicated blend of advanced biofuels specifically designed for motorsport, and is a technological stepping stone to sustainably-created eFuel with a greenhouse gas reduction of up to 85%.
The gearbox is Bentley’s standard racing unit, already designed to handle the torque loads involved, but rear driveshaft diameter has been increased to provide additional durability. The gearbox runs a specially-formulated lubricant created specifically for the car by Mobil1, who have also supplied high-performance oil for the engine.
The chassis has been set up and tuned to suit the specific nature of the Pikes Peak course. Both front and rear axles run significantly reduced camber to the standard Continental GT3 setup, focusing the car on low-speed cornering performance. The softest springs and anti-roll bars from Bentley’s range have been fitted, to allow more movement in the body and so maximise weight transfer for braking. The brakes themselves are water-cooled, to handle the increased loads that an all-out attack on the course will bring.
Aerodynamic modifications
The aerodynamic modifications see a 30% increase in overall downforce at sea level, while maintaining the standard car’s aerodynamic front/rear balance – validated during the first track sessions. The biggest rear wing ever fitted to a Bentley dominates the rear of the car, sitting above a highly efficient rear diffuser that surrounds the transaxle gearbox. To maintain the aerodynamic balance front-to-rear, these devices are paired with a comprehensive front-end aerodynamic package comprising a two-plane front splitter flanked by separate dive planes. The majority of these parts were made with carbon nylon filament using rapid prototype, additive manufacturing techniques at the Bentley factory in Crewe.
To break the record, the car will have to complete the climb of around 1,500 metres at an average speed of more than 125 km/h to cross the finish line in less than 9 minutes and 36 seconds.
