2027 Bentley Supersports Is An Unexpected Delight On Track – Jalopnik

Out of all of the locales you may anticipate Bentley to host a new-car launch, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca might be the final place you’d guess, even given Bentley’s fashionable historical past of higher-performance fashions. And but right here I’m, standing within the Laguna Seca pit lane with a helmet on, about to get behind the wheel of a 2027 Bentley Supersports for just a few sizzling laps.

The new Supersports is the most recent in Bentley’s line of super-sporty Continental GTs, and it’s miles extra excessive than the GT3-R and last-gen Supersports of the late teenagers. This is the primary rear-wheel-drive Continental of the Volkswagen period, and never solely is it a lot lighter than any earlier Conti GT, it is the corporate’s lightest automotive in 85 years. And as you may see from its carbon-fiber bodykit, Bentley made positive it appeared overtly sporty, too.

Sadly I do not truly get to float it — apologies for baiting you with that rad lead picture — however Bentley did let me do half a dozen laps across the observe at a fast tempo. You may suppose {that a} track-focused Bentley is a ridiculous contradiction, however the brand new Supersports is the true deal. It’s obtained the precise efficiency to again up its appears and positioning, and it is downright enjoyable. This is a completely new type of Bentley, but it surely’s a Bentley via and thru.

Full disclosure: Bentley flew me as much as Monterey just a few days after Car Week and put me up in a resort for the evening so I may experience within the Torcal and drive the Supersports for just a few laps round Laguna Seca.

After strolling round a pair in a different way spec’d Supersports and actually taking within the automotive’s design, I gotta say I feel it appears f**king superior. While earlier Supersports and even the GT3-R have been pretty refined, the brand new Supersports is extra badass, in-your-face, and has a a lot greater Need for Speed vibe than any Bentley earlier than it. And earlier than you begin speaking about how “boy racer” it’d look, simply know that every little thing about its carbon-fiber bodykit was developed with aerodynamics and efficiency in thoughts first, design second.

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Most noticeable are the mouthy entrance finish with its dive planes and chin splitter, the fender blades simply aft of the entrance wheels, the chunky diffuser and the massive rear spoiler. All of these tweaks add as much as 661 kilos extra downforce than a Continental GT Speed. Other Supersports-specific adjustments embrace a laser-cut sample for the aluminum grille mesh, 22-inch solid wheels developed by Manthey (which can be disappointingly boring to take a look at), carbon-fiber mirror caps and dark-tinted headlights.

One of the Supersports on the occasion is the “Nightfall” paint scheme, which pairs grey paint with some refined gold accents and graphics. It’s nice, however the Supersports deserves a extremely wild spec, just like the “Dragon” theme of the second automotive. Bentley lately began providing ombré paint jobs that may go up and down, facet to facet, or entrance to again, and with principally any mixture of colours. Paired with the off-center stripe and accents, I feel it appears actually cool, and I can think about so many nice potentialities. Bentley can also be providing hand-painted stripe graphics in a number of colours, which I hope a whole lot of house owners go for.

Inside it is largely the identical as a daily Continental, however simply as on the unique Supersports, the rear seat has been eliminated with a beautiful molded carbon parcel shelf as a replacement, and the massaging entrance seats are actually carbon-fiber-backed buckets with mounted headrests. At least not like the first-gen Supersports, which shared its manually-adjustable seats with the Bugatti Veyron, these new ones are nonetheless heated and power-adjustable. They’re actually supportive, too, and the seating place is decrease than within the common Conti. Otherwise, adjustments are restricted to some Supersports-specific trim and shade scheme choices, just like the two-way shade break up of the Dragon automotive.

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Before you see or get within the Supersports, although, anybody inside half a mile of the Supersports will expertise considered one of its extra visceral qualities: the way in which it sounds. As I look ahead to my flip to drive, I watch my colleagues come across the observe’s closing nook and blast previous us up the principle straight and below the Mission bridge, however I hear the Supersports nicely earlier than I truly see them coming. The titanium exhaust makes an awesome bassy rumble because it rips by, and it is all a pure sound. There’s simply sufficient enjoyable noises on overrun and upon shifting to make the automotive sound thrilling however not over-done.

Bentley upgraded the twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8’s crankcase, cylinder heads and turbos, and within the Supersports it makes 657 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. That’s extra energy than a Bentayga Speed has, and it isn’t far off the bottom PHEV Continental, which has 671 hp and 685 lb-ft. The greatest level of comparability is in opposition to the pre-facelift Conti’s V8, which made do with solely 542 hp and 568 lb-ft. Though not fairly as fast because the all-wheel-drive hybrids, Bentley says the Supersports will nonetheless hit 60 mph in 3.4 seconds, and acceleration feels actually punchy from behind the wheel. I do not even push it that tough, and I nonetheless carry much more velocity on the principle straight and heading into and out of some corners than I did in a 911 Carrera S just a few months in the past.

Immediately after setting off the Supersports appears like a completely completely different animal in comparison with different new Continental GTs, particularly the brand new plug-in-hybrid ones, and its weight-savings routine is a large a part of that. In addition to forgoing a hybrid system, making it rear-wheel drive and taking out the again seats, Bentley took out a whole lot of sound deadening, redesigned the sound system for simply two passengers, and fitted a carbon-fiber roof. We do not know the ultimate U.S.-market weight determine but, however the Supersports will are available in a bit of below 4,400 kilos, over 300 kilos lighter than the outdated nonhybrid V8 Continental and about 1,100 kilos lower than a brand new PHEV one. Compared to the hybrid, most of that weight has been taken off the rear axle, partly why there’s that huge rear spoiler.

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That food plan has been an enormous boon for the Supersports’ steering. Bentley’s present lineup is already fantastic to drive, however with out pushed entrance wheels and with all that weight taken out, the Supersports’ rack is downright sporty. It’s far more communicative and responsive than another new Bentley, and although it begins out mild the steering hundreds up properly. Turn-in is especially sharp and satisfying.

Even if the Continental’s current all-wheel-drive system can have a really rear-heavy bias, it isn’t the identical as a pure rear-drive setup, and that is a whole lot of energy to place down. There’s nonetheless an digital limited-slip differential to distribute torque between the rear wheels, which feels fairly pure in its operation, and the corporate additionally left within the Conti’s rear-wheel steering, and it by no means feels intrusive or twitchy, which may typically be an issue with sports activities automobiles which have the function.

For our laps Bentley retains the entire traction management and stability techniques turned on, and the automotive positively appears like will probably be extra agile and much more enjoyable with them off or put in Dynamic Handling mode, but it surely nonetheless permits for some playfulness within the corners and does not reduce in too badly, solely actually being noticeable if I strive exiting a nook notably aggressively. It was particularly miserable watching folks from Bentley’s staff drift the automotive round corners for pictures, not having the ability to do it myself… Hopefully subsequent time. My passenger, product communications supervisor Jonathan Smedley, encourages me to begin getting on the throttle simply earlier than apexes to get the Supersports to rotate, and as soon as I begin nailing that habits the automotive actually comes alive. It’s very easy to get into an excellent, thrilling move on this automotive, and it by no means feels too huge or too heavy or too unwieldy.

While Bentley eliminated a whole lot of weight, it left within the Continental’s air suspension and 48-volt lively anti-roll system, which retains the automotive remarkably flat even within the extra off-camber corners. Tackling the Corkscrew isn’t any drawback, both. It nonetheless rides fairly nicely once I hit the rumble strips, and that is in Sport mode; Bentley says its Touring and Bentley drive modes have been tuned to ensure the automotive is appropriately cozy round city. And regardless of the removing of some sound deadening, it is nonetheless very quiet inside.

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The automobiles we drive have actually sticky Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS, an choice for the 22-inch solid wheels that permit the Supersports to drag 1.3 g within the corners, however even the usual P Zero PZ4s ought to be a lot good. (Bentley says preliminary prototypes saved firing the seatbelt pre-tensioners, as a result of the Conti’s pc techniques weren’t used to that type of cornering efficiency.) Definitely as much as the duty of reigning within the automotive from these cornering speeds are the usual carbon-ceramic brakes, which have 10-piston calipers and 17.3-inch discs up entrance. Pedal really feel is superb, and I ceaselessly discover myself braking too onerous, too quickly, when solely a lighter press is critical to decelerate for a nook. Bentley tells us the automobiles have been operating onerous for 2 days across the observe with out the brakes needing to be serviced, although I do should do just a few cautious cooldown laps on the finish of my stint.

Bentley is just going to make 500 of the brand new Supersports, and so they’re all bought out. In truth, throughout an interview at Monterey Car Week with Dr. Matthias Rabe, member of the board for R&D, he advised me that the entire run was bought out inside simply two months after the automotive’s New York City reveal in November, one thing the corporate was not anticipating given how huge of a departure the automotive is for the model. The Supersports begins at $490,350 together with the gas-guzzler tax, practically $150k greater than a GT Speed, and I’ve to think about most builds will begin with the quantity 6 as soon as choices are taken into consideration.

I do not suppose these 500 prospects shall be dissatisfied by what they’ve spent their cash on. The new Bentley Supersports is a automotive with an enormous character and breadth of potential, one which feels surprisingly at house on considered one of America’s greatest race tracks. And when it comes to Bentley’s ambitions to be a extra engaging model to driving fans, this new Supersports is just the start. Overseen by new chairman and CEO Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, a small skunkworks staff of Bentley engineers developed this automotive in secret, constructing a sole prototype that was so convincing it was rapidly green-lit. Imagine what the corporate may do now that it is aware of there’s an urge for food for this type of Bentley.