Bentley Continental SuperSports Spotted

The Bentley Continental Supersports caught out testing before its UK launch next year

Bentley introduced us the the ‘Green’ Bentley Continental Supersports at the Geneva Motor Show in February, and they are now out shaking the car down in Europe – our snappers caught the Supersports out on the road near the Nurburgring.

Clearly identifiable as a Supersports from the bonnet vents and the huge air scoops at the front, this 621bhp monster is due to go on sale in the UK in the New Year.

Bentley engineers have increased the output of the Supersports to a really massive 621bhp by fettling the new Bentley to run on Bioethanol E85 and the modification of the injectors and valves, allowing the same performance whether the car is run on E85 or regular petrol. But it is not just the power increase that will help the performance. There has been a fair bit of weight stripping going on, resulting in a drop of around 300lbs from the standard Bentley Continental GT Speed. All this extra power and weight saving should deliver a 0-60mph time of 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 204mph. All this from a 2 ton pus, GT car.

The Continental Supersports also has a new ZF ‘Quickshift’ gearbox, which manages changes twice as fast as the regular ‘box, and the 4WD system shoves 40% of the power to the front wheels to keep the Supersports properly balanced, and to counteract its tendency to run wide because of the heavy front end (the biggest handling criticism of the standard Bentley Continental GT).

What we’re hoping for, especially as the Bentley was spotted near the Nurburgring, is a set of lap time from the ‘Ring. Now that would be interesting.