What happened to the Bentley GT Speed Top Gear took rallying?

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We asked Bentley what happened to the Continental GT Speed Top Gear took rallying in the first episode of Series 19.

In the UK, we saw the first episode of the new Top Gear series air at the weekend (our colonial readers will have to wait a bit longer), and one of the highlights was James May and Kris Meeke taking Bentley’s Continental GT Speed on a rally stage in Wales.

All that Top Gear did to the GT Speed to prepare it for the rally stage was to chuck out the comfortable, quilted Mulliner front seats and replace them with proper racing seats. Other than that, it was all down to the Bentley’s suspension and enormous torque to take on the worst roads Wales could throw at it.

Remarkably, the GT Speed not only completed the rally stage – despite the less than stellar performance by James in the co-driver’s seat – it appeared to do so relatively unscathed. But what really happened to the GT Speed after Top Gear had finished with it?

It appears that after its rough stuff in Wales, the GT Speed was driven back to the Bentley factory (pictured above – without even a quick spruce up) where Bentley checked it over.

Despite a severe battering in Wales, there was no damage to suspension or bodywork, save for a few stone chips, and Bentley were able to take out the rally seats, replace the comfy Mulliner ones, and add the Top Gear GT Speed to their engineering fleet.

All that happened four months ago, and the TG Speed GT has now served its purpose on Bentley’s engineering fleet and is no more. Which is a shame.

A quick T Cut and we’d have been happy to take it as a long-termer!