When you think of Bentley, the first word that pops into your head is probably “elegance”, or “stately”. But Bentley is convinced that its car is perfectly capable of hooning about, too, so much so that they went all the way out to film a short video at an abandoned military air field at Sicily, Italy, just to prove their point – featuring a very yellow Continental GT Speed.
Called “Continental Drift”, the video was filmed specifically to show off “the scope of performance of Bentley’s pinnacle GT, including incredibly precise drifting through dramatic locations”.
According to Bentley, the stunt was filmed in a day during the GT Speed’s recent global media drive event. The Comiso Air Base featured in the video was a former NATO base, but has since been abandoned for almost 30 years – so Bentley brought it back to life in the best way possible by converting it into a “gymkhana-like track”, and filled it with tyre smoke and adrenaline-pumping exhaust fumes.
While the former military base is used to launching ground-based missiles, the Bentley Continental GT Speed is a whole different kind of monster – powered by the marque’s iconic 6-litre twin-turbo W12 engine with 659 hp and 900 Nm of torque on tap.
Power is sent to all four-wheels via an eight-speed dual clutch transmission for a 0-100 km/h time of just 3.6 seconds, but specifically on the GT Speed, its rear-biased torque split means that most of the engine’s grunt is sent to the rear wheels, making the driftmania film possible for Bentley.
The Bentley Continental GT V8 is now available in Malaysia. Learn more here.
Other GT-speed specific goodies include a new electronic-LSD, all-wheel steering, and a retuned ESC system to help improve the car’s cornering dynamics and extra grip, which in turns helps to deliver deliberate, controlled slides.
It’s not often you get to see a Bentley hooning its mind out – and the stark contrast between a shiny new Bentley Continental GT Speed against the backdrop of a rundown abandoned air field just makes it that much more interesting. Be sure to check out the video above!
GALLERY
