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What it's like to drive Bentley's Continental GT3 racecar

I'm gliding across the back roads of Napa in a Bentley Flying Spur V8 S, and all is right with the world. Two and a half tons of metal, leather, and hubris provide insulation, while the audio system's eleven speakers smother me with the syrupy sounds of Katy Perry as the landscape floats past. My guilty pleasure is mine alone, because this bank vault on wheels is practically soundproof. But I'll soon be harnessed into a fearsome hellion that would terrify all but the edgiest of Bentley owners. I'm headed to Sonoma Raceway to drive the 2,800-pound, 600-plus-horsepower Bentley Continental GT3 racecar. Goodbye swankiness, hello madness. Bentley probably isn't the first brand you associate with racing, but the Flying B's competition highlights include Le Mans wins in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, and, most recently, a top finish at the fabled endurance event with the brand's 2003 return. The 1-2 victory in '03 came in the wildly engineered LMGTP prototype class; it wasn't until a more relatable, Continental GT-based car was campaigned eight years later that Bentley unlocked the full potential of its rich history. "Motorsports is essentially a business tool," Bentley race boss Brian Gush told Autoblog at the GT3's race debut three years ago, reinforcing the industry's familiar "race on Sunday, sell on Monday" mantra. But let's also tip a hat to the intangible: There's something undeniably cool about watching a beefed-up version of your daily driver battling it out on a world-class track, especially when that car is a fat-cat luxury coupe that seems better suited to the boulevard than the race circuit. After swapping blue jeans for a Nomex jumpsuit, I watch as the GT3 emerges from the transporter, and the sight is downright intimidating. It's wide and low, with an impossibly big wing. There's another source of intimidation: While a small group of journalists has sampled Bentley's media car, I'm about to get behind the wheel of a privateer-owned car. No pressure. "Ever met the owner?" a Bentley rep asks, referring to Team Absolute's Adderly Fong. "He's a big guy, mean, with a really short temper," he quips, which is essentially shorthand for "don't wreck his car." I crack a tentative smile, acknowledging the not-so-veiled message. Bentley test driver Butch Leitzinger gives me the lowdown on this particular GT3, which happens to be coming fresh off a top-ten finish at the weekend's Pirelli World Cup Challenge.

2024 Bentley Flying Spur and Continental GT upgraded with small luxuries

Incremental changes to three of Bentley's 2024 offerings are claimed to bring "harmony" to the Azure, S, and Speed trims across the model lineups. As a refresher, Azure signals the variants that go beyond Bentley's traditional obsessive luxury to cater to wellbeing and comfort. The S and Speed are all about performance. Starting with the 2024 Continental GT and 2024 GTC Azure, the duo look to the Bentayga Extended Wheelbase Azure for a front fascia revision. These include wearing a new "vertical vane grille" that places "bright chrome vertical vanes in front of a black mesh grille." Those are Bentley's words describing what are effectively two grilles. Only one can be seen from afar, though. Down below, the Flying Spur Azure donates its wheel design, the 22-inch, 10-spoke black painted and machined hoop becoming the standard fit for both Continentals. Inside, the 2+2 models upgrade to a new lofted quilting pattern for the leather, and even more sybaritic deep-pile, 100% wool, Wilton overmat carpets. On the Speed side, their grille changes from vertical vanes to a matrix mesh harking back to pre-war models like the Bentley Blower. Exterior jewelry such as the grille surrounds and inserts, and the brightwork along the lower doors, can be optioned in Granite Grey. This will make the Blackline package look even meaner. And opening the doors reveals a new diamond-in-diamond stitch pattern for the cabin leather.  For the all Bentleys, the new exterior color Topaz Blue joins a palette that is already effectively infinite. Inside, the dark tint aluminum technical finish first seen on the Bentayga comes to the instrument panel and waistrails of the Flying Spur and Continental GT, the finish being an abstract representation of the crosshatched lines from the matrix grille. Finally, the nylon carpeting underneath the floor mats will be made from 100% recycled nylon instead of virgin nylon.

2019 Mercedes-Benz G-Class vs big luxury off-roaders: How they compare on paper

During our first drive of the 2019 Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the all-new SUV's product manager was asked to identify competitors that might have been benchmarked in its development. The look on his face was about the same as if someone had asked him to recite King Lear in Klingon. As far as Andreas Hoeppel was concerned, the G 550 and AMG G 63 doesn't actually have a rival, or at least something the engineers and designers thought to compare it against. The G-Class is a G-Class, who cares what the other guys are doing? Well, in case you care, we figured we'd plug the new G-Class' specs into the old Autoblog Comparo Generator 3000 (TM) to see how the G 550 and AMG G 63 compare to the Range Rover and its mightiest SVAutobiography Dynamic model, plus the Lexus LX 570 and Bentley Bentayga V8. Frankly, Heir Hoeppel was onto something as each of these is wildly different. But, they do share some common elements: giant size and weight, ultra-lux interiors, and far more off-roading capability than other luxury SUVs offer and any of its owners are likely to ever utilize. Sad. So enjoy this trip down specification lane, and if you're still left hungry, you can always check out our Range Rover comparison or create your very own comparo. Off-Road Clearances and Capability All the fancy off-roading software and special cameras in the world won't do you a lick of good if your SUV is too close to the ground or has low-hanging body work that'll get easily ripped off. As such, check out each of these uber-SUV's ground clearance, approach and departure angles, and wading/fording depths. In this case, the Range Rover has an advantage due to its air suspension that can raise itself into an Off-Roading height that's a whopping 2 inches higher than the new G-Wagen. Sadly for itself, Lexus only provides figures for its air suspension when in normal height. It could match or surpass the Range Rover for all we know (but doubt it). As Land Rover does provide figures for the Range Rover's approach and departure angles in normal and Off-Road height, you can get an idea of just how much clearance the new G-Wagen has without any fancy (and expensive to fix) raising and lowering air suspension hardware. In fact, its departure angle is better than even the Range Rover's Off-Road height. Bentley doesn't provide any such information despite touting the Bentayga's surprising off-roading talents.