2006 Bentley Flying Spur Glacier White on 2040-cars

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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.

Bentley Continental GT takes off with Breitling Jet Team

Of all the automakers that have co-branding deals in place with watchmakers, the relationship between Breitling and Bentley ranks among the longest-standing. But aviation aficionados will also point out that Breitling – ever the favorite of pilots – also supports a team of aerobatic pilots called the Breitling Jet Team. Now the three have come together to create a special run of luxury automobiles. The Bentley Continental GT Speed Breitling Jet Team Series, as you might have guessed, is based on the Continental GT Speed that stands as the fastest model Bentley has ever offered. Which is a good starting point, because despite the "jet" part of the name, they have not actually put a turbine engine under the hood. Jaguar (among others) has tried that, and it has yet to work out. What sets apart this special series is entirely cosmetic, carried out by Bentley's Mulliner customization department. It has a two-tone paint job of Hallmark and Onyx (which may look purplish in the pictures but the scheme is listed as silver and black in the Bentley catalog), matching the livery on the jets themselves. It's accented with Breitling's signature yellow. The color scheme continues inside, with carbon-fiber trim, more yellow accents, and little thematic Easter eggs throughout. Whether the result looks like a promotional vehicle or a sleek take on the vehicle of choice for every entrepreneur who strikes it big, that's a matter of taste. And if you want to see one up close, you'll have to go to Seattle at the end of July. That's where Bentley will present the only seven examples it will make to their owners. The presentation will be made individually by the pilots at the Boeing Seafair Airshow – but only after what's sure to be the ride of their life on board one of the team's L-39 Albatros jets. BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT SPEED BREITLING JET TEAM SERIES LIMITED EDITION - Seven limited edition Continental GT Speeds inspired by famed jets - Handcrafted models take Mulliner customisation to new heights - Continental GT Speed is fastest production Bentley ever - Models to debut at Boeing Seafair Airshow, Seattle, July 31 (Crewe, 30 June 2015) Bentley is taking its fusion of luxury and performance to new extremes with the launch of the Continental GT Speed Breitling Jet Team Series. This exclusive series is limited to just seven cars, each inspired by one of the seven Breitling Jets.

Lamborghini and Bentley rack up record sales in 2022

Sister companies Lamborghini and Bentley independently announced that they set a sales record in 2022. Both firms posted a big increase in deliveries, and their announcement comes shortly after Bugatti and Rolls-Royce released their own record-breaking 2022 sales figures. Lamborghini delivered 9,233 cars in 2022, an increase of 10% over 2021 (which was a record year as well). Its best-selling model is the Urus, which accounted for 5,367 deliveries (a 7% increase over 2022). That's not surprising; SUVs sell well. What's rather stunning is that Huracan deliveries soared by 20% to 3,113 examples in 2022. Finally, Lamborghini delivered the last 753 examples of the Aventador. Geographically, the United States remains Lamborghini's biggest market; the company delivered 2,721 cars there in 2022 (an increase of 10% over 2021). China takes second place with 1,018 deliveries (up 9%) followed by Germany (808 cars; up 14%), the United Kingdom (650 cars; up by 15%), and Japan (546 cars; up 22%). All told, deliveries in the EMEA region(Europe, Middle East and Africa) jumped by 7% to 3,484 cars. The company's outlook for 2023 is bright. It will notably unveil the Aventador's hotly-anticipated successor, and the yet-unnamed model will stand out as its first series-produced hybrid model. Its historic factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy, will keep busy as well. "We now have the opportunity to focus on our next objectives also thanks to an 18-month waiting list," said company boss Stephan Winkelmann. While it's too early to tell if 2023 will be another record year for Lamborghini, executives stress that they want to keep the company's growth in check. The aim isn't to rival, say, BMW in terms of volume. "The idea will always be to have one car less than demand," Andrea Baldi, the head of the Americas region for Lamborghini, told Autoblog in 2022. "We will never become unexclusive. That is a promise." Bentley is celebrating for many of the same reasons: It sold 15,174 cars in 2022, an increase of 4% over 2021 and its first annual result above the 15,000-unit mark. Here again, there are some interesting surprises hidden in the numbers. Its best-seller was the Bentayga, it represented 42% of the firm's sales, and 2022 was the big SUV's most popular year — that's an impressive feat for a car released in 2015. The Continental GT range represented 30% of sales and the Speed variant accounted for 31% of those. The Flying Spur represented the remaining 28%.