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Bentley officially returns to racing at Gulf 12hr

For a company with a tendency to name its cars after parts of the Circuit de la Sarthe like Arnage and Mulsanne, Bentley sure has been gone from endurance sportscar racing for a long time. It famously won the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times in the 1920s, but didn't come back until 68 years later to win again in 2003. That was the last time Bentley competed on the world stage... until now.
Bentley first revealed its rekindled racing ambitions with the Continental GT3 at the 2012 Paris Motor Show. The car would be developed for privateer racers, and that's all led up to this point. Team M-Sport, which you may know better for having run Ford's World Rally Championship team, was charged with developing the car, and it entered the new racecar this past weekend in the Gulf 12 Hours in Abu Dhabi. There, on the Yas Marina Circuit in the United Arab Emirates, the Continental GT3 diced it with GT3 versions of the likes of the Ferrari 458, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and McLaren 12C.
So how did it fare on its first time out? Well the race is split into two six-hour sessions, and the Conti finished third in the first heat (behind the AF Corse Ferrari and Black Falcon Benz) and fourth in the second (just edged out by another 458 entered by Kessel Racing). Not a bad outcome for Bentley's first race in a decade. And the Abu Dhabi race was essentially a dress rehearsal for next season when the Continental GT3 will be entered in the full 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series.

Bentley re-creates one-of-a-kind sports sedan destroyed in 1939

Bentley's Mulliner division specializes in making one-off (or few-off) projects for clients willing to foot the bill. They're the folks you'd want to talk to if you want a long-wheelbase Flying Spur, a Bentayga-based dually pickup, or anything in between. The division only works on new models, but it stepped outside of its comfort zone to re-create a one-of-a-kind Bentley manufactured and destroyed in 1939. The project is part of Bentley's on-going centennial celebration, and finishing it in time was easier said than done. It made building a concept car like the EXP 100 GT look like assembling a Lego kit. The original Corniche disappeared after getting bombed by the German army, and a majority of the people who saw it in person are dead, so the men and women tasked with resurrecting it only had a handful of period, black-and-white photographs and technical drawings to work with. The final product looks stunning, and Bentley claims it's identical to the original in every way. Parts like the chromed headlight bezels, the droplet-shaped fenders, and the wooden dashboard were exclusive to the Corniche, so they had to be manufactured from scratch using the correct materials, and the right production techniques. The British firm could have saved itself the trouble of re-creating this unique part of its history if another car hadn't pulled out in front of it 80 years ago. Bentley made the original Corniche during tumultuous times as it explored the possibility of releasing a more powerful variant of the Mark V scheduled to make its debut in October 1939. It asked French designer Georges Paulin to draw a futuristic, streamlined body, and it commissioned Paris-based coachbuilder Carrosserie Vanvooren to build it using thinner-than-normal steel to save weight. The Corniche lapped the Brooklands track for the first time in May 1939 and quickly reached over 100 mph, an impressive speed at the time. Testing continued in rural France, where the big Bentley blended in as well as a flying saucer. In August 1939, one of the company's test drivers swerved to avoid another car, rolled, and wrapped the aerodynamic front end around an unsuspecting tree. Bentley separated the body and the chassis. It immediately shipped the chassis to its headquarters in Crewe, England, and curiously asked a local shop to repair the body instead of sending it back to Vanvooren in Paris.

Face-lifted Bentley Bentayga bares it all on Instagram

Bentley's updated Bentayga unofficially made its global debut on Instagram. Leaked images confirm the company's best-selling model receives a subtly redesigned front end, and a handful of new tech features inside. Instagram user Wilco Blok posted the four images. Some look like they were scanned from a marketing brochure, while others were seemingly taken by a spy photographer. The quartet gives us a decent idea of what to expect from the SUV, starting with a new-look front end that gains oval headlights, a wider grille that's more neatly integrated into the rest of the fascia, and a reshaped lower bumper. The nip-and-tuck creates a visual link between the Bentayga and the Continental GT. Photos of its rear end weren't leaked.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by WILCO BLOK (@wilcoblok) on Jun 17, 2020 at 2:06am PDT Most of the interior changes seem to be technology-related. Bentley added a fully digital instrument cluster, and a wider touchscreen that displays an updated infotainment system. Above it, the climate control system's vents are now rectangular instead of round. Below it, designers rearranged the buttons on the center stack. Odds are there are other tweaks not shown in the leaked images. Something else that remains to be seen is what the face-lifted Bentayga looks like under the hood. It's currently offered with a 4.0-liter V8 rated at 542 horsepower, a 6.0-liter W12 available with 600 or 626 horses, and a 456-horsepower plug-in hybrid drivetrain built around a 3.0-liter V6. These specifications could look a little bit different when the model breaks cover. Bentley hasn't commented on the images, and it hasn't announced when it will reveal the updated Bentayga yet. However, now the cat is out of the bag, an official introduction will likely take place sooner rather than later. Related Video: