New Bentley Continental Supersports, world’s fastest four-seat car

Bentley has announced its fastest and most powerful production model to date: the new Bentley Continental Supersports. The car achieves a top speed of 336 km/h and a 0-100 kmph in 3.5 seconds). This makes the new Continental Supersports the world’s fastest and most powerful luxury four-seat car.

Its soft-top sibling, the Continental Supersports Convertible, is the fastest four-seat convertible in the world, racing from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9 secs and achieving a top speed of 330 kmph.

This fast car comes with a bespoke drivetrain featuring Bentley’s W12 engine. Key to the Supersports’ additional outputs are newly designed, higher-capacity turbochargers and a revised charge-air cooling system which create more boost and additional power. In order to harness these additional outputs, upgrades have also been made to the Continental’s cranktrain, including new main and conrod bearings.

These extensive engine revisions result in an increase of 79 bhp and 217 Nm over the 2009 Supersports model – a 10 percent power-to-weight and 25 percent torque-to-weight ratio improvement.  The top speed rises by five miles per hour (and the 0-60 mph time drops by 0.3 seconds.

The Supersports also benefits from a new torque converter which locks up faster allowing the car to make best use of the enhanced torque figure of 1,017 Nm, and accelerate from standstill even more rapidly.

In order to rein in this immense performance the new Supersports is fitted with high-performance carbon ceramic brakes with enhanced cooling. The brake discs are the largest of their type in the world.

The brakes sit behind lightweight 21” forged alloy wheels, together offering a 20 kg weight saving in unsprung mass. A further 5 kg weight-saving is offered via an optional titanium exhaust system. The new Supersports is the lightest-ever iteration of the current Continental GT and lighter than the 2009 four-seat Supersports model.

The Supersports has a specifically calibrated and updated version of the torque vectoring system first introduced on the Continental GT3-R. This dynamic system brakes individual front and rear wheels during acceleration out of corners to increase performance, whilst maintaining full power to unbraked wheels, and brakes the inside rear wheel on turn-in to improve agility. It also has a bespoke, less intrusive stability control calibration for a more precise chassis response.

The new Supersports retains the rear-biased torque split of Bentley’s all-wheel-drive system, sending 60 per cent of the engine’s power to the rear wheels as standard for a better balanced, more sporting character, but with the ability to adjust the front-rear power split depending on available traction.

Exterior changes include newly sculpted front and rear bumper designs incorporating a carbon-fibre splitter and diffuser respectively, new side sill extensions and bonnet vents also finished in carbon-fibre, gloss-black front wing vents and a new gloss-black, rifled exhaust tailpipe design. Completing the  dramatic exterior look are dark-tint headlamps and tail-lamps, and a complement of black-finished brightware to the front grilles, lights, rear bumper, door handles and window surrounds.

There is also an optional, aerodynamically balanced rear spoiler and front splitter combination for the coupe, new Supersports badging, a new black and bright-machined finish for the 21” forged alloy wheels and  optional side decals. Further highlighting the enhanced performance, an optional gloss-finished, Supersports-branded carbon-fibre engine cover can be specified.

The new Continental Supersports Convertible offers the luxury and refinement of a coupé yet transforms into a head-turning open-tourer at the touch of a button. The multi-layer hood ensures high levels of refinement and acoustic insulation. Exhaustively tested in all conditions from -30°C to +50°C or more, it resists even monsoon-force rain and maintains comfortable, draft-free warmth even on the coldest days.