Bentley has announced that it will return to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for the final time. This will be the British brand’s third run in as many years up the legendary Colorado mountain.
Bentley has not yet fully revealed what record it intends to shoot for, but it has said that it will run a Continental GT3 with customer team FastR.
The Continental GT3 is powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 with Cosworth engine management. Derestricted, Bentley reckons it’s good for more than 550 bhp that’s sent to the rear wheels via a Ricardo six-speed sequential gearbox with an AP racing clutch. The driveshaft is made of carbon fiber and the car it features double-wishbone suspension front and rear with four-way adjustable race dampers.
Read More: Bentley Continental GT Breaks Pikes Peak World Record For Production Cars
Watch out Pikes Peak, we are coming for you. Racing with our championship-winning #ContinentalGT3, and in conjunction with customer team @BEFASTR, we will be competing for a new record to complete a triple crown of Pikes Peak triumphs. 27.6.2021 #BringTheThunder pic.twitter.com/h3TAKYJeF9
— Bentley Motors (@BentleyMotors) April 6, 2021
A carbon fiber front splitter and rear wing increase downforce, though those will likely be enlarged quite a bit for the high-altitudes of Pikes Peak.
Bentley has been building up to this run, setting records in 2019 and in 2020. In its first year, it set the production SUV record with the Bentayga with a time of 10:49.9, making it faster than a Tesla Model 3 Performance that ran in 2020.
It then set the outright production car record in 2020 with a Continental GT. Like the Bentayga, the Continental GT was driven by Rhys Millen and the W12-powered coupe made it to the top of the mountain in 10:18.488.
Although Bentley has not revealed what record it will attempt to beat with the Continental GT3, the Pikes Peak Time Attack division’s 9:36.559 record is currently held by a 2019 Porsche GT2 RS Clubsport and seems like a good target.
The overall record is held by the purpose-built Volkswagen ID.R electric racer, which in 2018 set a time of 7:57.148.
Bentley will unveil its full plan for the hill climb on Friday, April 9 and has revealed that this will be its last attempt for the foreseeable future. The 2021 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will take place on June 27.
