Crewe Cut: flat out in the lightest Bentley in 85 years

But, surely, that was just a publicity stunt? Well, yeah. A pretty good one, too. However, when I roll onto the apron of the Top Gear test track there’s a new Bentley Supersports – looking pretty spectacular in Electric Blue, I have to say – and a Pirelli van full to bursting with tyres. The message is clear: this is a Bentley unlike any other. Go and enjoy yourself.

Photography: Mark Riccioni

So, forget everything you know about the Continental GT. The Supersports has ripped up the formula and its specification, positioning and attitude seems more Porsche than Bentley. By ditching the hybrid system of the standard car, reconfiguring the drivetrain to rear-wheel drive, the interior to a strict two-seater, and employing carbon fibre wherever possible, it’s cut over 500kg of mass.

Let me say that again. Over five hundred kilograms. That’s an entire Caterham Seven. Or nearly six average UK male adults. Or one star of My Half Ton Life. No lightweight special edition I can remember has cut this much flab. Admittedly, not many lightweight specials start with a donor car that weighs 2,500kg...

The end result is the lightest Bentley in 85 years, at a shade under 2,000kg. That might not sound featherweight, but in the context of a BMW M5 that weighs 2,435kg or an RS5 Avant at a whopping 2,370kg, it’s borderline miraculous. Of course, ditching the hybrid tech does mean a penalty in terms of power compared to the Continental GT Speed.

The Supersports produces 657bhp and 590lb ft from its 4.0-litre twin turbocharged V8 versus the Speed’s 771bhp and 738lb ft. Even so, it’s capable of 0–62mph in 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 192mph. Plus, the pure acceleration numbers don’t even tell half the story.

Perhaps it’s more relevant and telling that the Supersports can be delivered on Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tyres for up to 1.3g of lateral load in the corners. I’ve never heard Bentley talking gs in the past.

Just 500 will be made starting from £343,900. The Supersports isn’t just a cash grab limited edition, though. Bentley says it’s the very start of a new direction for the company, which wants to stretch the brand and the models as far as possible. This is a pretty hardcore exercise, but it’s just the beginning. Except that when you have a history as long as Bentley’s, nothing is truly new.

Parked just to the side of that Pirelli van is something extraordinary. Known as ‘Smoky’ it’s effectively a hot rodded version of the original Super Sports from 1925, which was the fastest 3.0-litre model available. In fact, it was the first car that W.O. Bentley would guarantee to hit 100mph with its 80bhp engine. What a way to stand behind your product over a century ago.

Smoky, number 12 of 18 cars, is even more special as its second owner, Kit Baker-Carr, upgraded the engine in 1932 to a 4.5-litre unit and then created a lower body in ’34 before racing the car extensively and with great success at Brooklands. Oh, and if that’s not enough cool history for you, that 4.5-litre engine I mentioned is known as EXP5 and powered the Le Mans-winning Bentley in 1928. In race tune it’s good for 130bhp and an unspecified top speed that I’m very unwilling to ascertain.

Driving it (briefly) is fascinating, discombobulating thanks to a centre throttle pedal, and deeply challenging due to its crash ’box. Did I say challenging? I meant ‘bloody frustrating’. Turns out synchromesh is a very good thing. It’s a deeply cool experience, though. And a reminder that Bentley’s origin story is intertwined with the birth and formative years of motorsport itself.

In that context, the new Supersports seems a more natural exploration of Bentley’s most dynamic side. It’s gone for it, that’s for sure. The Supersports features a carbon fibre roof to lower the centre of gravity, carbon fibre lower bumper with integrated front splitter, stacked dive planes on each side, B-shaped ‘fender blades’ just behind the front wheels, plus a rear diffuser and fixed, near-vertical rear spoiler mounted on a new rear bumper with venting for the wheelarches. The result is 300kg of downforce and a pretty dramatic new look.

Forged 22in alloy wheels by Manthey Racing, which is part owned by Porsche and runs its racecars in the World Endurance Championship as well as creating hyper-focused MR kits for the GT3 and GT3 RS, save yet more weight. The Supersports is the first Bentley entirely overseen by Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, formerly of Porsche and a man who loves a GT3. You can feel that influence from the Manthey wheels all the way up. Of course, you don’t have to be GT3 literate to realise that deleting the rear seats isn’t a bad way to save a few kilos and dial up the attitude.

Incredibly there’s much, much more: a 16mm wider rear track, new twin-chamber dampers, reconfigured traction and stability control and drive modes, punchier shifts and uprated hardware for the eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, and so the list goes on. However, the Supersports does retain rear-wheel steering for maximum agility and the 48v active anti-roll bars as seen on lesser (morer?) Continental GTs.

Bloody hell? Is it even a Bentley at all?

There’s also an e-LSD to help manage the balance and give the rear tyres a fighting chance of survival against the onslaught of the 4.0-litre engine’s thunderous power. Incidentally, the engine is much modified with a stronger crank, uprated cylinder heads and bigger turbos. There’s also a full length titanium Akrapovič exhaust.

Bloody hell, right? Is it even a Bentley at all? Well, strangely, yes. The seats might have more side bolstering and sit a little lower, but they’re still 11-way adjustable, heated and beautifully trimmed. The interior remains a thing of precise, opulent luxury dripping in fine hides, diamond brushed aluminium and tactile delight. Nobody does interiors quite like Bentley and the Supersports might feel a little more focused but it’s still somewhere you’d be happy to sit for hours on end. Bentley is at pains to point out this particular car is a pre-production prototype, but the quality remains out of this world.

So far, so familiar. However, when you start the engine and begin to move the differences are immediately apparent. The engine really has found its voice. It crackles to life but once under way the volume and intensity is very well judged. The sound is deep, purposeful and just enough to trigger your brain to think ‘phwoar’ without tripping over into comedy quasi-NASCAR vibes like some hardcore Mercedes, for example. Restrained exuberance, you might call it.

More impressive still is the transformation in dynamics. The steering feels a little lighter with more clarity, but the sense of agility, the turn-in response and simply the appetite for really attacking corners is all new. On the Trofeo RS tyres the Supersports is extremely sharp, shows brilliant body control and stays poised mid corner in a way no Continental GT has ever done before.

Even in Touring mode the Supersports is intended to align with a Continental GT Speed in Sport, but here there’s another two modes to unlock more character, performance and excitement. For this track-only drive we quickly skip from Touring, through ‘Bentley’ and onto Sport. I think my finger slipped to disable the reconfigured traction control, too. Well, there’s only a decaying Boeing 747 to hit here and I reckon the Supersports would win that fight…

Let loose, the Supersports is a real entertainer. Its front wheels are pinned to the apex and the long wheelbase, monster engine and delicious poise allow you to pick your line and angle of attack with precision and absolute trust. It’s such an easy car to slide around, even for those not blessed with Pastrana’s talent. To be completely fair, the most recent Continental GT with hybrid powertrain is superb fun and so much more fluid, adjustable and playful than ever before.

It’s a hell of a sports car

Here though, there’s a massive increase in responsiveness, control and grip allied to the same indulgent balance. Of course it feels heavy compared to, say, a GT3 or even 911 Turbo. Of course it doesn’t quite have the natural athleticism of an Aston Martin Vantage. But it’s a hell of a sports car when you consider it’s not really a sports car at all.

There are some weaknesses. For me, the dual-clutch gearbox doesn’t go far enough. The shifts might be sharper but it seems an incremental change in a car that’s all about taking massive strides. Give it more snap, more aggression and more speed please, Bentley.

Such is the level of grip and the increase in cornering speeds there’s no question the lack of hybrid boost does make itself known out in traction zones. In an ideal world some shorter ratios would just create a bit more fizz. Plus, that rear e-LSD can’t quite take the heat for fast and/or sideways track driving.

Bentley assures us the software on this prototype was just a bit conservative, so let’s hope the finished cars don’t have the same habit of opening the diff quite so readily. Nobody wants a one tyre fire in their £343,900 Bentley Supersports. Mortifying. Yet for all this and the seemingly contradictory concept of a luxury GT stripped out sports car, I really enjoyed the Supersports.

Quite unexpectedly, it knows exactly what it is. A Bentley above all else, but with the recipe tweaked to give it a much more intense spice. It manages to exaggerate all the good stuff, uncover some hidden agility and locked down control but always remain true to Bentley’s core values.

It’s a car you want to use and enjoy, a car that makes you feel good about the world and a car that offers a blend of qualities you won’t find anywhere else. From the moment you shut the door, all your troubles melt away. I bet Travis Pastrana emerged without a single ache or pain. Well, a few less, anyway.