Skip to main content

Bentley Continental GT smashes production-car record at Pikes Peak

The Bentley Continental GT is a fantastic slab of luxury, but its immense size makes it an unlikely candidate to set a record on one of the world’s toughest race courses. Yet that’s exactly what Bentley just did at the 2019 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, setting the record for production cars at the storied Colorado race. Driver Rhys Millen piloted a Continental GT up Pikes Peak in 10:18.4, beating the previous record by 8.4 seconds.

While it does sport a 626-horsepower, 6.0-liter W12 engine (Bentley also makes a V8 version), the Continental GT was designed for long-distance cruising, not attacking racetracks. Bentley does race highly modified Continentals on road courses, but the Pikes Peak car had to remain mostly stock (aside from safety equipment) in order to qualify for the production-car record on the 12.4-mile course. Drivers face blind corners, sheer drop-offs, and changing weather conditions on the way to the 14,115-foot summit of Pikes Peak. A decrease in oxygen near the summit also robs internal-combustion engines of power.

Related Videos

Pikes Peak divides cars into multiple classes, encompassing both production cars and purpose-built racers. The previous production car record of 10:26.9 was set by a Porsche 911 Turbo S in 2014. However, the overall record stands at 7:57.1. It was set by the Volkswagen I.D. R, an electric car built specifically for Pikes Peak, in 2018.

Bentley had a major advantage in the form of driver Rhys Millen. Nicknamed “King of the Mountain,” the New Zealander has won Pikes Peak five times. In 2018, he broke the record for production SUVs in a Bentley Bentayga. Millen’s time of 10:49.9 beat the previous record by nearly 2 minutes.

The Pikes Peak Continental GT wore the same electric green color as 2018’s record-breaking Bentayga, as well as the number 100, because 2019 is Bentley’s 100th birthday. A new Pikes Peak record was exactly the kind of birthday gift Bentley’s top brass was hoping for. Racing is an important part of the Bentley mythos, thanks to a string of Le Mans victories in the 1920s and one more in 2003. Most customers will likely never take their cars to a racetrack, but that history inspired Bentley to make the Continental GT sportier than it has any right to be.

Updated on July 1, 2019: Added confirmation of new record.

Editors' Recommendations

Nissan used its car seat design experience to create these cool gaming chairs
nissan designs gaming chairs based on gt r nismo leaf and armada chair

Previous

Next

Read more
Roborace sets a new record for world’s fastest driverless car
roborace sets guinness world record for worlds fastest self driving car robocar

Most development work on self-driving cars focuses on mundane things like getting around parked cars and keeping bugs off sensors, but what about speed? Roborace is trying to develop a racing series for autonomous cars, and has set a Guinness World Record for the world's fastest self-driving car at 175.49 mph.

Roborace's autonomous race car, dubbed Robocar, made its record runs at Elvington Airfield in the United Kingdom, with Guinness adjudicators on hand. The attempt was made in March, but an official announcement was postponed to coincide with the publication of Guinness' 2020 record book. Because there was no existing self-driving car top speed record to aim for, Guinness set 160 mph as the unofficial record the Robocar needed to beat. As is standard procedure for top-speed records, officials took the average of runs in opposite directions to come up with the final number.

Read more
Porsche 99X Electric Formula E race car carries the weight of great expectations
porsche 99x electric formula e race car

Previous

Next

Read more