Celebrating 100 Years of the Supersports Name In 1925, Walter Owen Bentley designed a specialised limited variant of the flagship 3 litre model. 18 Specialised cars that featured an upgraded engine, a lighter bodywork, a more hardcore chassis and could reach a top speed of 100 mph, faster than any previous 3 Litre. It was called the Super Sports, and it essentially blended the touring ability of the 3 Litre with the sharpness and racing pedigree of the LeMans-winning Bentleys at the time. Read More Bentley Will Unveil the New Continental Supersports This Thursday Two decades later, Bentley launched a Super Sports variant of their flagship Mark VI in 1949. Built by legendary coachbuilder H.J. Mulliner, this was essentially a lighter, faster variant of the Mark VI featuring an all new 4.25l straight six that generated 180 horsepower, which would take this leviathan up to 120mph. This was even rarer than the 3 litre, with a mere 5 being built in 1949. The Continental GT’s Decade-Long History Of course, times have changed a lot since then. For the last two decades, Bentley has been under the watchful guise of the Volkswagen group and in that time have been building the iconic and simply marvellous Continental GT, possibly the most iconic car and greatest car Bentley have ever made. And whilst the overall shape, use and design as an all-wheel-drive, four-seater mile muncher has never changed, the internals of the car have greatly changed. The car started out using a bespoke 6.0l twin-turbo W12 that was exclusively used in its first generation. However, come the second and Bentley decided to introduce an all-new engine, a 4.0l twin-turbo V8, that has since been used across many Volkswagen-based cars. The current Continental ditched the W12 and instead meshes the V8 with a 25.9kWh battery, which Bentley calls the Performance Hybrid. However, throughout its generations, the Supersports name has appeared on many Continentals. Both of which ditched their rear seats, were mostly out of carbon-fibre, featured the iconic 6.0l twin-turbo W12, and all-wheel drive and were respectively the fastest cars Bentley had ever made when they came out. They were magnificent cars, and we thought after the second generation that the Supersports name had disappeared into the void. Supersports Design and Aerodynamics This is the new Supersports, and it's undoubtedly the most outlandish, striking and out-there Continental since the 2015 GT3-R. Besides the headlights, doors and windows, everything about this particular Continental has been redesigned to make it far more aggressive. The Supersports boasts the largest front splitter fitted to a Bentley as well as redesigned air vents which channel air to the enormous brakes and engine. There are new side-skirts, fender blades and bespoke carbon fibre sills which then channel this air across the car to the fixed rear wing. All together, these not only make the Supersports stand out, but they contribute to 300kg of Downforce in the corners. There’s also a large number 8 on the grille, which relates to both the twin-turbo V8 powertrain and the iconic Speed 8 racer Le Mans. Overall, it looks fantastic, a Continental like no other. Lightening a Goliath: Both Inside and Out Perhaps the most surprising factor about the Supersports is its weight loss. Most of the car is constructed out of carbon-fibre, particularly the roof, which creates a low-centre of gravity. Bentley have also removed the Continental’s signature rear seats, reduced sound insulation and various driving dynamics. The result being the Supersports is 500kg lighter than the regular Continental GT Speed, weighing 1,945kg. Inside, the Supersports features new lightweight sports seats, set lower in the car, with carbon-fibre elements for support and structural integrity. The rest of the interior is made from a blend of leather, Dinamica fabric and carbon fibre. Bentley offer 22 main hide colours along with 11 secondary hides and nine accent hides in either single, duo or tri-tone configurations. Yet somehow, it still captures that elegance and grace of every Continental. Back to Basics Under the Bonnet The Current Continental GT is a fully-fledged hybrid. It uses a 4.0l twin-turbo V8, which is directly paired to a 25.9kWh electric motor which sits between the engine and the eight-speed dual clutch gearbox. The result is the car now has significantly lower CO2 emissions, higher fuel mileage and more power than ever before. The top of the range Speed develops 782 horsepower and 738lb-ft of torque. However, their goal with the Supersports was to make it light and as well as ditching several other components, Bentley also decided to drop the hybrid motor, making this the only current Continental to be petrol-powered. Because of this, as well as being the lightest, this is the least powerful Continental, with its twin-turbo V8 generating a mere 666 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque. So despite this being the lightest Continental, it’s also the slowest. 0-62mph takes just 3.7 seconds, and the top speed is just 192mph. Clearly not a slow car but evidently not that fast by modern standards. That being said, Bentley have fitted the Supersports with a unique Akrapovič exhaust system, which means for the first time in a long time, this Supersports bellows with that distinct V8 rumble and roar. The First and Only Rear-Drive Continental Despite its various iterations, the Continental GT has consistently always been all-wheel drive. The idea being was that Bentley recognised most of the owners of the car wouldn’t exactly be the type to understand about handling or power management, as they’d be more interested in seeing if they could get to the golf course safely and that the boot was big enough for golf bats. But the new Supersports, changing things up. Another reason why it’s much slower is because for the first and possibly only time, Bentley have ditched the all-wheel drive and transformed this to a hairy-chested rear-wheel drive, the first Bentley to be so since the Mulsanne went out of production in 2020. Which means for the first time ever, you can have a Continental that can drift, burnout and pore smoke from its tyres. Because this is the first Continental that an amateur could possibly crash, Bentley have fitted it with an array of aids. They have also reworked the chassis, employing the use of double wishbones at the front, a multi-link rear axle, twin-chamber dampers, Bentley Dynamic Ride with 48V anti-roll control, an electronic limited-slip differential, torque vectoring, rear-wheel steering, and all-new suspension calibration. The car is also fitted with 22-inch Manthey Racing-developed wheels and Pirelli Trofeo RS tyres. The result of all these aids is that the Supersports can corner at 30% faster speed than the regular GT speed despite the lack of all-wheel drive. In fact, the Bentley Supersports can achieve 1.3g through the corners. But turn the systems off and all hell breaks loose, you’ll certainly need quite the Wallet for those tyres. Price, Exclusivity and Rivals Read More Bentley Teases Brand New Continental Supersports: With Shock-Non-Hybrid Power Clearly Bentley have gone to town with this new Supersports in a way that no previous one has featured. However, like so many other manufacturers, Bentley clearly decided that with this car, less equals more. So despite being the slowest, least practical and technically the most niche of the Continental range, the Supersports starts from a whopping $400,000, making it one of the most expensive Bentleys in history. And it’s not like you’ll ever buy one, Bentley are only building 500 of them, and according to a spokesperson, you’ll want to get that deposit in quickly. But of course, one has to consider the many other great lightweights available, such as the iconic, brilliant and fabulous Porsche 911 GT3 or the much faster and much more capable Ferrari 296 Speciale. Both of which cost significantly less. Why the Supersports is better than everything else? You’d go into this article thinking to not buy the new Supersports, you’re spending $400,000 on a car that’s based on a Continental GT. That, as it turns out, is slower, less capable, less fuel efficient, more all-over the place and less practical. Not to mention, more than most other high-performance lightweight cars. There are many reasons not to buy a Supersports, but there’s one, why you should. Because it’s bloody fantastic.Too many modern cars are built as EVs or hybrids, constantly thinking with their computer brains how to be safer, more economical, more efficient and more focused on how to get to a destination rather than the experience of getting there. Modern cars, in general, seem to forget there’s a driver behind the wheel. There are very few cars on sale today that really make you giggle, laugh and really love, and really want to drive until now. The Supersports might market itself as a celebration of a 100-year-old namesake, but in essence, what it is, is a gigantic, loud, raging, silly, tyre-shredding, leviathan that puts its middle finger up at sensible eco-ism just for a laugh. It’s like the lads at Crewe just wanted to have a good laugh down the pub and so created this. And ultimately, a laugh, an emotion, a feeling that you’ve bought something you love, that’s what truly matters to a petrolhead. The Supersports might not be a car that you buy with your thinking cap, but honestly, who really cares? Who wants to spend the rest of their lives drowned in silent eco-boxes with computers controlling your life? We don’t love cars that necessarily make sense to us, we love cars that are wild and make us smile. And ultimately, no car will make you smile quite like the Supersports. On that front, it’s better than everything else. F1rstMotors Facts and FiguresManufacturerBentley Motors LtdModelContinental SupersportsYear of Release2026Engine4.0L Twin–Turbo V8 Horsepower666hpTorque590 lb–ft0–62mph (100km/h)3.7 secondsTop Speed192mph (333 km/h)Weight1,954kg (2.5 tonnes)Power to Weight341 hp per tonneGearbox8–speed Porsche PDK Dual ClutchPrice$400,000Source: Bentley
