The reason Bentley can boast about its sporting history is due to its pilots' achievments and the performance of its racing cars at the French event of the 24 Heures du Mans. No wonder the public's perception of the Bentleys sporting character has somewhat dimmed, since it's been over 70 years that the famous British car burned rubber at Le Mans! Now under the control of Volkswagen, Bentley wants to revamp its image by going back to competition just like Jaguar did in the 80's.
Recently at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the company has unveiled the EXP Speed 8, which is a fully enclosed model powered by the same 3.6-litre twin turbocharged engine that equipped the winning Audi at the 2000 event. Since those two manufacturers belong to the same family, some people say this new car is just a different version of the Audi. At Bentley they claim the opposite since the car has been developed by Racing Technology Norfolk (RTN). That may be quite plausible. After all, the Brits have not completely digested the fact that one of their most prestigious marques was acquired by Germans, so let's not add insult to injury by having an authentic German car disguised as a Bentley.
Just like all cars of this category, the frame is made of carbon fibre, it has a synchro shift 6-speed transverse gear box, and the engine puts out 600 horsepower. By June 16 and 17 of this year we'll find out if Bentley accomplished its goal. Needless to say they would welcome a victory, but to be realistic they hope to finish among the leaders, which would be a success in itself.