Bentley has an enviable record at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. The British carmaker has claimed wins with its Bentayga SUV and its Continental GT coupe. Now the firm is exploring new avenues as it will attack the famous mountain pass with its Continental GT3 Pikes Peak. The 99th running of the Pikes Peak takes place on 27 June.

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The Bentley Continental GT3 Pikes Peak has been designed and built to compete for the Time Attack 1 record, it is also the first competition Bentley to run on renewable fuel. Bentley plans to offer sustainable fuels to its customers around the world in coming years and this project serves as a test and development programme in the heat of competition.

The modified Continental GT3 racer features the biggest rear wing ever fitted to a Bentley, which sits above a pronounced rear diffuser. The rear aerodynamic grip is balanced by a two-plane splitter at the front, flanked by separate dive planes. Under the sculpted bonnet is a modified version of the firm’s twin-turbocharged V8. 

To break the current record, the car will have to average more than 125,5 km/h over the entire 156-turn course. In doing so the racer will cross the finish line in less than nine minutes and 36 seconds. The man tasked with the job is Kiwi Rhys Millen who set the record-breaking times in both of Bentley’s recent attempts. 

In his own words

Bentley’s Member of the board for engineering, Dr Matthias Rabe, comments: “We are delighted to be returning to Pikes Peak for a third time – now powered by renewable fuel, as the launch project for another new element of our Beyond100 programme. Our powertrain engineers are already researching both biofuels and e-fuels for use by our customers alongside our electrification programme – with intermediate steps of adopting renewable fuels at the factory in Crewe and for our company fleet. In the meantime, the Continental GT3 Pikes Peak will show that renewable fuels can allow motorsport to continue in a responsible way, and hopefully it will capture the third and final record in our triple crown.”