Bentley Speed 8 racecar

London, February, 2003... It is no exaggeration to describe the Bentley Speed 8 Le Mans GT prototype, that will race at both Sebring and Le Mans, as a new car.

Bentley has a long history in motor sport, and now that VW owns the brand, having injected more funds into the company, it is looking like returning to its glory days.

Just like many of the current Bentley models, its Le Mans entrant, the Speed 8, makes use of a powerful twin-turbocharged V8.

Though the previous two generations of Speed 8 performed spectacularly well, returning Bentley to the Le Mans podium in 2003, it was felt that for the final year of the three-year programme, a fresh approach was required.

Clearly, the car still features enclosed bodywork, meaning it remains in a class of its own and the engine retains its basic architecture: 4-litre capacity, direct fuel injection and twin turbochargers.

In all other significant respects, however, it is a new design.

The concept driving the design was to ensure much better exploitation of the airflow over the body and particularly to the rear wing.

To achieve this, the external cockpit area has been much reduced - though the car is actually more spacious inside - making a smaller hole in the air and allowing the car to use a much smaller, more aerodynamic engine cover.

In addition, the air-intake that had sat on top of the car in previous generation Speed 8s has been deleted in favour of 'snorkel'-type intakes on the sides of the car.

This not only further increases the efficiency of the air-flow over the car, it also lowers the height of the car, lending it a much more sleek, aggressive appearance.

In addition to Bentley's drive for another win in the prestigious Le Mans race, leading car designers who judged the prestigious 'Eyes on Design Awards' competition at the recent Detroit Auto Show, awarded The Continental GT more awards than any other production car.

The storming new Bentley GT picked up 'most significant production car' and a separate prize for 'most significant production car - exterior design' for its sleek, coupe-style appearance.

This year 40 designers - practising professionals as well as leading students - voted. The honorary chairman of the panel was Fabrizio Giugiaro, director of famed design group, ItalDesign.

"We are delighted to win these awards," said Bentley Motors' director of design Dirk van Braeckel. "They are judged by car designers, and it's always very satisfying to get praise from your peers. What is even more important is to gain recognition in the USA, Bentley's most important market for the Continental GT."

The twin-turbo, 12-cylinder Continental GT is the world's fastest four-seater coupé and will go on sale later this year in Europe. Click here for the in-depth GT article.

Anywa, back to the Speed 8 Le Mans racecar, and early testing results have indicated that not only does the Bentley racecar have a more favourable downforce to drag ratio than its predecessor, it also offers much more consistent aerodynamic performance in all conditions making the car both quicker, and easier to drive.

Underneath the new skin, the 4.0-litre engine has been re-engineered around the new regulations for 2003 that dictated a ten per cent reduction in engine restrictor size across all classes competing at Le Mans.

It has been necessary to redesign many internal engine components as well evolve a new electronics strategy for the engine to minimise the shortfall in power that the new regulations will bring to all competing teams.

The suspension has been entirely redesigned as well, partly to further improve its on-track behaviour, but also so it can be adapted to suit its new Michelin tyres. All the geometry has been changed - even the mounting points of the rear suspension on the gearbox.

This alone has necessitated a new gearbox casing for the Speed 8. As in previous generations of Speed 8, the internals are supplied by Xtrac and continue to operate with customary reliability.

Bentley Team Director John Wickham commented: "The new car clearly has great potential, the drivers are very happy with the progress we are making, particularly its aerodynamic balance. As with all Bentleys we have run in the last two seasons, reliability appears to have been 'designed in'. It's early days, but so far we have had no reliability issues with the car whatsoever."

Ex-Formula One driver Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell and Australia's own David Brabham, will be driving the Speed 8 in 2003 at both Sebring and Le Mans in France. Between them they share 246 Grand Prix starts and while both Johnny and Mark are also previous Le Mans winners, local boy David is one of just a handful of drivers who has proven able to compete successfully in the American Le Mans Series over the last four seasons.

Team Bentley believes that these three drivers in addition to the already announced team of Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo ‘Dindo’ Capello and Guy Smith will provide the team with the best possible chance of outright victory at Le Mans this year.

Can Bentley's dream of winning another Le Mans race come true? If so, the 73-years between drinks for wins at Le Mans for Bentley will seem all the more sweet...

Team Bentley's latest Le Mans racer
versus
The first ever Bentley Le Mans car

	2003 Speed 8	1923 3-litre
Chassis	Carbon-fibre monocoque	Pressed steel, ladder frame
Body	Stressed carbon-fibre by Race Technology Norfolk	Aluminium and canvas by Vanden Plas
Engine	90 degree V8, four valves per cylinder, twin overhead camshafts, twin turbochargers	In line, 4 cylinders, four valves per cylinder, single overhead camshaft, normally aspirated
Ignition	Bosch 2.8 engine management	Twin ML magnetos
Fuel delivery	Bosch 2.8 engine management	Zenith RA carburettors
Lubrication	Dry sump	Wet sump
Capacity	4000cc	2996cc
Power output	In excess of 447kW (600bhp)	64kW (86bhp)
Gearbox	Bentley casing with Xtrac 6-speed sequential internals, Megaline pneumatic actuation	Bentley 'A'-type 4-speed, non-syncromesh
Clutch	AP Racing multi-plate	Cone-type
Suspension	Double unequal length wishbones all round, torsion bar springs (front and rear), telescopic dampers	Beam axle front, semi-floating live rear axle, semi-elliptic springs all round, Hartford lever arm dampers
Steering	Kayaba EPS Power assisted rack and pinion	Unassisted worm and wheel
Brakes	Front: 14.8in ventilated discs, six piston AP Racing callipers. Rear: 14.0in ventilated discs, six piston AP Racing callipers	Front: none Rear: 15.7in cast iron drums, Halo linings
Wheels	OZ forged magnesium 18in	Rudge-Whitworth wire, 21in
Tyres	Michelin slicks and wets	Dunlop treaded
Wheelbase	2735mm	2984mm
Length	4645mm	4876mm
Weight	900kg	990kg (without body)
Top speed	In excess of 346km/h (215mph)	152km/h (95mph)