Bentley are bringing their biblically epic Continental GT3 race car to make its world debut at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed – in their biggest presence at the ace hill climb based car show event. Best of all, four-time World Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen will drive the breath-taking Continental GT Speed (coupe up the famous Goodwood hill-climb over all three days of the Festival! And as if that wasn't enough... Bentley will also be bringing a Speed 8 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Le Mans win. And there will be a new Flying Spur and the full Bentley range on display the Bentley stand!
Oh, and did we mention five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell MBE once again donning the Bentley overalls for the event – this year piloting the fastest four-seat convertible in the world – the 202 mph (325 km/h) GT Speed Convertible. With a more dynamic chassis setup, increased power and torque and a host of subtle yet distinctive styling cues, the GT Speed Convertible is the pinnacle of the Continental range. Derek comments: “Coming back to Goodwood with Bentley is always a real honour, and this year I have the pleasure of driving a 616bhp convertible up the infamous hill. 2013 is certain to be a great year for us at the Festival.” The Continental GT3 will be unveiled on the media stage in the F1 paddock at 10:15 on Friday 12th July, at which point more information about the car will be released. And you can hear all about that and see more pictures here, naturally.
For now, see some more images of the Bentley's on display here.
Quelle surprise... the world's greatest rally driver ever has blitzed the 2013 Pikes Peak event, by an unreal margin – setting a new course record of 8min 13.878sec for the 12.4-mile course, in his epic 900bhp Peugeot 208 T16... some 95 seconds faster than the existing record! It seems highly unlikely anyone will ever get up the 'race to the clouds' faster. There's only one Sebastian Loeb eh?! What a legend! The superb Colorado course, rising overs 5000 feet and with just shy of 160 testing corners was no real challenge for superman Loeb, who made it look easy in his epic T16 and brought back fond memories of Ari Vatanen's legendary cloud dance run in the 405 T16. The amazing 208 T16 was created using many components from the 908 Le Mans car, was created in under four months and uses a 900bhp mid-mounted 3.2-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V6, a six-speed four-wheel-drive transaxle and a state of the art steel spaceframe chassis with a torsion-bar double wishbone suspension set up and trick front and rear and carbon fibre racing brakes and aero pack. The ballistic power-to-weight and grip netted 0-62mph in 1.8 seconds and 0-150mph time in just 7.0 sec! Peugeot said: After months of anticipation, Sébastien Loeb has shattered the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record with a breath-taking time of 8m13.878s in the Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak. The Frenchman negotiated the 12.42 miles and 156 corners of the mountain at an average speed of 87.471mph. Loeb’s time blitzed the previous best of 9m46.164s, set by Rhys Millen last year, with the top three finishers all beating the 2012 record. “For me, this was the race of the year,” said Loeb at the finish, at 4,300 metres high in the Rocky Mountains. “At the beginning of my run there was a bit of pressure for sure because I knew there was so much work and investment from Peugeot and all the partners. Now, after all the practice, it was just down to me and I had to perform.” Loeb started first of the Unlimited class cars, unleashing his 875-horsepower car onto the mountain this morning after all the motorcycle competitors had passed through. However there were a number of delays before he started, which meant that the team began to worry about bad weather: a common feature of Pikes Peak at high altitude. “When I was on the start line waiting to go, I could actually see the clouds closing in at the top of the mountain,” said Loeb. “I remember thinking that if we didn’t get going soon, it would be really difficult.” As it was, Loeb blasted his 208 T16 Pikes Peak through the clouds in a time that was even quicker than Peugeot Sport’s computer had thought was possible. The ideal theoretical time – calculated using data from Loeb’s practice runs up the Colorado mountain – was 8m15s. The nine-times World Rally Champion somehow managed to shave two seconds off that. “I’m really happy as that was a very good run in the end,” said Loeb. “I really didn’t expect anything better than 8m15s, so to do 8m13s was fantastic. Before the start I didn’t really know if I should push absolutely to the maximum or if I should just push to a comfortable pace, in order to make sure of the victory. In the end, I decided to push to the limit.” The result was spectacular, with Loeb now joining the pantheon of Pikes Peak winners; nearly one year to the day after he first conquered America by winning the rally cross finale of the X-Games on 1st July, 2012. Despite his flat-out approach, the multiple champion didn’t even report any major moments, while his Peugeot has been completely reliable throughout the entire month it has been in America. “It was good, all under control from start to finish,” he concluded. “Apart from the potential of the weather turning bad, we didn’t have any worrying moments.” The scenes of success at Peugeot were reminiscent of 1988, when former World Rally Champion Ari Vatanen broke the Pikes Peak record for the French manufacturer exactly 25 years ago, with the 405 T16 Pikes Peak. Back then the benchmark was 10m47.220s on gravel roads – a sign of just how rapidly technology has evolved. In second place on the 91st ‘Race to the Sky’ this year was former record-holder Rhys Millen in his all-new Hyundai RMR PM580-T, 49 seconds behind Loeb with a time of 9m02.192s. Nonetheless, the New Zealander beat his own record – and he says that he’s determined to break the nine-minute barrier next year. “I think it’s fair to say that we were racing for second place today,” said Millen. “Romain Dumas and I had been really close throughout practice, but then I heard that his engine had unfortunately broken at the start. I knew I wasn’t going to beat Sebastien’s time, so I just decided to take no risks. You have to hand it to Loeb and Peugeot Sport: they were unbeatable. That time they set was simply incredible. When will it be beaten? It might never be…” For Loeb and Peugeot Sport, it was the end to a remarkable one-shot adventure that had taken them from early tests of the 208 T16 Pikes Peak at Mont Ventoux in France to the untrammelled mountains of Colorado: officially America’s highest state. Pikes Peak is a legend: the second-oldest car race in America after the Indy 500. And now Loeb – the new King of the Peak – and the Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak car are part of American history. Bravo to Peugeot for building such an amazing racer in such a short time, setting their stall out and surpassing even their expectations – making history. And a special thanks has to go to fellow French firm, Citroen for letting him do it! Sebastian Loeb, we salute you – again! Now, please come to Wales Rally GB!!!
Greek Driving Academy instructor, Thomas Papapaschos letting rip in the unbelievably cool and angry, 600PS Nissan Silvia up the Portaria hill climb. This video shows in-car footage from the second leg of practice, and is very cool! Love it! That sound on booooooost is mental oriental!
It's Pikes Peak this weekend in Colorado Springs, and Lexus will be competing for the very first time in the all-new, 416bhp IS F CCS-R V8 race car. Here it is in action for the very first time, with Brian Smith, VP Lexus Marketing, discussing the engine and modifications to the ISF CCS-R. The Lexus IS F CCS-R will be lining up against 200 other entrants at the start line of the 90th running of the iconic event, held in the USA on Sunday 12 August. Known as ‘the race to the clouds’ it takes place on a 12.42-mile track that features 156 turns and rises a total of 4,720 feet to the finish line at the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado. Decked out in eye-catching orange mica and black, the Lexus IS F CCS-R uses a modified 416bhp version of the 5.0-litre V8 engine used in the road car, twinned with an eight-speed semi-automatic gearbox. The CCS-R first appeared at the the Tokyo Auto Salon in Tokyo, in 2011. In a race where the thin air at the top of the mountain can cut performance by up to 30 per cent, weight saving is critical – so carbon fibre is used for the bonnet, doors, dashboard and even the door handles. The windows are made from a lightweight polycarbonite material as well. It's a serious machine. To find out more: Go to Lexus website: http://www.lexus.com/ Find Lexus on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexus Follow Lexus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/lexus Lexus Drivers: http://drivers.lexus.com L Studio: http://www.youtube.com/user/lstudiopresents YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/lexus Best of luck to the beast and all at lexus _ we love it at Team Road. And we will be reporting back on how they get on at Pikes Peak here and in www.roadmagazine.co.uk Lexus & Toyota special, later this year.
Revving to over 10,000rpm, weighing in under 600Kg and knocking out over 300bhp, this Fiat X1-9 is one hell of a cool hill climber, eh? Check it out. You can buy the DVD from this epic hill climb at: http://www.dorvyd.it/Homepage.html. Ace!
This has got to be one of the most insane hill climbs runs ever – in a Le Mans Series Norma M20, perhaps the most inappropriately named car in history! Sounds like a car your gran would drive, but goes like it's being chased by the devil! A-M-A-ZING! Check it out, now!
