Roadster Meets Road
The Continental GT based Bentley Bacalar finally hit road testing after a short nine-month development period.
The Bacalar was originally jotted down on sketch paper just nine months ago and has made the grueling trek through fast-forwarded development to bring us this fresh new car.
Despite being closely related to the Continental GT, Bentley still had to produce over 750 custom parts for this car even though they only plan on releasing just twelve units to the public. The entire body has been built from scratch, and no exterior panels will be found on the donor Continental.
The car will be powered by the same twin-turbo 6.0L W12 engine as found in the Continental GT, producing 650 horsepower and 667 lb-ft of torque. Bently has decided to continue the legacy of their W12 engine to ensure the smoothest ride possible while maintaining ample power.
As for testing, Bentley assigned the development team just 20 weeks to tune the initial prototype dubbed ‘car zero’. This testing included wind tunnel aero testing as well as ensuring the engine was up to spec.
This most recent round of testing where the Bacalar was spotted included some much-needed on-track and road testing to ensure the durability of the car over an extended period of time. After this long-distance reliability testing is completed, it will be time for the team to move on to double-checking the electrical system before the car starts its scheduled production for 2021.
