Bentley will celebrate twenty years of its mighty W12 engine at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, alongside a showcase of bespoke and coachbuilt Bentleys by Mulliner. The new Speed Six Continuation Series will make its global debut at the internationally famous event, while the Batur makes its dynamic UK debut.
The 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12 is the engine that has powered Bentley to record success for the last 20 years. Powerful, reliable, refined, compact and extremely efficient for an engine of its class, the W12 has been the performance backbone of the brand since the launch of the Continental GT in 2003. Now, as Bentley continues on its Beyond100 journey to full electrification, the W12 is entering the final phase of production, with the last engine due to be built in April 2024.
Six Dynamic Bentleys for the Hill
Bentley is celebrating this remarkable engine – designed, engineered, developed and built by hand in Crewe – with an astonishing array of cars taking to the famous Goodwood Hillclimb. The most powerful example of the engine ever created will drive the new Batur by Mulliner up the hill, in the car’s UK dynamic debut, with 750 PS and 1,000 Nm promising stunning performance. The Batur is the latest entirely coachbuilt project by Mulliner, Bentley’s bespoke division, with just 18 examples set to be produced and all already sold – each entirely bespoke to its owner. The car that will run on the hill is Car Zero-Zero, an engineering durability prototype finished in Marina Teal and one of only two Baturs currently in existence.
The new Continental GT Le Mans Collection represents the pinnacle of W12 performance in Bentley’s mainstream model family, with 650 PS. An example of this limited edition car will take to the hill, ahead of a production run of just 48 units. The car will be joined by a bespoke Continental GTC Speed, Bentley’s fastest convertible, featuring details from Mulliner’s Personal Commissioning Guide including stone veneer and Cyber Yellow accents.
To mark the life of the W12, Bentley has created a special series of cars across the Speed models in the range. The Edition 12 family of cars includes a suite of W12-inspired details, with 120 examples each of Continental GT, Continental GTC, Flying Spur and Bentayga Speed being produced. A Flying Spur Speed Edition 12 will showcase these features, including new Opalite paintwork, at Goodwood.
The final W12-powered car to make daily appearances on the hillclimb will be the Continental GT Pikes Peak – the very car that set a new outright Production Class record at Pikes Peak in 2019. Conquering the 12.42-mile, 156 turn course that climbs almost 5,000 ft from start to finish, the Pikes Peak special set a new record of 10:18.488 at the hands of former ‘King of the Mountain’, Rhys Millen. This will be the car’s first appearance at the Festival of Speed.
Joining the five W12 Bentleys on the hill will be Bentley’s original supercar – a 4½ Litre Supercharged, more commonly known as a Bentley Blower. The example that will run is Car Zero from the Blower Continuation Series, the world’s first pre-war continuation project that saw Mulliner create 12 new Blowers from scratch, using Bentley’s own 1929 Team Car #2 as the master.
Speed Six Car Zero
As the Blower Continuation Series production comes to an end, Mulliner is turning its focus to their second continuation project – the Speed Six Continuation Series. This new run of 12 cars – again all sold – will be handcrafted in Mulliner’s workshop in Crewe, each a faithful continuation of the Speed Six specification that raced at Le Mans in 1930. Preceding the 12 customer cars will be two development vehicles – known as Car Zero and Factory Works. Speed Six Car Zero will make its global debut at this year’s Festival of Speed, on display on the new two-storey Bentley stand next to the Supercar Paddock from Thursday 13 July.
Joining Speed Six Car Zero on the stand will be the only other Batur in the world, and a heavily personalised Flying Spur Mulliner that includes a range of bespoke features from Mulliner’s Personal Commissioning Guide. A Mulliner designer will also run a configuration suite on the stand, guiding customers through the highly detailed and individual process of specifying their perfect bespoke Bentley.
W12 Heritage Parade
To mark the 20th anniversary of the W12 in style, a parade of 12 W12-powered cars will parade through the event on Thursday. Joining the five supercars on the hillclimb will be seven additional cars from Bentley’s rejuvenated and expanded Heritage Collection, including:
- First generation Continental GT W12 and Continental Flying Spur
- The Continental Supersports ISR, which set a new Ice Speed Record in 2011 in the hands of Juha Kankkunen
- The very first production Bentayga W12
- A second generation Flying Spur W12S
- The Pikes Peak Bentayga, which set a new Production SUV record at Pikes Peak in 2018
- A second generation Continental Supersports
