Continental GT Speed

Make
Bentley
Segment
Coupe

When we drove the new Bentley Continental GT Speed in Sicily recently, the company made its intentions for this model abundantly clear. W we were encouraged to drift the mighty coupe on an open stretch of tarmac, making full use of both the big W12 lump in front and the sharper suspension below. The experience was thoroughly enjoyable, as bizarre as the idea of hooning a Bentley may be. Even better, we got to unleash the GT Speed on a previously secret track that was also the location for a brand-new short film that has just been released by the automaker. Called Continental Drift and filmed at an abandoned NATO airbase in Sicily, the name of the film says it all. This is three minutes of the Continental GT Speed being delightfully manhandled, and to see the end result in this location that we experienced for ourselves is quite something.

Shot by automotive film-maker David Hale, the film gets off to a docile start with the driver of a 1952 R-Type Continental gently guiding the classic Bentley through quiet streets, with nothing much else around besides an old Fiat hatchback. Later, the driver swaps the R-Type for the new GT Speed, and that's where the fun begins.

"After the team discovered Comiso Air Station for the launch of the GT Speed, and we'd agreed to create a gymkhana-style course there, the next step was to design a film unlike anything we'd shot before," said Mike Sayer, Bentley's Head of Product Communications.

"Sliding a metallic yellow Bentley around an abandoned airbase is certainly an experience, and new territory for us, but the result shows just how dynamic the best Grand Tourer in the world has become," said Sayer.

Indeed, we're more accustomed to the likes of Porsche and Ferrari revealing clips showing off their cars' dynamic capabilities, such as when the SF90 Stradale starred in a film shoot in Monaco last year.

But more than just a publicity stunt, Bentley's Continental Drift is a chance to display the capabilities of what is a dynamically talented GT. The GT Speed's many enhancements include an electronic limited-slip differential, carbon-ceramic brakes, and the ability to send almost all torque to the rear axle for the kind of slides the car effortlessly pulled off in the film.