In 1925, Bentley took its 3 Litre, tuned the engine, shortened the chassis and called the result the Super Sports. It was the first Bentley capable of exceeding 100mph, at a time when most cars couldn’t top forty. The 18 Super Sports were more streamlined, more lightweight and more performance focused. They catapulted the brand into new territory and altered people’s perceptions about the modern motorcar. People like Mildred Mary Petre.

The £342,900 Bentley Supersports is half a tonne lighter than the Continental GT on which it’s based.

Petre was a pioneer. She liked breaking records on land, sea and air, such as running her 4½ Litre Bentley around Montlhéry racetrack alone, for 24 hours, averaging almost 90mph in 1929. After that, she became the first woman to fly over the world’s land mass on her own. So, when it came to finding a codename for Bentley’s radical new car – the Supersports - the British marque aptly settled on Project Mildred.

The Supersports name is nothing new. It dates back to the original Bentley Super Sports from 1925 - the first car to top 100mph.

A century on, Bentley is consciously channelling some of Mildred’s hotspur. The new Supersports is a bold and unapologetic bruiser of a grand tourer that can also pack a punch at your local track day. But for £140,000 more than the Continental GT on which it’s based, you get a whole lot less. No hybrid system, no back seats and no four-wheel drive, but thankfully, less is certainly more when it comes to the Supersports.

The Supersports is £140,000 more than the Continental GT on which it’s based, but you get a whole lot less. No hybrid system, no back seats and no four-wheel drive.

Half a tonne is the total weight saving, making it Bentley’s lightest car in 85 years. Combine that weight saving with a raucous 657bhp, 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 and rear-wheel drive, and you have a car that can not only cover off the 0-62mph dash in 3.7-seconds, but one that can turn into the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca like no other Bentley could even contemplate. The steering is sharp, the ride is just the right side of stiff and crucially, it’s still very much a Bentley.

Inside you’ll find all the creature comforts, such as sporty but reassuringly squishy seats, lashings of leather and milled metal. Despite the weight loss, Bentley ensured the Supersports didn’t go without most of the interior trimmings as its Continental GT cousin, so it’s still just as useable as a daily driver or a cross-country cruiser. 

Despite the weight loss, inside you’ll find all the creature comforts, such as sporty but reassuringly squishy seats, lashings of leather and milled metal.

Where it really sets itself apart is in the corners. Yes, the acceleration and burble from the Akrapovič titanium exhaust is as delicious as it sounds but once you’ve thrown the Supersports around California’s rollercoaster of a racetrack, it’s easy to appreciate how the lighter weight, lower ride height and sharper steering come together to make a car that’s hugely fun to drive fast. While it’s far from the scalpel precision of the Porsche 911 GT3, or the sheer ballistic pace of the similarly priced twin-turbo V12 Aston Martin Vanquish, it sits in a sweet spot between the two. Part grand tourer, part race-ready track car.

At £342,900, the Bentley is snapping at the heels of the Aston Martin Vanquish and the Ferrari 12Cilindri.

That combination has almost no competition. At £342,900, the Bentley is snapping at the heels of the Aston Martin Vanquish and the Ferrari 12Cilindri, but neither of those are limited to the same level as the Bentley. Just 500 Supersports will be made and already, they’re all spoken for. But the Supersports is just the beginning for Bentley under the leadership of CEO Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, who joined from Porsche in 2024. If the variety and performance of the 911 is anything to go by, expect more of the unexpected from Crewe.

Bentley

Supersports

Find our more

@roryfhsmith