In today’s 1/4-mile drag race we’ll witness two amazing (and very expensive) vehicles go head-to-head. In the British corner, we have the 650-horsepower (659 ps) Bentley Continental GT Speed, while in the German corner, the 616-hp (625 ps) BMW M8 Competition. Let's see what sort of beasts they are, and then head off to the track.
The Bentley has a 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 engine producing 650 ponies (659 ps), with 664 lb-ft (900 Nm) of torque. It also boasts an all-wheel drive system and an eight-speed automatic transmission. The specs are impressive, but at the same time, it is a bit chunky, weighing 4,846 lbs. (2,198 kg).
Over on the German side of things, the M8 Competition brings a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine outputting 616 ponies (625 ps), with 553 lb-ft (750 Nm) of torque. It’s also AWD, has an 8-speed automatic M Steptronic transmission, and weighs 4,189 lbs. (1,900 kg).
Now that we got the spec sheet out of the way, it’s off to the races. On the first try, after a great start from both cars, they were neck to neck for more than a couple of seconds. But as the drag strip got shorter and shorter, the BMW M8 managed to get to the finish line first, by about a two cars length.
The second time around, it was basically a repeat of the first attempt. They both had great launches, it was extremely close right until the end, and the M8 won again. There’s nothing the Bentley could have done to win, short of the BMW driver launching late.
Thus, the 616-hp (659 ps) BMW M8 Competition finished the 1/4-mile drag race in 11.2 seconds, while the 650-hp (625 ps) Bentley did it in 11.4 seconds. Three 1/2-mile roll races followed soon after, where the BMW won the first two times. However, the third time, the Bentley finally came out on top, (barely).
Codrin just loves American classics, from the 1940s and ‘50s, all the way to the muscle cars of the '60s and '70s. In his perfect world, we'll still see Hudsons and Road Runners roaming the streets for years to come (even in EV form, if that's what it takes to keep the aesthetic alive). Full profile
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