Cars prepped for ice racing are usually fairly lightweight and run skinny studded tyres, the aim being to scrabble for whatever purchase is possible while skating balletically across the surface. But Bentley clearly had a meeting in which the principle conclusion was ‘Er, sod that’ – so they’ve built this massive thing. Look at it. It’s mental. It’s got a whacking great 6.0-litre W12 engine for starters, as well as three-chamber air springs with a 48v antiroll system.
The reason for its existence is to compete in this year’s GP Ice Race at Zell Am See, Austria, with Junior WRC driver (and ex-presenter of CBeebies’ Catie’s Amazing Machines) Catie Munnings at the wheel. “At first I thought it would feel heavy, but I was amazed by how dynamic, nimble and responsive it is,” she says. “It can dance like a lightweight rally car.” Fair enough, Bentley’s engineers aren’t usually wrong about this type of thing. And if steamrollering into this event with a Conti GT packing bolt-on arches, Pirelli Scorpions, Lazer Lamps and a shouty Akrapovic exhaust is what it takes, then sign us up.
