Does the EXP 10 Speed 6 concept preview Bentley's sportiest car to date?

AFTER winning the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race in France in 1930, British ultra luxury car-maker Bentley bowed out of motorsport for 73 years, saying it had learned all it needed to about reliability and speed.

Perhaps after that extensive break from competition, the company wanted to learn a thing or two more because in 2001 it returned to the racing arena with a spectacular prototype car named the Speed 8, which went on to claim the trophy in France 75 years after Bentley’s last Le Mans victory.

Since then Bentley has had a resurgent presence on the world’s circuits, and last year it achieved another milestone win, taking the podium at the Silverstone stage of the Blancpain series with a Continental GT3 — its first win on British soil for more than 80 years.

Racing Bentleys are back and that is a good thing because it's given the supreme car-maker an excuse to resurrect the name of the car that won Le Mans all those years ago.

Bentley’s gorgeous EXP 10 Speed 6 borrows its name from the car that took victory from a much more powerful supercharged Mercedes in 1930.

The Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6 might only be a concept at this stage but it heavily hints at a new design direction for the company and, more excitingly, a possible new sub-Continental sportscar with more aggressive performance than its bigger coupe brother.

Unveiled at the Geneva motor show, the Volkswagen Group-owned auto-maker described its latest concept as having “the potential to be a new pinnacle luxury two-seater sportscar.”

Fans of the winged-B should be excited because with only two seats and a classic front-engined sportscar layout, a production version would once again take a big fight to Mercedes and its new AMG GT coupe, as well as Jaguar and its F-Type or even the venerable Porsche 911.

Mercedes-AMG GT beware. This English gem speaks fluent coupe.

At this stage of infancy, very little detail is being released about the car, but a confident statement from the company’s chairman and chief executive Wolfgang Dürheimer stated: “It could be a future model line, alongside the Continental GT and redefining the pinnacle of another market sector, and the styling of the EXP 10 Speed 6 could influence the expansion of the Bentley family,” he said.

“This is not just a new sportscar concept – but the potential Bentley sports car – a bold vision for a brand with a bold future.”

With an active presence in motorsport, Bentley’s smaller EXP 10 Speed 6 has the potential to be a potent package with more nimble handling than the bigger Continental sports coupe.

As for power, Bentley is saying nothing at this stage other than the new car is hybrid powered. Combined with its relatively diminutive proportions, the Speed 6 could therefore be the company’s most fuel-efficient car to date.

A monstrous 12-inch high-resolution touchscreen dominates the Bentley's leather-bound dash, not unlike the unit found in a Tesla Model S.

But don't think Bentley will be sacrificing performance for a smaller environmental footprint. That just wouldn’t be British. Expect the EXP 10 to be every bit as fast as it looks and a wide, low stance “hints at high speed potential of the car” says Bentley.

Its large grille has the figure six stencilled on to the chrome wire-mesh just as so many of the racers of tester year advertised their competition number, celebrating both the name of the “Old Number One” Le Mans winner and the company’s rich heritage.

According to Bentley, the exterior design was inspired by shapes of an aircraft's wings and fuselage and a modern interpretation of Bentley styling cues, with the fitment of the four circular headlamps found on all Bentley models and an evolution of the matrix grille.

Simple but striking features pick out a classic Bentley line, while the Speed 6's slender tail-lights mimic the oval exhausts.

Even the colour, a “deeper, richer and heavily metallic” version of British Racing Green, is a nod to the brand's past.

Featuring short front overhangs and a sculpted body, the Bentley concept carries deep character lines on each side flowing from the air outlets just behind the front wings, while a strong shoulder line lifts up from behind the door through to the tail.

Inside, the EXP 10 Speed 6 interior is exactly what you would expect from a Bentley cabin with acres of traditional top-quality quilted leather but with up-to-date high-tech highlights, such as the mighty 12-inch screen and instruments, which rotate to face the driver when the car is started.

Quilted tan leather and deep-pile carpets say traditional Bentley, while machined aluminium and full-colour high-resolution screen instruments point to a more modern future British sportscar.

Whether the EXP 10 Speed 6 will retain any part of its working title remains to be seen, but the long-winded name follows the same system of the EXP 9 F SUV concept that aired in 2012.

That car went on to become the imminent Bentayga high-riding four-wheel drive which will break cover later this year.

Old Number One was the Bentley that took the Le Mans victory in 1929 – the company's last for three quarters of a century.

Should Bentley dust off the significant Speed 6 name for its foray into a new sportscar market and will a road version of the EXP 10 Speed 6 be the most fiery model from the company in nearly 100 years?

Daniel Gardner GoAuto.com.au

Protect your Bentley. Call Shannons Insurance on 13 46 46 to get a quote today.