The Bentley Hunaudières is a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

built by Bentley for the 1999 Geneva Salon International de l'Auto. It is powered by a

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

8.0-litre, naturally aspirated, W16 engine adapted and modified by Bentley to generate of power at 6,000 rpm and of torque at 4,000

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

in conjunction with a five-speed

manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear change ...

. It is capable of a top speed. DTW LITC 072 gen99

Name

The Hunaudières' name pays homage to the famous straight of

Circuit de la Sarthe The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 Ho ...

where Sir Tim Birkin in a "Blower Bentley" overtook

Rudolf Caracciola Otto Wilhelm Rudolf CaracciolaBolsinger and Becker (2002), p. 63 (30 January 1901 – 28 September 1959) was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One Wo ...

in a

Mercedes-Benz SSK The Mercedes-Benz SSK (W06) is a roadster built by German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz between 1928 and 1932. The name is an abbreviation of ''Super Sport Kurz'', German for "Super Sport Short", as it was a short wheelbase development o ...

at with one wheel on the grass down the Hunaudières straight.

Production

The concept, along with the similar

Audi Rosemeyer The Audi Rosemeyer is a concept car built by Audi, shown initially at Autostadt and at various auto shows throughout Europe during 2000. Although it was never intended for production, its striking design and highly sporting nature drew considera ...

, led to the production of the

Bugatti Veyron The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car, designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti and manufactured in Molsheim, France, by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver P ...

by parent company

Video game

The Bentley Hunaudières was featured in the 2000 video game TOCA World Touring Cars as an unlockable car.

References

Sports cars Hunaudières Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles {{Modern-auto-stub