Dubai – 20 December 2020 – The first member of the Bentley Mulliner Coachbuilt portfolio – the Bacalar – has started its final test, development and durability work ahead of the build of 12 pre-sold customer cars due to start build next year.
Bacalar Car Zero, a purpose-built engineering prototype and the first barchetta-style Bentley of the modern era, is already accumulating mileage and passing crucial quality tests at a variety of locations around Europe.
The on-car validation programmes have been condensed into an extremely busy schedule covering 20 weeks. So far, the car has completed wind tunnel-based aerodynamic assessment, high speed stability and top speed testing, handling and dynamics evaluations, appraisal of noise and vibration, and careful thermal measurements. The car now enters a period of ongoing customer-focused mileage accumulation and durability work, before a phase of climate cycle testing up to 80 °C and an intensive electrical system validation.
All of this work is vital to sign-off the new and bespoke nature of the Bacalar – the car includes a total of more than 750 new components, all of which have to pass Bentley’s exceptionally stringent quality, functionality and durability standards. More than 40 of those parts are crafted in carbon fibre, while a complement of nearly 100 are produced using rapid additive manufacture techniques.
Bentley’s Director of Mulliner, Paul Williams, comments: “Very much like Blower Car Zero that we unveiled last week, Bacalar Car Zero is the crucial prototype that we’re using to sign-off the design, engineering and craftsmanship of this ground-breaking part of Bentley Mulliner’s future. The Bacalar is a thoroughly modern iteration of the coachbuilt Bentleys of the past – extremely rare, entirely hand-crafted, totally bespoke to each customer and exquisite in its details. The whole team behind the car is thrilled to see the prototype shrugging off every test we throw at it, and we’re really looking forward to starting the build of the 12 customer cars.”
Bacalar Car Zero, a purpose-built engineering prototype and the first barchetta-style Bentley of the modern era, is already accumulating mileage and passing crucial quality tests at a variety of locations around Europe.
The on-car validation programmes have been condensed into an extremely busy schedule covering 20 weeks. So far, the car has completed wind tunnel-based aerodynamic assessment, high speed stability and top speed testing, handling and dynamics evaluations, appraisal of noise and vibration, and careful thermal measurements. The car now enters a period of ongoing customer-focused mileage accumulation and durability work, before a phase of climate cycle testing up to 80 °C and an intensive electrical system validation.
All of this work is vital to sign-off the new and bespoke nature of the Bacalar – the car includes a total of more than 750 new components, all of which have to pass Bentley’s exceptionally stringent quality, functionality and durability standards. More than 40 of those parts are crafted in carbon fibre, while a complement of nearly 100 are produced using rapid additive manufacture techniques.
Bentley’s Director of Mulliner, Paul Williams, comments: “Very much like Blower Car Zero that we unveiled last week, Bacalar Car Zero is the crucial prototype that we’re using to sign-off the design, engineering and craftsmanship of this ground-breaking part of Bentley Mulliner’s future. The Bacalar is a thoroughly modern iteration of the coachbuilt Bentleys of the past – extremely rare, entirely hand-crafted, totally bespoke to each customer and exquisite in its details. The whole team behind the car is thrilled to see the prototype shrugging off every test we throw at it, and we’re really looking forward to starting the build of the 12 customer cars.”
