Audi’s S Tronic dual-clutch gearbox headed for Bentley GT?

Bentley has provided its Continental GT with a total refresh for the 2011 model year. The styling has been updated and the luxury coupe is expected to gain a second engine option. The traditional 6.0-liter W12 unit will still be available albeit with more power, but Bentley has also let slip that it will offer a new V8 engine. This eight-cylinder unit will apparently be a twin-turbocharged Audi engine which is potentially capable of 550 horsepower. Now, word from Autocar suggests that Bentley would like to pair that engine with Audi’s S tronic dual-clutch transmission.

The S tronic unit is currently employed throughout most of the Four-Ringed family lineup. Adding it to the Bentley will present an interesting challenge, however, due to the fact that the underbody of the Continental GT has a nice ZF six-speed automatic transmission-shaped hole. The ZF automatic is the gearbox used for the W12. Bentley’s engineers are now doing feasibility studies to see if they can get the dual-clutch gearbox to fit.

If they do manage to cram the S tronic in there, we do hope it comes with some massive updates, as we’ve found the twin-clutch cogswapper to be a seriously disagreeable piece of equipment (particularly in terms of low-speed drivability) in the Audi R8 test cars we’ve sampled.

Live photos by Zach Bowman/Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: Autocar]