Bristol New Bullet Speedster
It's been 70 years since Bristol Cars
was founded and five since it was rescued from bankruptcy. That makes it about
time for a new Bristol, and that's precisely what we have here.
The new Bristol Bullet is a hardcore speedster
with carbon-fiber bodywork and powered by an engine sourced from BMW but
developed in-house. Dubbed the Hercules, the V8 displaces 4.8 liters and
produces 370 horsepower and just as much torque.
In a vehicle weighing less than 2,500
pounds, that's enough to send the new British speedster to 100 km/h from a standstill in 3.8 seconds and on to a face-shredding top
speed of 250 km/h.
As performance-focused as the Bullet
appears, and as stodgy as Bristol once came across, the speedster packs plenty
of luxury amenities and technology on board. There's a multitouch screen in the
dashboard with digital radio, smartphone connectivity, Bluetooth and WiFi. The
seats are hand trimmed in British hides and the dashboard can be ordered in either
wood or carbon.
It had been a long time since Bristol
released anything new. If this is a sign of things to come under the new
management, it looks like we could have yet another British sports car
contender on our hands.
