How a Bentley Continental GT Became One Of My Rarest Spots

What if I were to tell that one of the rarest cars I’ve ever spotted is a Bentley Continental GT that’s rarer than a Bugatti Veyron, you wouldn’t believe me right? Well, as hard to believe as it seems, this was actually the case as I managed to see an ultra exclusive Bentley Continental GT Le Mans Edition in Dubai Mall. And the craziest thing is that I didn’t even realize this was a rare spot initially, so here’s the story.

So in the Fashion Avenue section of the Dubai mall right outside the Gucci and Giorgio Armani stores where I did most of my spotting, there was this huge row of valet parked cars which contained all kinds of supercars and luxury cars and that’s where the Continental GT was.

Even though this Continental GT had a nice dark green shade and a white stripe with a number on the grill I didn’t pay much attention to it for two reasons. The first being I had already seen a bunch of luxury cars like Rolls Royce Cullinans and I figured this was just another Continental GT with a fancier paintjob and the second being there were other cars like a Ferrari SF90 Stradale in that same parking that my attention was more focused towards so I figured the Continental GT could wait a little bit.

After taking the photos that was really the last I thought of the Continental GT until I came back home, analyzed the photos and decided to do some research just in case. What I found out shocked me. This was no ordinary Continental GT, but a 2023 Bentley Continental Le Mans limited edition of the Continental with only 48 units ever made.

So the Continental GT Le Mans Edition is made by Mulliner which is basically Bentley’s exclusivity and customization program much like Lamborghini’s Ad Personam or McLaren’s Special Operations, so you know it’s something special. The Continental GT Le Mans Edition is inspired by Bentley’s Speed 8 which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2003 and is among the last special edition cars that Bentley made with their iconic 12-cylinder engine, as they retired it the following year in 2024.

What’s even more unbelievable is at the time (November 2023) the only other photographs I could find of the Continental Le Mans Edition in the public outside of Bentley’s team, were some taken by a couple spotters of one specific example in the Netherlands. This means I’m likely one of the first people to have ever photographed this car in public outside of Europe, if not in general and that to me is something very special.

Featured Photo © Rohan Dixit