Co-driver Andy rolled his eyes. “Not again,” he says, reaching for the door handle. Slowly the two patrolmen come closer in the rearview mirror. Were we too fast? Wrong overhauled? We don’t – or do we?
In all honesty: it wouldn’t be surprising. “Just turn in …”, Andy prevented every braking on a curve during the last few kilometers, because such a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport arrows around the corner so smoothly and stably that you can easily take the momentum with you even on narrow French country roads. Felt slow and safe, but still the speedometer was somewhere between 80 and 90. Or maybe a little higher?
More Bugatti is currently not possible
The super sport is the crowning glory of the current Chiron. Bugatti will produce exactly 500 units of the current series in its factory in Molsheim (F), Alsace, including all derivatives – and no more. The normal chirons – if you can say that – have long been planned for production; only 40 slots are reserved for the Giga-Chirons – the Pur Sport and the Super Sport.
Super? Sports? As if a normal Chiron was slow. But Bugatti is brushing its top model, limited to just 30 copies, to absolute high speed: its sixteen-cylinder W-shape – as if four four-cylinders act on a crankshaft – delivers 100 hp more thanks to larger turbochargers than the 1500 hp basic Chiron. The Super Sport weighs 50 kilograms less and stretches 25 centimeters longer into the wind because the aerodynamics had to be adapted to the governed top speed of 440 km / h. “Spoilers push the rear of the car onto the road, but they also slow down at the same time. You have to find the right balance if you want such a high speed ”, explains Andy as we roll off the farm in Molsheim.
Surfing the torque wave
He must know. Andy Wallace won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1988 in a Jaguar, now drives electric privately (“So relaxing. And I always take enough breaks.”) And otherwise pushes Bugattis to the limit. Two years ago, literally, when he was the first to drive more than 300 miles per hour in a production car in a super sports prototype on a VW test site, i.e. 490.48 km / h. Wasn’t the 500 in there? “The test track was too short,” Andy shrugs. “Two or three kilometers longer, then more would have been possible.” But unfortunately he also needed some space to brake.
Get out of the factory. Who needs 1600 hp on public roads? Sure, nobody. But the torque surge of the Chiron Super Sport is already addicting in town. At 50 km / h it rolls easily in sixth gear; probably one could even hit him in the fourth. Raise the front at the push of a button – and the deep black racer bounces like a small car over the speed threshold in front of the primary school. Casual.
Travel? Only with a butler for the luggage
You can easily circle the extra-wide bolide around the gyroscope. You could go shopping with it if more than 44 liters would fit under the front hood. Bugatti calls it the fastest Grand Turismo of all, but it would only be good for the long journey if the butler in the SUV drives the luggage behind you. He would just have trouble keeping up with it.
More than 130 km / h is not possible on any French motorway, but until then you can step on it. Put the accelerator pedal down on the acceleration lane – and instantly it presses the back of my brain against the wall of my skull. Sorry, electro fans, but this is more otherworldly than any Tesla. And sounds more growling, sawing, milling like no other car. Straight off the pedal, 2.4 seconds of full throttle are enough for 100 km / h. The four turbochargers release the excess pressure with a hiss through the wastegates and when braking down in front of the toll booth with a total of 14 brake pistons, the rear wing rushes into the airstream – you want to hear it again and again.
Bugatti Chiron Super Sport
drive 8.0 l, W16-cylinder gasoline engine with four turbochargers, 1600 PS (1176 kW), 1600 Nm @ 2250–7000 rpm, 7-speed dual clutch transmission, all-wheel drive
Performance 0–100 km / h in 2.4 s, 0–200 km / h in 5.8 s, 0–300 km / h in 12.1 s, 0–400 km / h in 28.6 s, peak 440 km / h (limited – and that’s better that way)
Dimensions L / W / H = 4.77 / 2.04 / 1.21 m, weight 1995 kg, trunk approx. 44 l – but it doesn’t matter
consumption Factory 23.5 l / 100 km, 553 g CO2/ km
List price theoretically from around 3.5 million Swiss francs – but probably all sold
drive 8.0 l, W16-cylinder gasoline engine with four turbochargers, 1600 PS (1176 kW), 1600 Nm @ 2250–7000 rpm, 7-speed dual clutch transmission, all-wheel drive
Performance 0–100 km / h in 2.4 s, 0–200 km / h in 5.8 s, 0–300 km / h in 12.1 s, 0–400 km / h in 28.6 s, peak 440 km / h (limited – and that’s better that way)
Dimensions L / W / H = 4.77 / 2.04 / 1.21 m, weight 1995 kg, trunk approx. 44 l – but it doesn’t matter
consumption Factory 23.5 l / 100 km, 553 g CO2/ km
List price theoretically from around 3.5 million Swiss francs – but probably all sold
And how are you doing with the 440 km / h? “Stop first,” says Andy. Then open the driver’s door and insert the speed key in the sill, with which the Super Sport can be armed – if it wants to. Because beforehand the car checks over 20 parameters – from the age of the tires and their pressure to the position of the vehicle, temperature and cross winds. “The pressure sensor normally checks the tires every 30 seconds. With the speed key, he measures 60 times per second, ”explains Andy. Only when everything is OK does the Chiron release the 440 km / h from ignition of the engine until the next time it is switched off. Unless the driver makes too violent a steering movement – then it is done immediately. Whereby that still means a maximum of 380 km / h.
There’s nothing luxury here
Super sport doesn’t get on the nerves for a second over land, despite being over two meters wide. The possible lateral acceleration in curves is unbelievable, you can feel the steering with millimeter precision and effortlessly sprint past tractors. Maybe a little too effortlessly – this car seems limitless in its capabilities.
Right out onto a parking lot for hikers. Bugattis are luxury cars? Nope. No chrome, no root wood in the interior – this has little to do with Rolls-Royce and Co.: Just leather and just as many advertisements as absolutely necessary. Touchscreen? Unnecessary, as are many buttons for setting the climate. The automatic air conditioning alone has almost 14 hp, because the flat glass surfaces and the motor behind the seat backs would turn the cockpit into a sauna without cooling. All the displays are in the tiny instrument cluster, the navigation system is only good for emergencies, and you wouldn’t hear anything from the radio anyway.
He remembers the maximum output
The four metallic climate controls even have to do a second job: As tiny displays, they show the highlights of the journey at the push of a button: power, speed, G-forces and, uh, speed. The latter is fully within the limit, but the power display says 1612 hp – from the motorway spurt. Andy wants to explain the special aerodynamic components – from the ventilation openings in the fender to the mega diffuser with vertically grouped tailpipes to the adjustable spoiler. But then comes the patrol car.
The two gendarmes just want to look, luckily. Even if you are on duty in the areas around Molsheim, you rarely see such a Bugatti. One photo, “merci”, and they’re gone. How soon the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport. From November 1st, Mate Rimac, CEO of the Croatian electric car manufacturer of the same name, will be in charge and will probably set all the signs for the future of electric vehicles. On the way back I can’t help it: the hissing of the wastegates, please.