It's built for speed, but this Bugatti Chiron can just as easily stop traffic

Sponsored by RM Sotheby’s

In some parts of Europe, they still say of fast drivers, ‘He drives like Chiron’. They are, of course, referring to Louis Chiron (1899-1979), the enormously popular Monégasque driver who raced for Bugatti and, later, for Alfa Romeo and Mercedes-Benz, and whose heyday was the interwar years.

In the 1930s, the cars that Chiron raced could reach speeds of up to 155mph, so what would he have thought of the Bugatti Chiron, the replacement for the legendary Veyron hypercar that was launched in 2016 and which has a top speed of 249mph? Certainly, had he driven one at that speed, anyone accused of driving like Chiron today would have to be going very fast indeed, faster still if Chiron had driven the fastest version of all, the Chiron Super Sport 300+. In 2019, a prototype driven by Bugatti test driver and Le Mans winner Andy Wallace recorded a top speed of 304.773mph at Volkswagen’s test facility in Germany. Launched the same year, only 30 examples of the 300+ model were produced.

Two years later, in 2021, Bugatti released a version based on it that it called the Chiron Super Sport. Although it had the same power (1578hp from its 6.0-litre, quad-turbo W16) its speed was limited to 273mph, a restriction which, for safety reasons, Bugatti refuses to lift. However, even at this limited maximum, its top speed compared favourably with its predecessor, the Veyron Super Sport, which could reach 267.8mph, at the time making it the world’s fastest production car. So, limited or unlimited, the Chiron Super Sport is very fast. It’s just one of many reasons why the example being offered at RM Sotheby’s Tailored for Speed sale on Saturday 11 October is sure to command a lot of attention – another being its traffic-stopping looks.

Although the Super Sport’s maximum speed is limited, it appears that somebody may have forgotten to tell the designers who nevertheless gave the car a body perfectly capable of achieving and sustaining a faster pace. For example, like the 300+ on which it is based, it is longer than the regular Chiron by 25cm thanks to extended bumpers optimised for aerodynamics at high speed. It also has a lengthened ‘longtail’ rear, four tail pipes positioned one above the other in pairs and separated by a large central diffuser, and numerous vents to guide airflow over and around the car. On a functional level, it means business, although the sharp-eyed will note a small concession to style: where the 300+ features carbon fibre on its bodywork, the Super Sport has painted panels and the option of a two-tone livery which, says Bugatti, makes the car appear longer and lower.

Meanwhile, carbon fibre, along with leather and brushed aluminium, is evident in the Super Sport’s cabin. The driver sits in a cockpit which, although extremely luxurious, also manages to look business-like. It features analogue instruments of a kind Chiron would have fleetingly observed as he battled his opponents on Europe’s race tracks. As Bugatti president Stephan Winkelmann himself said, the Chiron Super Sport is “the ultimate grand tourer”.

A total of 500 Chirons had been built by the time production of the model ended in 2024 and only 80 of them were Super Sports. The example featured in RM Sotheby’s October sale bears the chassis number 795057 and was registered in 2023. It is finished in Blue Carbon and Grey Carbon over Atlantic Blue diamond cut five-spoke alloy wheels and its interior is trimmed with Deep Blue full-leather hides and Beluga Black carpets with Gris Rafale stitching and embroidery. The car, which has covered just 320 miles, has had just one owner and was most recently serviced by a Bugatti-authorised dealership in Zurich, in March 2025. It is expected to sell for between £2.8m and £3.25m

The Chiron Super Sport can trace its lineage to the 1931 Bugatti Type 55 Super Sport, a model Louis Chiron himself might possibly have been familiar with. That car was criticised for its lack of refinement. Forward 100 years and that’s a charge no one could level at the Chiron Super Sport, a fact made all the more remarkable given its extraordinary speed and power.

The Tailored for Speed Collection contains some of the rarest and most sought-after supercars and hypercars, representing one of the most exciting collections to come to market in recent years.

Among the 42 lots are racing cars like the Ferrari 333 SP, cutting-edge hypercars including the Pagani Huayra Roadster BC, and limited-edition track-focused machines like the Ferrari FXX-K Evo.

The auction will be held at the Dolder Grand Hotel, Zurich, on Saturday 11 October. Click below for full details

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