It leaves me wondering what Bugatti has achieved here and my conclusion is that it has made a car unfettered by any tedious regulations that’s a little bit quicker around Le Mans in theory than is an LMP1 prototype in reality while having to subscribe to every line of a rulebook whose thickness would have made Dickens proud. And it appears to be slower than the 919 Evo which while also relieved of any regulatory pressure, was still based on a compliant car meaning, for instance, it had a 2-litre, four-cylinder engine rather than one four times the size and of four times the cylinder count.
So what is it for? It’s not so far as I know in any way a homage or relevant to Bugatti heritage because Ettore built racing cars and road cars and this is neither. There may be some technologies contained therein that help Bugatti reduce the mass of its road cars in future, but if it was serious about that it would first replace that enormous engine. In the Chiron it weighs around 450kg – more than some entire cars – yet it appears to be one few components to be retained for the Bolide.
Actually I expect that it does have a hidden purpose because it has to be more than just a publicity stunt. I’d not be too surprised if Bugatti announced it was going to make a run of perhaps 25 cars, sell them for countless millions to its best customers and wheel them out at special Bolide-only track days where they can experience just how unpleasant it must be to accelerate from rest to 250mph in 12 seconds. And good luck to them if they do.
