Photo: Bugatti
It took Bugatti one year to take the Bolide from the drawing board to the real thing, and just a few seconds to stun the world. It happened back in October when the track-focused machine was presented, and hints of a possible production run were dropped.
Enough time passed since the reveal for most of us to kind of forget about the Bolide. As the year draws to a close, the carmaker decided to remind us the car is still out there, and dropped a series of new photos showing the model in detail. You can admire them, together with the ones already released at launch, in the attached gallery.
Officially, the car is nothing but an experiment, one meant to be both a design study and a “carrier of technological expertise.” There’s no official plan to launch it into production, but the thing is so amazing it would seem like a waste not to make more of it.
At the racer’s core sits the 8.0-liter W16 engine, tweaked for this application to develop an equal number of horsepower and Nm: 1,850. Because it weighs just 1,240 kg (2,734 pounds “theoretically possible dry weight,” as Bugatti says), the Bolide has a weight-to-power ratio of 0.67 kg (1.5 pounds) per hp, making it feel like you’re “riding on a cannonball.”
The insane numbers mentioned above are easily converted into track prowess. Going around Le Mans' Circuit de la Sarthe (8.5 miles/13.6 km) should take 3:07.1 minutes, while the Nordschleife (20.83 km/12.9 miles) should be lapped in 5:23.1 minutes. These are “simulated figures,” of course, as the Bolide is yet to meet the tarmac of the two tracks in an official manner.
“With the Bolide we have dared to pursue an experiment of extremes. In our history that dates more than 110-years, there has never been a comparable model based on such a minimalist concept conceived solely around the engine,” said in a statement Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti.
Officially, the car is nothing but an experiment, one meant to be both a design study and a “carrier of technological expertise.” There’s no official plan to launch it into production, but the thing is so amazing it would seem like a waste not to make more of it.
At the racer’s core sits the 8.0-liter W16 engine, tweaked for this application to develop an equal number of horsepower and Nm: 1,850. Because it weighs just 1,240 kg (2,734 pounds “theoretically possible dry weight,” as Bugatti says), the Bolide has a weight-to-power ratio of 0.67 kg (1.5 pounds) per hp, making it feel like you’re “riding on a cannonball.”
The insane numbers mentioned above are easily converted into track prowess. Going around Le Mans' Circuit de la Sarthe (8.5 miles/13.6 km) should take 3:07.1 minutes, while the Nordschleife (20.83 km/12.9 miles) should be lapped in 5:23.1 minutes. These are “simulated figures,” of course, as the Bolide is yet to meet the tarmac of the two tracks in an official manner.
“With the Bolide we have dared to pursue an experiment of extremes. In our history that dates more than 110-years, there has never been a comparable model based on such a minimalist concept conceived solely around the engine,” said in a statement Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti.
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