Here's the 1,578-HP Bugatti Bolide Lapping the Le Mans 24 Hours Circuit de la Sarthe

That's not all, though. Bugatti also used the Circuit de la Sarthe to display the Bolide, a Chiron-based track car powered by a quad-turbo W16 colossus. Pictured in two shades of blue, said vehicle lapped the circuit on Saturday afternoon with Andy Wallace behind the wheels. Not the guy who co-produced Walk This Way with Rick Rubin for Run-DMC and Aerosmith, but the Wallace who won at Le Mans in 1988.

Andy Wallace, the racing driver, secured first place overall with the Jaguar XJR-9LM. The Leaping Cat of Coventry has a long history with the 24-hour endurance race, having won at Le Mans in the 1950s with the C-Type and D-Type racecars. The British automaker tasted victory champagne one last time on the Circuit de la Sarthe in 1990 with the fabulous XJR-12.

Born in 1961 in Oxford, the racing driver praised the Bolide for the way it feels on the track. 1,578 horsepower (1,600 metric ponies) in a car that weighs approximately 3,197 pounds (1,450 kilograms) is truly outstanding, especially in comparison to the curb weight of the road-going Chiron. We also have to remember that it's a torque monster that cranks out a ludicrous 1,180 pound-feet (1,600 Nm) of torque at full chatter. The concept may produce more power and torque due to racing fuel, but alas, the Bolide intended for customers is running 98 research octane fuel due to wider availability.

Regarding Wallace's praise of the Bolide, generating almost twice the car's weight in downforce at maximum speed gives the W16-engined special edition tremendously good stability in high-speed corners. Another big difference over the Chiron is four slicks rather than road-going tires, which make a world of difference on the track. Only 40 units of the Bolide will ever be delivered, with Bugatti charging €4 million for each.

That's $4.3 million (and some change) at current exchange rates, excluding tax. Bugatti sold out the entire run a few months ago, partly because the Bolide serves as the last hurrah for the quad-turbo W16 behemoth located behind the driver. The Volkswagen Group-developed mill is going the way of the dodo in favor of an electrified powertrain. Mate Rimac, the head honcho of Bugatti Rimac, confirmed that the Chiron's long-awaited successor will receive a unique powerplant, unrelated to the W16 or other Volkswagen Group engines.

We don't know the number of cylinders, we don't know if we're dealing with a regular hybrid or a plug-in hybrid, but one thing is for sure. With Mate Rimac in charge of the project, the next-gen Bugatti road car is definitely going to blow our minds.