A little over 2.5 years ago, Bugatti stunned the petrolhead crowd by unveiling the Bolide. It was a mere concept back then, designed to be the ultimate track-only toy in the Molsheim brand's stable, and due to the extreme performance promised, some thought it would never make it to production.
However, in August 2021, Bugatti stepped forward to announce that it will indeed hit the assembly line, capped at 40 units. Fast forward to 2023, and the team responsible for the R&D phase of the Bolide has created the first prototypes of the beast. More recently, they have started testing it at various racetracks deemed as "dynamically challenging." The result? Breathtaking, in a word, to quote the exotic car marque that operates under the Volkswagen Group's roof.
Bugatti targets an "unprecedented" body-to-weight ratio with the Bolide, whose goal is to keep the weight at only 1,450 kg (3,197 lbs). By comparison, the Chiron tips the scales at nearly two tons (~4,400 lbs) dry, and the Divo is almost as heavy as the more mainstream model. Factor in the insane aero that took a lot of time to complete and which is being further refined as we speak during the testing sessions of the hypercar, as well as the jaw-dropping amount of power produced by the engine, and you get an extremely fun-to-drive beast that "must be manageable for drivers of all abilities," the company says.
This is Bugatti, so you know it's a good-old gasoline-fed motor powering the track-only hypercar. The quad-turbocharged W16 engine derived from the mill powering the Chiron used to be rated at a neck-snapping 1,824 hp (1,850 ps/1,361 kW) and 1,364 lb-ft (1,850 Nm) of torque on the concept. However, for the production model, it's been toned down to 1,577 hp (1,600 ps/1,177 kW). We cannot tell you yet how fast it is in a straight line, but the study could do 2.17 seconds to 62 mph (100 kph), the manufacturer said, and it took only 4.36 and 7.37 seconds to hit 124 and 186 mph (200-300 kph) respectively. They also quoted the 0-249 mph (0-400 kph) to 12.08 seconds and 20.16 seconds required to sprint to 310 mph (500 kph).
What we can highlight is the 2.5 G of lateral acceleration mentioned by Bugatti in the press release that accompanies the video and images shared in this story and the almost three tons (~6,600 lbs) of downforce generated depending on the speed. The first units of the Bolide should be ready sometime next year, and that is when deliveries will officially start. Each of the 40 units is priced at €4 million (equal to $4,273,360), excluding tax, and all of them were spoken for, the company announced a few months ago.
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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