The Bugatti Chiron Has Topped 300mph, And The Footage Is Incredible
The true potential of the Bugatti Chiron has finally been revealed. We all knew it had much more to give with its 261mph electronic speed limiter removed - it was just a question of how much of the car’s 310mph speedometer would be used.
The answer? Almost all of it. With official test driver Andy Wallace behind the wheel, a Chiron clocked an astonishing 304.77mph. The hypercar wasn’t far off hitting 500kmh at VW Group’s 12-mile Ehra-Lessien test facility, with that incredible figure translating to 490.47kmh.
The Chiron comfortably exceeded the 284mph one-way run top speed managed by the Koenigsegg Agera RS in Nevada a couple of years ago (averaged at 277mph over two passes), and has beaten the likes of the SSC Tuatara and Hennessey Venom F5 to the 300mph punch. The caveat? It wasn’t a normal Chiron, hence why there are no claims of this being a production car record. It also isn’t the first road car to exceed 300mph - a heavily modified Ford GT did that last year.
The Chiron used for the record is 25mm longer than stock, TopGear.com reports, and it’s had both the original wing and airbrake ditched. The exhaust matches the layout used for the EB110-esque Centodieci, chosen as the position of the tailpipes doesn’t negatively affect drag and aero as much. Over at Pistonheads, meanwhile, it’s reported that the car used specially-designed Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres, which were X-rayed before the run.
The engine is more powerful than standard, with its 1578bhp output representing an increase of around 100bhp. The gearbox and all-wheel drive system, however, haven’t been fiddled with at all.
Bugatti has a dream-like PR opportunity to dine out on here, so we’re expecting many videos, images and technical details to start flooding in soon. Watch this space…
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Not 25mm longer. It was 25cm longer
Oof that’s a big difference!
Is it even a real Bugatti run if James May doesn’t break the previous record first?
Imagine if koenigsegg owners raided the Nardo ring to run their cars
Broke no records, not a production car.
The record for 300 mph was made in 1935.
You must be fun at parties…
But seriously, although 300mph is old news in therms of ICE technology, typically those kinds of vehicles are highly specialized, and essentially undrivable by the average person, on normal roadways.
This is just a bit different, and thus noteworthy.
I’m sad for this! Because it feels like cars have reached there max in a way. Surely cars won’t go 400-500 mph on the road? That’s seems ridiculous? and I know people will say “well 200mph used to seem ridiculous” but surely, 400mph? When will it end?
It will die with the internal combustion engine. Then there will be new races for 200mph and so on in electric cars, which struggle to reach high speeds.
Why would it stop? 200 seemed impoissible for decades and so did 300 mph. Physics will allow a car to do 400 so long as its capable.
Wow :)