The Bugatti Chiron Super Sport ‘Hommage T50S’ Is Another One-Off

Long before the Bugatti we know today was building some of the fastest hypercars around, the name was a force to be reckoned with at some of the world’s most prestigious motorsport events.

It took victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, for instance, in 1937 and 1939, with racing versions of the famous Type 57. Right back at the beginning of Bugatti’s Le Mans story, however, is the Type 50S.

A car designed for power and straight-line speed above all else, it used a 5.8-litre supercharged straight-eight, good for nearly 250bhp – a lot in the early 1930s. A trio of Type 50S’ were entered in the 1931 edition of the famous endurance race, the first time Bugatti had entered as a factory concern.

While we associate early racing Bugattis with France’s bright blue national racing colours, the three Type 50S’ were painted in all black as a subtle dig at the French government, who’d refused to sponsor this early endeavour. Ultimately, none of the three would finish – one suffered a high-speed tyre blowout, with the other two subsequently withdrawn over further safety concerns – but the Type 50S marked a turning point for Bugatti, marking it out as a brand for whom outright speed was a priority.

Nearly a century later, the modern-day Bugatti’s Sur Mesure department – its branch that handles bespoke customer specifications – was contacted by a customer who wanted a black-on-black Chiron Super Sport that referenced Bugatti’s history.

The result is the Chiron Super Sport 'Hommage T50S'. In tribute to the Le Mans racer, it’s finished in black inside and out and contains a host of further nods to the car that inspired it. The most obvious is the number 5, hand-painted on both doors as well as integrated into the mesh of the horseshoe grille. This is the racing number of the surviving Type 50S chassis.

There are several ‘Le Mans 1931’ scripts inside and out, and on the underside of the rear spoiler, a depiction of the Circuit de la Sarthe as it was laid out in 1931. Inside, the door cards carry hand-applied depictions of the Type 50S.

The Type 50S’ engine bay was finished in a machine-turned, repeating ornamental pattern known as Perlée, and this has been recreated in multiple places on the Hommage T50S: atop its engine cover, and in several spots throughout the interior.

The Chiron Super Sport itself is almost a direct descendant of the Type 50S, with top speed as its core remit. The Hommage T50S’s mechanicals are unchanged from the base car’s, meaning an 8.0-litre quad-turbocharged W16 making 1578bhp and driving all four wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. The top speed is 273bhp – a fitting tribute to something designed to go as fast as possible down the Mulsanne Straight.