It is here ladies and gents and it is a lot more furious than we could ever imagine. The Bugatti Bolide Concept has been revealed and it is still being decided if it will make it into production.
The most track-focused Bugatti ever is an 1825 hp (1,361 kW) lightweight race car built around the company’s famous quad-turbo W16 engine. In this form, torque is up to a whopping 1,850 Nm (1,364 lb-ft) of torque. Remember the 0.67 teaser? That is the power to weight ratio as it comes in at 2,734 pounds, giving it a crazy power-to-weight ratio of 0.67 hp per pound.
The power hike was achieved with some new turbos that can handle more boost pressure while they dethrottled the intake and exhaust, upgraded the dry sump oil system, and switched to an air-to-air intercooling system to make the Bolide even faster around a track.
In fact it is so fast that Bugatti claims that it lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 5:23 which puts it in mind-boggling league of the Porsche 919 Evo (5:19) and is the fastest car ever to lap the Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans) in 3 minutes 7.1 seconds, nearly 8 seconds quicker than the record qualifying lap of the Toyota TS050.
Bugatti also mentioned that the top speed is “well over” 310 mph (498,897 km/h) which leads us to believe it will cruise past the 500 km/h mark.
Unlike all the recent models to come from Molsheim, the Bolide doesn’t share its basic chassis with the Chiron, instead using a new design that allows for an LMP1 type reclined seating position. There’s also new push-rod suspension system, F1-style ceramic brakes, and magnesium wheels.
Notice the prominent roof scoop? Bugatti says this scoop has “morphable outer skin,” which is a world first. At low speeds the surface of the scoop is smooth, but as speed increases “a field of bubbles bulges out.” which reduces drag by 10 percent and lift by 17 percent – think about how the dimples on a golf ball create some turbulence that actually improves the airflow of the ball.
Bugatti says that the Bolide’s thin taillights are inspired by those of the Bell X-1 jet aircraft of the late 1940s, which was flown by the legendary Capt. Chuck Yeager, the first person to break the sound barrier.
“For the first time, we are showing what the W-16 engine is really capable of,” Bugatti CEO Stephan Winkelmann said in a statement. “We have freed the vehicle of all baggage and have illustrated and combined the engine with the lightest possible chassis to create the ultimate Bugatti.”
Were it to be put into production, the Bolide would be a track-only hypercar built to FIA safety standards.
