Video – A Modified Bugatti Chiron has Just Broken 300mph
Mike Sanders / 5 years ago
In terms of modern hypercar development, there are few designs that stand out as being way ahead of their time than the Bugatti Veyron. The car itself was largely designed as a technical exercise by owner Volkswagon. A concept to (in a nutshell) see if such a complex engineering feat was possible. The short version is that it was a huge success. So much, in fact, that it has since seen Bugatti gain a reputation not held since the early 90s with their gloriously impractical EB110.
With the success of that, however, Bugatti then decided to follow it up with the Chiron. A car which looked to push the boundaries even further. How far you ask? Well, in a report via TopGear, a modified Bugatti Chiron has just broken records by achieving a speed of over 300 miles per hour! This makes it the first ‘road car’ to ever achieve this landmark.
Bugatti Chiron Breaks 300mph Barrier
While 300mph is very small figures in terms of land speed records, it has long been an obstacle that very few ‘road cars’ have even come remotely close to. To put this into context, the record, until now, stood at 277mph. It largely boils down to designing a car (and engine) that is capable of overcoming the air pressure that builds up around a cars ‘drag points’ as it gains speed. To achieve this, as well as various body modifications, Bugatti has used an 8.0-litre, quad-turbo W16 unit. Nicknamed Thor, this engine delivers a colossally huge 1,578bhp. Just about 12 times more than my car!
This Bugatti Chiron has, therefore, been modified quite extensively and isn’t exactly a ‘factory model’. It has, however, proven that a 300mph car (which, incidentally, this actually hit 304mph) is possible.
What Do We Think?
Achieving a car capable of 300mph is amazingly impressive. It does, of course, lead to the obvious speculation that Bugatti will look to take these modifications and find a way to release them into a ‘road-legal’ release.
In so far as that will likely cost you a small fortune, however, you might perhaps be better off trying to make this Bugatti Chiron Lego model instead.
What do you think? Are you impressed with this design? – Let us know in the comments!