Bugatti is at it again; following releases like the Centodieci, the La Voiture Noire, and the Divo, they’ve broken new barriers to bring us this – the Bugatti Bolide – and despite everything you’ll come to learn of the car, Bugatti has yet to decide if it will go into production.
As it is a Bugatti, we’ll cut to the chase and give you the low-down on this extreme, track-focused hypercar as Bugatti is calling it. It’s got the same amount of horsepower and torque, at 1,850 courtesy of an 8.0-litre 16-cylinder quad-turbocharged engine which has been revised in every way possible.
You get new turbochargers, a revised intake and exhaust system, increased boost, a new cooling system and lightened drivetrain components. Speaking of weight reduction, Bugatti has gone to such extreme lengths to save weight that the screws and other fastening elements on the Bolide are all made of titanium. Lightweight aerospace titanium alloy materials were used in various sections of the car.
As for the brakes, each caliper only weighs 2.4 kg while the forged magnesium rims only weigh 7.4 kg in the front and 8.4 kg at the back. Given that the Bolide is meant to be a track day hypercar, it’s even fitted with a compressed air jack system to make tyre changing easier.
Other items to help the Bolide with unforeseen incidents on the track include an automatic fire extinguishing system, a towing device, alongside central locks for the wheels, lightweight polycarbonate windows, and a six-point harness system.
Sadly, Bugatti did not reveal how quickly the Bolide can get off the line, aside from indicating that performance figures are comparable to a Formula 1 car and that top speed will be well in excess of 500 km/h. What a buzz kill!
President of Bugatti, Stephan Winkelmann, however, hinted at what the Bolide would feel like by noting that “driving the Bolide is like riding on a cannonball”.
The only real indication of how quick the Bolide is was derived from its lap time of 5:23:1 around the Nurburgring circuit. To give you a sense of how quick that really is, the overall lap record is 5:19:5. It was set by Porsche’s LeMans-winning 919 Hybrid Evo, a full-fledged hybrid race car that’s meant to be driven by extraterrestrials.
This is in part due to how little the Bolide weighs; at only 1,240 kg. That’s more or less the weight of a Toyota Yaris but with nearly 20 times the power – just let that sink in.
A noteworthy section of this lightweight construction is the intake scoop that has a “morphable” outer skin. If the vehicle is driven at a slow speed, the surface of the scoop remains smooth. In contrast, a field of bubbles bulges out when the Bolide speeds up. As for the body itself, visible carbon parts have been increased by 60% where only 40% of the car’s surface is painted.
GALLERY
