The Bugatti Bolide is a concept car for the road

It was October 2020 when Bugatti, then still under the control of the Volkswagen Group, stunned everyone with the very atypical Bolide. This track-only machine was a long way from your Veyron or Chiron in most ways, including its design which, it could be said, was Rimac than Bugatti. Serendipity or what? 

The Bolide was shown as an experimental track-only car with all the power you expect of a Bugatti but a lot less weight and a lot more downforce. It was billed as the most extreme vehicle concept ever to have been conceived around the W16 powertrain. It was a one-off, and expected to stay that way. 

But that, more or less, is what Bugatti is building: there will be 40 of them for delivery in 2024, at a price of €4m (around £3.4m) apiece. Bugatti president Stephan Winkelmann said he was “absolutely amazed” by the reaction the concept car received last year. “We therefore decided to make the Bolide in order to give 40 customers the opportunity to experience the ultimate driving machine for the track.” 

How does the production version, announced today at the Quail Motorsports Gathering during Monterey Auto Week in California, differ from what we were blown away by last year? Not by much. Clearly there are some differences but equally clear is that this astonishingly racy shape for a Bugatti remains faithful to its concept. 

“We are proud to have succeeded in keeping the production vehicle so close to its technical demonstrator, both visually and technically, while also enhancing the design, quality, and vehicle safety,” says Winkelmann. 

For sure, it’s an awesome thing that lurks behind the signature horseshoe motif and red circular Bugatti badge on the nose – two things without which you’d never say this was a Bugatti at all. Minimal bodywork designed with maximum downforce is how Bugatti design director Achim Anscheidt describes the design, what he says was “by far the most challenging project of my 17-year Bugatti career.”

The car’s width, lowness, profusion of serious air ducts, including a scoop on the roof, a giant fixed rear wing and huge rear diffuser below the trademark W16 quad exhaust pipes are what get your attention first. Oh, and the distinctive X-shape to the lighting. Like Veyron and Chiron, there’s an element of two-tone to the body; we love the yellow and black car shown. 

Its track nature is reflected in a host of track-car features including an automatic fire 

extinguishing system, pressure refuelling with a fuel bladder, central wheel locking and a six-point safety harness. 

We suspect the interior has had to change over the wild cabin of last year’s prototype, but for now that’s still under wraps. Bugatti is promising a “super sporty” driving position in this very low riding car, which suggests a legs-up, F1-style position also adopted by rivals including the Aston Martin Valkyrie. 

A headline change is to the power output. The Bolide you buy, alas, won’t have the 1,850PS (1,362kW) of the concept. That was achieved with 110-octane race fuel and the 40 production cars will have to get by on the more widely available 98 RON. The mighty W16 engine still puts out 1,600PS along with 1,600Nm (1,184lb ft) of torque, peaking from just 2,250rpm. Bugatti says the engine will have a higher rev limit – the highest the Chiron is allowed to go is 6,900rpm – and has been set up for maximum responsiveness and optimum cooling. 

Weight in production-spec is a moderate 200kg up on the prototype at 1,450kg. That is almost half a tonne less than the almost-as-powerful Chiron, so the Bolide is sure to be immensely fast, but Bugatti isn’t saying how fast, not for the time being anyway. 

Last year Bugatti wasn’t so coy about the Bolide’s performance. Then, it quoted 0-62mph in 2.17 seconds, a 311mph top speed and lap of the Nürburgring in 5 minutes 23.1 seconds. If the 40 customer cars get anywhere near that, the era of the petrol-engined hypercar might end on a very big high indeed – one worthy of a company that has been a byword for exceptional performance for 112 years.