Video: Watch a modified Bugatti Chiron crack 300mph

02nd September 2019

Laura Thomson

Think about the fastest you’ve ever driven (legally), then double it. And then double it again. Unless you’re some kind of autobahn aficionado, chances are you’re still nowhe...

At Volkswagen’s top secret Ehra-Lessien test track on August 2^nd, with British racing driver and Bugatti test driver Andy Wallace at the helm, the heavily-modified Chiron hit a Vmax of 304.77mph, winning the road-car ‘race to 300’ and redefining the meaning of achievable speed.

Like every landmark speed record that has come before it, manufacturers have long dreamt of the elusive 300. But it wasn’t until two years ago, when a Koenigsegg Agera RS hit 284mph on a Nevada highway, that the metaphoric startline lights on the ‘race to 300’ really went green. Driven by company test driver Niklas Lilja, the Agera RS completed runs in two direction and achieved a mean average of 277.9mph, beating the 267.8mph mark set by the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport in 2010.

Now, following the Chiron’s blistering run through the dense forest of Lower-Saxony, the production car speed record is comfortably back in Bugatti’s hands. Or is it? If we’re talking technicalities, this Chiron occupies an awkward position in the record standings. While it is based on the production model, and was modified by the manufacturer itself, the extensive aerodynamic and powertrain changes mean that it doesn’t quite fit the Production Car Speed Record bill. After all, the Agera RS that set the previous record was in Gryphon lightweight spec – a specification readily available on road going models (at least to those who could afford it).

The Chiron, meanwhile, is the result of six-months graft by a team of Bugatti, Michelin and Dallara chassis tuning engineers. With a long aero tail adding 25cm to its length, a laser-controlled ride height lowering it significantly and a removed rear wing and airbrake reducing drag, the Chiron significantly differs to its donor base, and not just by way of its mean looks. There's plenty of brains behind the brawn too, for example in the four powerful exhausts, which project the fumes as far from the rear as possible in order to avoid any unwanted aero disturbance.

In the stripped-back cabin, a full roll cage, bucket seat and host of computer systems feature, while the modified 8.0-litre, quad-turbo W16 engine delivers 1,578bhp. The gearbox and all-wheel-drive system remains standard. As a result, the engineers have transformed what is already one of the most-powerful, most expensive and fastest production road cars out there into a verified world speed record breaker. But whether it holds a true production car record is yet to be seen.

Two things are for sure. Firstly, Koenigsegg won’t give up that easily, and with a similar sprinkle of engineering wizardry, could potentially push the Agera RS to equal heights. Secondly, this is an undeniable a statement of intent for Bugatti, and whether the manufacturer has admitted it or not, looks likely to result in a production Super Sport Chiron.

And if this is what they're going off, it's going to be epic...