This wild, track-only hypercar looks just as extreme as the concept that debuted four years ago. After undergoing various evaluations on different racetracks, customer deliveries will soon begin.
If some of these buyers take their Bolides to the track, they might get a taste of what it feels like to drive a Formula 1 car, according to Bugatti.
This isn’t far-fetched. The production Bolide boasts 1,578 horsepower from its W-16 engine, matching the output of its street-legal siblings.
However, this car is significantly lighter, weighing around 3,200 pounds compared to the hefty 4,300 pounds of the Chiron.
Current Formula 1 cars are said to have around 1,000 horsepower, so the Bolide certainly has a power advantage. However, F1 cars benefit significantly from a lower weight.
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Nonetheless, the Bolide comes close enough to earn some bragging rights.
Bugatti driver Andy Wallace states that its performance is unlike any other car he has driven—highly capable yet easy to control to its maximum limit. And, of course, it’s incredibly fast.
“The feeling you get coming out of a corner, hitting the gas, and experiencing that relentless surge of power is incomparable,” he said.
“You exit the corner at 100 km/h, and accelerating from there to 200 km/h and then to 300 km/h is an absolute revelation. In that specific scenario, the Bolide would leave a Formula 1 car behind.”
The production Bolide is slightly tamer than its concept. Initially, the car had 1,826 horsepower with a theoretical top speed of over 300 mph (482 km/h), but the version available to buy only reaches 236 mph (379 km/h).
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In comparing it to F1, Bugatti notes that it’s faster than the current F1 speed record (231 mph or 371 km/h), but as we all know, racing isn’t just about straight-line speed.
Engineers have tuned the Bolide to be manageable. They claim the car can pull 2.5 g in corners, which is impressive but well below the 5 g turns experienced by F1 drivers.
Nonetheless, the Bolide should be an excellent machine on the track. And for what it’s worth, we hope these cars get driven to their limits at least once in their lives.
However, with a price tag of $4 million and only 40 units to be produced, we suspect most will end up as climate-controlled collectibles.
