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Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ Top Speed
On 2 August 2019, at Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien test track, Andy Wallace took a pre-production Chiron Super Sport 300+ to 490.484 km/h, which is 304.773 mph. It was the first time a car derived from a production model had gone past 300 mph. The run was one-way and was never ratified as a record. Cars sold to customers are capped at 440 km/h.
Full specifications
| Engine | 8.0L quad-turbo W16 |
|---|---|
| Power | 1,600 PS (1,578 hp) |
| Torque | 1,600 Nm |
| Drivetrain | All-wheel drive |
| Transmission | 7-speed dual-clutch |
| Bodywork | Longtail, 25 cm extended |
| Production run | 30 units |
| Record driver | Andy Wallace |
About the Chiron Super Sport 300+
Getting a Chiron past 300 mph was not mainly an engine problem. It was an air problem. At that speed the car is pushing through a wall, and the shape of the back of the car decides how much of the power is left over to keep accelerating. So Bugatti stretched the bodywork by 25 centimetres, closed off the rear, moved the exhausts into a stack and deleted the rear wing that the standard Chiron uses. The result is called the Longtail, and it is the reason the car kept pulling where a normal Chiron would have run out of road speed.
The engine was pushed up to 1,600 PS. Michelin built a special tyre for the attempt and X-rayed every single one of them before they went on the car, because at 300 mph a tyre is spinning fast enough that a flaw you cannot see is enough to end everything.
The run only went one way, so it does not count as an official record. A proper record needs two runs in opposite directions, averaged, so that a tailwind or a slight downhill cannot flatter the number. Bugatti never claimed otherwise. What it did claim, and what stands, is the milestone: the first production-derived car through 300 mph.
Thirty road cars were built to mark it. Those are all limited to 440 km/h, which is well short of what Wallace saw, and that is deliberate. The record car ran on a closed test track with a works driver and tyres that had been individually inspected. A customer car is not going to get any of that.
Record run at Ehra-Lessien, 2 August 2019. Specifications from Bugatti.