Bugatti W16 Mistral Top Speed

The Mistral was built as a send-off. After two decades and roughly 6,000 engines, Bugatti's quad-turbo W16 was reaching the end of its life, and the Mistral is the last car to use it — a roadster designed from the start as the final chapter rather than a variant of an existing coupe.

Removing the roof normally costs speed. Air that would flow cleanly over a fixed canopy instead spills into the cabin and separates behind the occupants, adding drag exactly where a car is least stable. Bugatti reworked the air intakes behind the headrests — a nod to the Type 57 Roadster Grand Raid — and reshaped the windscreen to keep the airflow attached.

All 99 cars were sold before the first was delivered. The name comes from the Mistral wind that runs down the Rhone valley to the Mediterranean, near where Ettore Bugatti's family kept a home.