Remember the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo concept? The same car that looked like it belonged inside the confines of a Playstation? Well, it isn’t really a concept anymore. The highly anticipated successor to the mighty Bugatti Veyron is finally here! Ladies and Gentlemen, say hello to the Bugatti Chiron!
Coming to what’s most important - the performance figures. The Chiron will be powered by an 8.0 litre W16 engine. We’ll let that sink in for a bit. If that wasn’t enough, the good folks at Bugatti have slapped on; not one, not two, but four turbochargers. The result? 1500HP of power and an earth shattering 1600Nm of torque. That, in our books, is enough to make the earth spin the other way round. While specifics of timings aren’t disclosed by Bugatti, claimed estimates suggest that the Chiron will clock 0-100 under 2.5 seconds; 0-200 in less than 6.5 seconds and 0-300km/h under 13.6 seconds. In comparison, the Veyron does the same in 2.5sec, 7.3sec and 16.7sec respectively. With those kind of numbers, the Chiron looks all set to be the fastest production car in the world.
Now down to the geeky stuff. The Chiron gets, what Bugatti calls ‘dual-stage’ turbo-charging. In a bid to aid throttle response, only two of the four turbochargers are active at revs upto 3800rpm. Post this, the other two turbos are called upon. Much like its predecessor, the Chiron too has 10 radiators to keep itself from being a big ball of fire. It also gets an improved charge air cooling system that pumps in 60,000 litres of air every minute through the engine. The coolant pump will circulate 800-litres of water per minute to help the engine maintain temperature.
Another exemplary example of engineering are the Chiron’s exhausts. While it may look like it has quad exhausts, it actually has six! Four of these exit centrally as seen in the pictures. The other two exit downward on the left and right sides of the car. What does this do? It creates a Formula 1-style blown diffuser that increases downforce at speed. Now, this tech might be banned in F-1 right now, there’s no reason for road-cars not to have it!
The driver can choose between five driving modes on the Chiron: Auto, Lift, Autobahn, Handling and Top Speed. All modes, except for ‘Top Speed’ can be activated individually using a rotary switch on the steering wheel. Selecting the ‘Auto’ setting leaves everything to the brains of the Bugatti. The ‘Lift’ mode (active only upto 50km/h) raises the nose for going over speed bumps. Take it past 180 km/h and the 'Autobahn' mode is automatically activated. In this case, the shock absorber settings are automatically adjusted for comfortable, stable handling at higher speeds on highways. In the 'Handling' mode, all systems are set to their full potential. Needless to say, this mode is more or less best confined to a race track. The top speed in the 'Auto’, ‘Autobahn’ and ‘Handling’ modes is 380 km/h. Like the Veyron, the ‘Top Speed’ mode on the new Bugatti needs to be activated using a second key. The ‘Speed Key’ lets the Chiron clock 420km/h.
The Bugatti sheds speeds as quickly as it gains. Braking duties are handled by 420mm front and 400mm rear carbon-ceramic discs with eight-pot and six-pot calipers respectively. 100 - 0 km/h is tackled in 31.3m, 200 - 0 in 125m and 300 - 0 in 275m.
Based on the Vision GT, the Chiron does borrow a lot of design elements from the concept. As far as the looks are concerned, the new Bugatti looks like a Veyron v2.0 more than anything else. The lines of the Chiron are a throwback to the legendary Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic - the most famous creation of Jean Bugatti, design genius and son of the founder Ettore Bugatti. The hunkered down stance, gigantic wheels and that trademark snout make the Chiron unmistakably Bugatti. We love how elements like the headlamps and the long tail-lamp have been carried over from the concept with next to no changes. The interiors are dressed in all things expensive and can shame a 5-star suite. Check the pictures, you’ll get the drift.
The Chiron will carry a price-tag of nearly £2 Million. The car will be built in Bugatti’s factory in Mosheim, France and will be a limited run of 500 units. The best bit? 150 of these bad boys are already sold!
Also Read: Last of the Bugatti Veyron sold
Source : CarDekho
