1931 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster
Coachwork by Figoni
Chassis no. 55221

Nobody is faster. Just a few weeks after the sensational record-breaking run undertaken by Bugatti – when for the first time a hyper sports car drove faster than 300 miles per hour – the French brand is showcasing a very special edition based on this new Chiron derivative: the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+.

Last Saturday evening, Bugatti presented the new model to a selected group of customers as the highlight of the celebrations to mark the 110 anniversary of the tradition-steeped company in Molsheim. The Chiron Super Sport 300+ played a very special role among numerous historic Bugatti models and the current Bugatti hyper sports cars of modern times, such as the Divo, La Voiture Noire, and the Centodieci.

Chiron Super Sport 300+ – the fastest Bugatti
The special edition Chiron Super Sport 300+, limited to 30 units, is visually based on the record-breaking car. A few weeks ago, it became the first series-production car to break the magical 300-miles-per-hour barrier. Achieving a speed of exactly 304.773 mph (490.484 km/h), it is now the fastest production hyper sports car ever. But not only that: With an output of 1,176 kW/1,600 hp, the Chiron Super Sport 300+ exceeds the Chiron by 100 hp.

“After the incredible speed record of more than 300 miles per hour, which we were the first series manufacturer to achieve, we're now offering our customers the Super Sport 300+ – a very special edition model and the fastest Bugatti ever”, says Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti. “But the Chiron Super Sport 300+ is more than just the fastest series-production sports car in the world. It is a testimony to Bugatti's technical refinement, masterly workmanship and enormous attention to detail.”

Aerodynamically optimised bodywork
The Chiron Super Sport 300+ is visually distinct from the Chiron, not least due to its extended and aerodynamically optimised body, which is designed for extremely high-speed travel beyond 420 km/h. The Air Curtains installed at the car’s front corners guide excess pressure developing at the front air inlets towards the sides of the hyper sports car. At the same time, air outlets on the wheel arch and directly behind the front wheels dissipate excess pressure from the wheel arch, creating a slight amount of negative lift at the front to reduce the drag. Modifications are also very prominent at the rear. The longer rear end, the so-called Longtail, allows the laminar flow to pass over the vehicle for longer to thus reduce the aerodynamic stall by over 40 percent. Thanks to a modified exhaust tailpipe configuration, the diffuser in the centre of the rear end can almost generate a sufficient amount of negative lift by itself, meaning that the wing can consequently remain retracted in Top Speed mode. As a result, the drag at the rear has been improved even more as negative lift generated by wings and spoilers would otherwise contribute to the drag.

The body is made of exposed, jet-black carbon fibre set through in the centre with racing stripes in Jet Orange.
The black engine cover is made of carbon, as is the windscreen wiper. At the front you can recognise the special model by the Bugatti “Macaron” logo made of genuine silver and black enamel. The extremely light magnesium wheels are finished in “Nocturne”, as are all trim parts. Passengers are welcomed with the lettering “Super Sport 300 +” in LED lighting at the door opening.

The interior is dominated by black carbon, leather and Alcantara in Beluga Black, complemented by colour highlights in Jet Orange. On the carbon door sills, the exclusive lettering likewise radiates in this colour, as do the headrests, the knee support in the centre console and the fine double-stitched seams. All interior trim parts on the other hand have a black anodised finish, while the rear-view mirror and centre line are painted in Beluga Black.

“With the Super Sport 300+ we pay homage not just to our glorious history with its numerous speed records but also to the performance of the entire record-breaking team. They were the ones who tackled the challenge of driving over 300 miles per hour,” says Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti. “For this reason, the Super Sport 300+ is more than just an edition. It is by far the fastest luxury hyper sports car in the world and a genuine Bugatti in every fibre of its being – uncompromisingly beautiful, fast, comfortable and exquisite.”

The Super Sport 300+ was showcased on Saturday evening as the grand finale of the Grand Tour, a rally that takes in the most important stages in the life of Ettore Bugatti – from Milan via Monaco and Paris to Molsheim in Alsace. The first vehicles of the limited edition model Super Sport 300+, restricted to 30 units, will be delivered to customers at a net unit price of 3.5 million euros in mid-2021.

Bugatti is the first manufacturer to break the 300-mile-an-hour barrier. On the Ehra-Lessien test track in Germany, a near production prototype derivative of the hyper sports car Chiron surpassed the magic limit with a speed of 304.773 mph (490.484 km/h). The world record was attained on August 2, by Bugatti's current test driver Andy Wallace. Andy Wallace is most famous for his races in sports cars, with most impressive the win in the 1988 Le Mans, together with Jan Lammers and Johnny Dumfries in the Jaguar. Wallace was also the driver for the then record-setting speed of 386.4 km/h (240.1 mph) in a McLaren F1, which for over 11 years was the world record for the fastest production car.

So, Bugatti has been just (successfully) obscuring the fact that they were working on attaining this record, the official statements were since the introduction of the Chiron, that no speed record attempt would be made...
On the downside, the record is not an official one for production cars (which still remains with the Koenigsegg Agera RS at 447.19 km/h (277.87 mph)), as the Chiron was modified. The Chiron used was in what is described by Bugatti as "near production" spec, modified with an additional safety cell and with aerodynamic changes and higher seventh-gear ratios, which we believe will be incorporated into a celebratory limited-edition model. It also used a slightly more powerful version of the regular Chiron's quad-turbocharged W-16 engine, turned up to produce 1600 hp, the same total made by the recently announced Centodieci.
However, the gap with the Koenigsegg is so large, that it can be assumed that a standard spec Chiron (with the 1600HP engine of the Centodieci) would also beat the official record.

The record was set in conjunction with Italian constructor Dallara, which makes the Chiron's body and developed the aerodynamic kit, and also Michelin which created the very special tires capable of dealing with such huge forces, rotating up to 4100 times a minute. The specially constructed Michelin Pilot Cup 2 tires were all X-rayed before being selected for use on the car.

"Inside the tires you've got these thin metal strands that go radially around the edge and which are sort of equidistant from each other," Wallace explained after the record run. "On quite a lot of tires there are one or two spots where these strands touch. It's not normally a problem, certainly not at the mandated speed limit, but when you start to go really fast with the huge gravitational force it's possible to get movement there, and temperature."

The 58-year-old British sports-car veteran and the team built up to the record speed over the course of more than a week, gradually increasing speeds to ensure that the car behaved according to the aerodynamic predictions and that lift and downforce were balanced. Yet that still meant huge forces running through the structure of the Chiron, as Wallace explains: "Zero net downforce front and rear sounds easy, as you've got the static weight of the car pushing down and that's more than heavy enough. But it doesn't mean the air is having no effect; it means there is close to 2000 kg [4409 pounds] on the top surface of the body trying to pick the car off the ground and another 2000 kg under the car trying to pull it back down: two fighting forces that come to four tons roughly, trying to separate the car. So you've got to be absolutely sure that everything on the car is secure enough to go this fast."

The other challenge was the gyroscopic effect created by the huge rotational speeds of the tires, something Wallace says only really begins to affect a car traveling at this huge speed. “At 200 mph you can barely feel it, but at 300 mph it's absolutely enormous,” said Wallace. "It's felt mostly on the front wheels and therefore the steering, like a spinning top when it starts to move it wants to continue to move."

As the Chiron increased speed, other unexpected challenges arrived. "They had resurfaced one end of the track at Ehra, and once you come down off the banking you're building up speed on the 8.8-km straight," he remembered, "then at exactly 447 km/h (277 mph) the car would go from the new surface to the old surface, and I got to calling this 'the jump'—it’s a bump that you'd barely notice in a normal car, but at those speeds it feels huge . . . If you go over that and land and there's a bit of a sidewind, then you can lose feeling and suddenly lose confidence."

Trust, of course, is the most important commodity for any driver attempting such high speeds, even with the Chiron's safety gear, a freshly swept track, and on-site medical intervention. "Any crash at that sort of speed is likely to hurt," Wallace admitted, deadpan. "I had a massive amount of trust in all the engineers and a lot of respect for all of them, likewise with Dallara and Michelin . . . when the project started we sat down and went through the risks, drawing a pyramid with the big ones at the bottom and trying to work out ways to eliminate them. But you can never get rid of them completely, and at the top you've still got 'sod's law'—something you just can’t control. If you did this enough times, it would get you, but if you trust the people you're working with, which I did 100 percent, then in the end you just do it."

After four days at Ehra-Lessien, the team had managed a peak speed of 482.5 km/h—299.8 mph—but was determined to break the 300-mph barrier. On what turned out to be the record-setting lap, Wallace remembers feeling more confident as the car went over "the jump"—"after it landed and had a bit of a weave about I thought it's the best it's been, the cross wind was a little bit less and I just kept it pinned. The strange thing is that there's a radar speed display half way down the straight but it's obviously never been calibrated for something that fast—I went past it and it flashed up 502 km/h (312 mph), but then I looked at my gauge and it was only doing 476 km/h (296 mph) on the GPS. So I kept my foot in and saw it get past 490 km/h (304 mph), but I was running short on room."

Ehra-Lessien's three-sided layout uses banked corners, with a speed limit of 200 km/h (124 mph) for the south bend at the end of the longest straight. "It's quite tricky to spot your braking point when you're doing 136 meters (446 feet) per second," Wallace admitted. "Then you have to slow down gently so you don't shift the aero too much and lose control of the car, when all your instincts are telling you to stand on the brake."

The Chiron went so fast on its record run that the telemetry system relaying time to the team couldn't keep up. For several minutes, Wallace was the only one who knew the record had fallen. "I saw the speed on the GPS and I was thanking everyone on the way back to the pit area over the radio," he said. "They couldn't work out why I was so happy—the fastest they'd seen was 479 km/h and we'd already done 482.5 km/h. Then I stop and they all dove into the recording equipment on the car and looked through it, found the speed, and they all went mental."

If it hadn't been for running out of space on the world's longest test-track straight, the Chiron could even have gone slightly quicker. "The speed trace hadn't leveled out, it was still climbing," Wallace says. Ehra-Lessien's position at just 165 feet above sea level also means the air is relatively dense: at higher altitudes the car would encounter less resistance. But while others may eventually go quicker, Bugatti has decided to drop the mic on record setting. The company confirmed it will "withdraw from the competition to produce the fastest serial-production cars."

"We have shown several times that we built the fastest cars in the world. In future we will focus on other areas," said Bugatti president Stephan Winkelmann in the official release on the record. "Bugatti was the first to exceed 300 mph. Its name will go down in the history books, and it will stay that way forever."

As for Wallace, where does reacquiring the world production record sit in the list of career highlights of a former Le Mans and Daytona winner?

“A lot of people will just say 'You drove a Bugatti at 300 mph; whoever you put in it could have done that,' and maybe that's even true," he said. "If you win at Le Mans or Daytona, then a lot more of what you were doing was down to the driver, I'm well aware of that. But when I think about it, it's pretty bloody cool. If somebody said to me even two years ago that I was going to go over 300 mph, I'd have thought they were out of their mind.”

"With Ferdinand Piëch Bugatti loses the biggest patron and a very good friend of the brand, a real Bugattisti. Without Ferdinand Piëch, Bugatti would not be where the company is today. His vision of a modern French luxury brand with stunning hypersports sprang from his creativity over 20 years ago. The entire workforce is deeply shaken and grieving for him,” says Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti. Throughout his life Ferdinand Piëch was interested in technical, complex matters. He died surrounded by his family, after a long and eventful and fruitful life.

Born in Vienna on April 17, 1937, Piëch was fascinated by technology since childhood, especially by kinetic technology. At the age of nine he was already able to drive a car. After graduating from school, he studied mechanical engineering in Zurich. As the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche and nephew of Ferry Porsche, Ferdinand Piëch joined the family business in 1963, working in various positions as an engineer at Porsche throughout his years. There he developed the legendary racing car 917. Later at Audi he was responsible for the first five-cylinder engine, the turbo diesel TDI and the quattro all-wheel drive. He developed individual engines as well as complete cars. In 1988 Piëch became CEO of Audi AG, and five years later the CEO of Volkswagen AG. While in this role, he in 1998 conducted the purchase of the naming rights of Bugatti; a brand that fascinated him from early on.

Elegance and Technology Inspired Ferdinand Piëch
The advanced technology of race cars like the Type 35, the elegance of a Type 41 Royal and the iconic beauty of a Type 57 SC Atlantic especially inspired Ferdinand Piëch. His idea for the reorientation of the legendary French brand came to him while on holiday, as he later explained. It was a sign of fate: In a small toy shop, Ferdinand Piëch wanted to buy his son Gregor a Rolls-Royce toy car. But the little one pointed to another model - a Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic. "For me it was a pointer to interest me for Bugatti and not only for Rolls-Royce and Bentley," he wrote. Both companies were for sale at the time.

Ferdinand Piëch became more involved in the company and spent months talking to the then-owner Romano Artioli. Piëch had a vision, as so often: "A concept like Bugatti must simply not be devalued by mass producing and tabloid methods," he wrote in his biography. "Bugatti has to always offer the extraordinary; the unsurpassed, the optimum. Only that is Bugatti. On top of the entire automotive world.” The brand had to be unique in the automotive world, each vehicle a solitaire.

Ferdinand Piëch Led Bugatti Back to the Forefront of Automotive Engineering
His approach was to lead Bugatti back to where it was in the twenties and thirties, at its height and to the position of the world's automotive leader. Ferdinand Piëch wanted to raise the known historical values; design, creativity, elite consciousness. This included performance and power to weight ratio. With the fourth design study Piëch and Bugatti were almost where they wanted: to transport the classic elegance of an Atalante into the modern age and to optimally equip the model’s technical feature. For him that meant: At least 1000 hp, at least 400 km/h top speed and the ability to drive directly from the racetrack to the opera, without being shame.

The first production-ready model, which was to meet the extraordinary requirements, needed a few years in advance. Bugatti embarked on new technical territory. The first prototype of the new hypersport Bugatti was showed in the autumn of 1998 at the Paris Motor Show, a year later, at the IAA in Frankfurt, a mid-engined coupe followed. Only half a year later, the French luxury brand presented the study 18/4 Veyron, named after the racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won in 1939 behind a Bugatti wheel in Le Mans. "I have never seen a car that is so excitingly sensual and so uncompromisingly sporty and therefore ideally suited to the renaissance of Bugatti," he writes in his biography. He was not wrong, as he seldom was. With the first Chiron 16/4, Bugatti smashed on the barriers of physics, perfectly implementing Piëch's requirements.

"Ferdinand Piëch is directly linked to the success of Bugatti. Our modern hypersports cars not only stand in the long tradition of Ettore Bugatti, but are also a legacy Piëch's outstanding achievement. We bow down to his creativity and genius. Our sympathy goes to his family,” expresses Stephan Winkelmann.

Low prices for automobiles however is something seen in most auctions... Classic cars rarely go over their estimates, and usually are much more closer to their lower estimate, than to their higher estimate.

In the line of special Chiron types, the latest one is called Centodieci, or "110" in Italian. Of course referring to the alleged 110th birthday of the marque, showing a lot of style elements of the EB110, and more precisely the EB110SS. For the occasion the engine was tickled a little further to 1600 HP (and a whopping 20kg was taken off it's weight), still I guess that the EB110SS would win from this one, at Le Mans... Much lighter weight, less fuel stops and less stops to change tyres.

This is in fact interesting, as the new "VW-Bugatti" marque tended to ignore the existence of the EB110 and EB112 altogether, in the first years. Now it seems that Mr. Winkelmann and colleagues embraced it, as part of the Bugatti history.

Where the special versions of the Veyron were merely a change of colour, wheels and interior (Veyron PurSang, Hermès Fbg, Sang Noir, Bleu Centenaire, L’Or Blanc, Grand Sport Venet, and a series of “Les Légendes de Bugatti”: Ettore Bugatti, Black Bess, Rembrandt Bugatti, Meo Costatini, Jean Bugatti and JP Wimille.), Bugatti now changes sufficient body panels to make it look like quite a different automobile. Thus the Divo and "La Voiture Noire" preceded this one.
Photographs of the Centodieci leaked out a few days before the car was presented at Pebble Beach, which must have been on purpose. If you're interested, all 10 cars have been already sold at around 8 million euro each.

Before presenting "La voiture Noire", the new VW-Bugatti company showed a lot of information and history about the T57SC Atlantic, which turned out to be the inspiration for that new design.

This time, Bugatti showed the last month a lot of images and info on Romano Artioli's EB110GT and EB110SS. Also, this year is the "110th anniversary" of the Bugatti brand, thus using the EB110 as inspiration for the new version of the Veyron would make sense.

During a recent interview, the EB110’s creator (below) revealed he would love to see Bugatti develop a tribute to the mid-engined supercar. So far, Bugatti hasn’t released any teaser photos of the new model, but Germany’s Auto Motor Und Sport has managed to obtain a partial design sketch (shown above) allegedly produced by Bugatti chief designer Achim Anscheidt, potentially showing what Bugatti’s next hypercar will look like.

Auto Motor Und Sport believes the internal design sketch was used on a greeting card from the Bugatti Design Studio, but this hasn’t been confirmed. Using the design sketch as a basis, the German publication has mocked up a render (pictured above) showing what the new hypercar tribute could look like when the covers come off at Pebble Beach.

Shown from the front, the distinctive crossbars in the grille are clearly inspired by the EB110 Super Sport but the quad headlights on each side of the hood have been vertically stacked, resulting in a striking appearance. We'll have to wait and see if the final car's design matches the render.

Well; luckily we do have a photograph of the finished car, be it just a part of it.. See below, this is one of the wheels, apparently of novel design, see below. In fact, it seems that part of the wheel is in fact located behind the large brake disc.

As proof that the current Bugatti does seek for inspiration in the EB110, are the photographs below of a Chiron alongside two racing Bugatti EB110SS's (Le Mans and IMSA, see this article from 1996 in the Bugatti Revue for more info), inside and outside the old Campogalliano factory, which in fact still exists and was not touched since it closed in 1995..

Romano Artioli was interviewed not long ago about what he thinks of this new revival. He is the Italian entrepreneur who revived Bugatti in the 1990s and launched the EB110 before it went bankrupt. A few years later the company was acquired by Volkswagen and launched the Veyron. He has revealed what he thinks about a modern interpretation of the EB110.

"I have read the rumors about a new Bugatti being presented in Pebble Beach and it being inspired in the EB110. I don’t know if that’s the truth, but if it were, it would mean a lot to me, to my whole family, and to my old companions at Bugatti Automobili,” he said. "The EB110SS was designed to last for a long time, into the future, and for this reason all the technical solutions that had been anticipated, today are present in the new Bugatti cars. I would be very pleased if even the design of the possible future Bugatti was inspired by the EB110SS, which is still contemporary. La Fabbrica Blu in Campogalliano, the EB110, but also the Lotus Elise - these were a dream come true for me, my life’s work.” Artioli recently came out with a book about these times.

While Artioli doesn’t know if the rumors are true, he believes the EB110 SS is long overdue a tribute car. "The EB110 was a car ahead of its time, 110% worthy of carrying the name Bugatti. I might not be the most impartial person in this matter, but no other car deserves a tribute more than the EB110.”

The EB110’s distinctive design was the work of Giampaolo Benedini. Artioli says he would like to see some of the car’s design elements applied to a modern car. "Giampaolo Benedini finished the design of the EB110 - as an architect! That’s quite uncommon in the automotive world, and it resulted in a very distinguished design of this super car,” he explained.

"The styling of the EB110 - especially evident in the Super Sport version - is a very graphical one. The memorable, graphical elements make it truly iconic. This Bauhaus style inspiration before that art tendency became popular. Also, design-wise, the EB110 was ahead of its time and nothing but a trendsetter.”

Today, Bugatti is better known for the Veyron and Chiron hypercars after the company was acquired by Volkswagen in 1998. But what does Artioli think of Bugatti’s current design direction? "Ferdinand Piech, maybe the last "Patron” figure of today’s automotive world took over the brand, and has it shaped to his idea, but always with respect of the long and proud Bugatti history. I think that’s the most important point.”

"The Veyron was and the Chiron are the absolute pinnacle of the automotive industry, the most powerful and the fastest supercars. By the way, the fact that Loris Bicocchi, our main test driver for the EB110 and employee number 7 at Bugatti Automobili, also helped test drive the Veyron and the Chiron, makes me proud!”

Back in January, Bugatti invited Artioli to Chateau Saint Jean, where he got to drive the Chiron. Was this when Bugatti revealed plans to Artioli to build an EB110 tribute car? "I had never been to Molsheim after Volkswagen had bought the rights to the Bugatti brand. So it was long overdue. It was an amazing experience to be received by Stephan Winkelmann and his team in the Château St. Jean and to test drive the Chiron. We exchanged a lot of ideas and stories, but no tribute or homage project was ever mentioned or presented to me.”

We’ll find out if the rumors are true when Bugatti unveils its latest project at Pebble Beach on August 16. Sadly, Artioli won’t be at the show, but he will still watch the premiere. "I wish I could. However, it is a very long journey that would take me away from my current projects for too long. I will, however, sit in front of the laptop to watch the live stream of the Bugatti press conference, as one more Bugatti enthusiast. Maybe even still the biggest one out there…”

The Type 23 underwent a mechanical restoration in Gianni Torelli's workshop in Emilia Romagna, with a complete overhaul of the engine, gearbox, rear axle and suspension. The owner considered that the passenger compartment of the body was too wide and decided in 2005 to modify it, to give it a narrower, more sporting look. It was entrusted to the Fabrini bodyshop, where the central part was removed, while the rear section was retained and fitted back onto the rebuilt body. The wooden structure of the rear section was refurbished at the same time. The front section, with its magnificent scuttle, was kept.

Since then, the car has been regularly maintained. Thanks to its excellent condition, it took part eight times in the historic Mille Miglia; perfectly familiar with his car, the owner dispensed with a service crew and covered the 1800km of the famous event without difficulty. Recently, the Officine Meccanica Pacini at Pistoia stripped down the engine to carry out the customary checks. Since then, it has only covered some 50km.
During a recent test carried out on the backroads of Tuscany, we observed the car's excellent performance, helped by its light weight and well set-up engine, as well as its satisfactory braking. In the right hands, it can hold its own against cars from the class above it, and with its teething problems dealt with, it is a fine choice with which to compete in the Mille Miglia at the wheel of a Bugatti!

The car is listed in the Italian Bugatti Register produced by Francesco Guasti, the former FIVA president. It comes with a number of documents: its FIVA passport, an ASI certificate in the 'Oro' category, a former Bugatti bulletin, in which it appears in a photograph (apparently taken during the Trois Heures de Contres organised by Jean-Marie Pellerin), an Italian newspaper report on the historic Mille Miglia (where it is again photographed) and a photographic report on its mechanical components, most of which are numbered.

The Bugatti Type 23 will be sold with its original body, probably fitted by Dr Ferrand in 1966, as well as the windscreen and supports it then had.
Also known as the "Brescia", the Type 23 was the first Bugatti to be equipped with an engine with four valves per cylinder; despite its modest capacity, it was an outstanding car for its time. And so it has remained: it will not fail to give its new owner the same pleasure behind the wheel as it did his or her predecessors.