Bugatti's Bolide is a track-focused hypercar with 1,825 horsepower

[Shawn Knight]

Forward-looking: Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Bolide is its "morphable" outer skin on the roof scoop. When driving at slow speeds, the skin remains smooth for optimal airflow but at high rates of speeds, "a field of bubbles bulges out" to reduce aerodynamic drag by 10 percent and limit lift force by 17 percent.

Bugatti on Wednesday shared its concept for the Bolide, a track-oriented hypercar that illustrates what is possible if the French automaker built a lightweight vehicle around its iconic 8.0-liter W16 engine.

The Bugatti Bolide features an all-wheel powertrain that lays down an impressive 1,825 horsepower using 110 octane racing fuel, or only 1,600 ponies on 98 octane. With a curb weight of only 2,734 pounds, Bugatti surmises it’ll be capable of hitting a top speed well in excess of 310 mph.

For comparison, hypercar company SSC North America recently recorded a top speed average of 316.11 mph with its Tuatara in the Nevada desert.

According to Bugatti’s computer simulations, the Bolide should be able to complete a lap of Le Mans in 3:07.1 and go around the Nordschleife in 5:23.1.

Achim Anscheidt, director of design at Bugatti, said that in his 16 years with the company, he has never worked on a more extreme concept. “It is the very first time that my team had the freedom of creating an absolutely minimalistic design around the W16 engine,” Anscheidt added.

While the name Bugatti is synonymous with luxury, make no mistake – the Bolide is all about performance “with no hint of luxury.”

Bugatti said it hasn’t yet decided when the Bolide will enter series production.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/87339-bugatti-bolide-1825-horsepower-hypercar-morphable-skin.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I am extremely excited to be alive during the 300 MPH car era. I believe you should have to be able to hit 300MPH to be considered a "hypercar".

You may not have $3,000,000+ for a Bugatti, but you can get a Dodge for $70,000 that gets you 200MPH and that's still amazing.

Soon: Tesla will figure out away to make a 4 door do 300 MPH that you'll be able to plug-in rather than watch drink its fuel down in 8 minutes.

Exciting time to be alive.

 

[VitalyT]

It is the very first time that my team had the freedom of creating an absolutely minimalistic design around the W16 engine

Sounds like team Bugatti is confused, minimalistic engine and W16 is an oxymoron. You want things smaller, go for an electrical engine. And if you want it smaller still, go for a future-era alternative energy generator. Hell, anti-matter, for all I care, that should be smaller

 

[Uncle Al]

I'm guessing they still won't throw in a set of snow tires for our Northern Speed Demons ....... LOL

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Would have been more excited if it were at least hybrid powered. Still using combustion engine only is madness. I know they wanted to keep weight down, but it didn't need to be a PHEV so need for large batteries.

 

[Bullwinkle M]

Sounds like team Bugatti is confused, minimalistic engine and W16 is an oxymoron. You want things smaller, go for an electrical engine. And if you want it smaller still, go for a future-era alternative energy generator. Hell, anti-matter, for all I care, that should be smaller

Sounds like VitalyT is confused
The team never mentioned a minimalistic engine even once

 

[VitalyT]

Sounds like VitalyT is confused
The team never mentioned a minimalistic engine even once

Maybe I did read phrase minimalistic design around the W16 engine wrong, but that doesn't add credit to Bugatti. By today's standards that engine is an abomination, in the age when even Hummer went all-electric, Chiron can drink its entire 100L tank of petrol in under 7 minutes, which kind of puts it next to the dinosaurs of the car industry.

watch drink its fuel down in 8 minutes

Actually, it is under 7 minutes.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Sounds like team Bugatti is confused, minimalistic engine and W16 is an oxymoron. You want things smaller, go for an electrical engine. And if you want it smaller still, go for a future-era alternative energy generator. Hell, anti-matter, for all I care, that should be smaller

It doesn't say minimalistic engine. It says minimilistic vehicle/design around the W16 engine.

 

[nonamepew]

For some reason these cars never look interesting to me. I find real race cars built under extreme regulations or hyper cars which are road legal more interesting.

An F1 engine which is just 1.6L but producing around 800bhp is a bigger technical achievement than any 8L engine doing 1600bhp. But putting that 1600bhp engine in a road legal car passing all the certification is also impressive.

 

[captaincranky]

Sounds like VitalyT is confused
The team never mentioned a minimalistic engine even once

Mr. Vitaly is very often a bit confused. But we love him, and like me, he takes some getting used to.

Now if we can go back to this for a bit: https://www.techspot.com/community/...eed-world-record-for-a-production-car.265695/

The "Tuatara" hyper-car make almost as much power as the Bugatti, on only 8 cylinders, 366 CID, and costs something like a million dollars less. Oh, and it's already hit 330 MPH.

Oh well, the Bugatti is probably built like a brick Maginot line, so I'm sure that more than makes up for it.

 

[captaincranky]

Soon: Tesla will figure out away to make a 4 door do 300 MPH that you'll be able to plug-in rather than watch drink its fuel down in 8 minutes.

Are you saying you'd be willing to try 300 MPH in a Chinese Tesla?

 

[Irata]

For some reason these cars never look interesting to me. I find real race cars built under extreme regulations or hyper cars which are road legal more interesting.

An F1 engine which is just 1.6L but producing around 800bhp is a bigger technical achievement than any 8L engine doing 1600bhp. But putting that 1600bhp engine in a road legal car passing all the certification is also impressive.

How long do those F1 engines last ? Can‘t expect Bugatti customers to replace their engine every 1326 miles / 2135 kilometers.

 

[captaincranky]

How long do those F1 engines last ? Can‘t expect Bugatti customers to replace their engine every 1326 miles / 2135 kilometers.

It's even worse with AA fuel dragster engines. You get maybe one run out of them. So, 1/4 mile costs about 50 grand.

 

[Ryno1]

I was pretty sure Bugatti is a German company as well, owned by VW?

 

[captaincranky]

I was pretty sure Bugatti is a German company as well, owned by VW?

Gosh, all this time I thought it was Italian. Just the spelling and the double "TT" consonant.
VW and Porsche have or had something to do with one another. (IIRC).

But then again, I think China builds Hummers these days, so who knows

 

[Reehahs]

Are you saying you'd be willing to try 300 MPH in a Chinese Tesla?

American designed Chinese made is no different than Apple products.

 

[captaincranky]

American designed Chinese made is no different than Apple products.

Oh well, I suppose if they sterilize it thoroughly, and don't route the time trials through any fish markets, things will be fine.

BTW, many Chinese have dies "honorably'", constructing those iPhones.

 

[Endymio]

Chiron can drink its entire 100L tank of petrol in under 7 minutes, which kind of puts it next to the dinosaurs of the car industry.

I don't understand the logic here. No one buys a hypercar for fuel economy, and in fact that petrol engine is still outperforming electric range-wise. If the Tesla Model S had a 1.2 MW engine to match the horsepower of the Chiron, I calculate it would be able to drain its batteries in 4.25 minutes.

Gosh, all this time I thought it was Italian. Just the spelling and the double "TT" consonant.

The founder (Ettore Bugatti) was Italian-born; so your intuition was onto something.

 

[nonamepew]

How long do those F1 engines last ? Can‘t expect Bugatti customers to replace their engine every 1326 miles / 2135 kilometers.

Yeah, but those F1 engines are basically running at close to max RPM for most of their life. And if you want to compare it to a road car engine, you can easily run the F1 engine at like 90% of their potential to prolong their life exponentially.