SUPER BUG

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CHIRON SUPER SPORT. YOU WIN AT INTERNAL COMBUSTION

- BEN OLIVER

IN THE 1985 French Grand Prix, with Formula 1’s turbo era nearing its peak and his 540kg Brabham-BMW BT54 making around 820kW in qualifying trim, Swiss driver Marc Surer went through the speed trap at the end of Paul Ricard’s 1.8km Mistral Straight at 338km/h, or 210mph, setting a new record for the highest speed recorded in an F1 race. In a luxurious road car weighing four times as much I comfortably hit 349km/h, or 217mph, braking way earlier than Surer would have done on a qualifying lap, and with the car only beginning to hit its stride.

Have we now reached peak engine? The Bugatti Chiron Super Sport is, according to its maker, the fastest production road car you can buy, with the most powerful internal combustion engine. The limited edition Super Sport 300+, of which 30 will be made in the same black-and-orange livery as the record car, shares the same engine and top speed, and the 10 Centodiecis also share the engine. The only limit on Super Sport production is that fewer than 50 Chiron built slots remain.

Bugatti’s claims are not without controversy. Hennessey, SSC and Koenigsegg all claim to have cars in the works which will equal or eclipse the Super Sport’s 1177kW, but not all have yet been homologated and all require E85 fuel to do it: the Chiron makes its power on 98RON. The claim to the speed record is based on the 304.8mph (490.5km/h) which Andy Wallace hit at VW’s EhraLessien track in a prototype Super Sport in August 2019. It was verified by the German TÜV testing and certification agency but was a peak speed, recorded one-way, and the production cars are limited to 440km/h (273mph). The rivals seem set on breaking that record with two-way runs, and Bugatti says it won’t defend it.