Bugatti Chiron Ride Along — Driving 261 MPH in the Bugatti Chiron

The $3 million Bugatti Chiron is full of surprises—15 of them, actually.

The Bugatti Chiron is high-performance excess at its best. It's a 1479-hp beast that's quicker than many race machines, and is limited to 261 mph. But more than impressive big numbers is the smart engineering that lets this supercar manage all that power and speed. After spending a few hours with Bugatti test driver and Le Mans champ Andy Wallace in the near $3 million machine, here's what I learned about the car and the true meaning of "supercar."

Supercars tend toward the raw and animalistic. The driving experience is loud, rough, and requires constant focus at any speed or road condition. They are engaging, yes, but not exactly luxurious.

The Bugatti Chiron defies that expectation. This isn't a scary supercar. You can trundle along bumpy roads in the Chiron at legal road speeds all while coddled in soft leather with the ride quality equal to an average Porsche 911. Even when all that power and torque is unleashed, the Bugatti wants to help you drive better. Every system is designed to help keep you safe, in control, and on the road while still providing a thrill.

This could be the world's only 1500-hp daily driver.

Modern plastics have come close to duplicating the look and feel of metal, but it's never as satisfying as the real thing. Of course, going full-on metal means more money. But this is a Bugatti, so if a material appears to be metal, it most certainly is. That adds a richness and authenticity you'd expect from a multi-million-dollar car.

The tail lamp bezel for example is one solid piece of metal, milled from a 200kg block of aluminum. The tail lamp cluster is minimalist perfection with a single band of LEDs extending full-width across the back of this wild machine. It makes the car's rear view look like something a superhero would drive.

Hypercars are all maddeningly quick. After all, that's a big part of the allure. But the forces this car generates on your body are unlike anything you'll ever feel.

The way Chiron pushes into your seat feels as though every one of your internal organs are flattening like pancakes under the extreme torque. It's so brutal it can leave you feeling slightly nauseated. But hey, it's also incredibly exhilarating and completely addictive.

Wallace says that feeling likely comes from the 1180 lb-ft of peak torque that clobbers you at 2,000 rpm and remains all the way to 6,000 rpm. It's relentless, aviation-level acceleration and is accomplished without much effort. Bugatti says the car will hit 124 mph in less than 6.5 seconds, and 200 mph takes only 16 seconds.

Bugatti uses a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox and an all-wheel drive system to harness the incredible horsepower and torque loads. But the Chiron has enough of both to overload the grip levels of those Michelins. So, working behind the scenes are traction, stability, and engine control systems that are unobtrusive. You never really feel them reign in the Chiron.

These systems are not new to supercars, but the speed at which they all work to manage the Chiron without ruining the experience is impressive. We hammered the Chiron's throttle from a standstill on a wet road with undulating bumps. Even in the car's "Handling" mode, which provides the least assistance (and even allows you to drift the car somewhat), the Chiron pulled as hard as it does on a dry road.

More importantly, chassis never stepped out, felt completely benign and easy to control. Chiron's constant monitoring of nearly every aspect of the drive experience means it always has your back. As Wallace told us, these systems are particularly proficient at complex corrections. So if you make a mistake by introducing too much steering and throttle and then compound it by another mistake—the Bugatti's systems figure out how to save your hide. That's a good thing when the replacement cost of your car is about ten times the price of the average U.S. household.

The highest performance versions Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Porsches produce an intoxicatingly high-pitched shriek from their engines. They sound like a race car fantasy. But the Bugatti's giant 8-liter, quad turbocharged sixteen-cylinder engine creates a different type of sound. It doesn't shriek—it bellows.

The mammoth motor produces a low, loud and menacing growl at low RPMs. It announces to everyone around the enormous engine at work under the hood. Dig into the throttle, and those four turbos produces a wonderful air-gulping whoosh. If the symphony of giant engines and turbos hard at work is your thing, the Chiron plays it all masterfully.

Suspension bushings are typically a hunk of rubber or polyurethane wrapped around a metal sleeve, and the durometer of that bushing is one rate. So automakers often have to compromise ride comfort and quietness if they want sharper handling.

Bugatti's new patented suspension bushings have two different rubber compounds and three distinct layers. Bugatti says this design provides different firmness levels in vertical, horizontal, and longitudinal directions. That translates into precise handling and optimal acoustic performance, says Bugatti engineer Martin Grobowski.

The Bugatti owes its massive horsepower peak and its dead flat torque plateau to the boost generated by four turbochargers. All four turbos are the same model (left) and are sized some 68 percent larger than those on the Veyron (right), Bugatti's previous supercar.

Below 3,800 rpm all the engine's exhaust gasses are used to spin the first pair of turbos. As the engine revs past that point, a special flap opens two more turbos to share the exhaust load. Bugatti says that flap had to be made from a special material to needed to resist extreme heat, move freely, and create a proper seal. Conventional steel wouldn't do the job, so,they used a special nickel-chromium alloy called Inconel 713, a metal with a melting point beyond 2,300 degrees.

To slow the two-ton supercar from 261 mph, Bugatti needed brakes that were up for the tortuous job. The carbon ceramic front brakes on the Chiron measure 16.5-inches in diameter and must dissipate an incredible amount of heat. That's why there's not only one main brake air inlet to the left of either headlamp cluster, but two secondary units that feed cool air to those discs.

It's also why the Bugatti has very unique heat shielding (it can be seen behind the brake disc) to shed heat and direct that heat out through the wheel openings. The 8-piston AP Racing calipers themselves are asymmetrical—unnecessary material was essentially carved away to make them as light and stiff as possible.

The Chiron uses a carbon fiber chassis developed by Italian manufacturer Dallara—the same company that builds the chassis' for Indycar. But like most things on the Chiron, these panels aren't typical.

Bugatti uses a special fabric sandwiched in between the carbon layers, allowing the stiffness to be maintained while also shedding weight. Because Bugatti offers a clear coat option, replacing paint on those panels, the appearance of the carbon fiber must be perfect. That's why when the bodywork is installed on the vehicle, the carbon fiber patterns of one panel must align with the adjacent panel. It's similar to matching wood panels in high end furniture manufacturing, so the grain patterns mirror each other.

The Bugatti Chiron tops out at 237 mph...sort of. You can actually access another 24 mph by inserting a "top speed" key into a slot on the doorsill. But before the Chiron allows you to hit Vmax, the Chiron does a safety scan.

The systems check for engine fault codes and if none are found, the car is lowered—lowered more than in any other of the car's modes. The Chiron trims the angle on the rear wing as well as the diffuser flaps under the nose of the car. At that point, you'll notice it says "Top Speed" in the gauge cluster.

If you exceed a quarter turn of the steering wheel lock, or trigger the ABS or stability control systems during the top speed run, Bugatti returns the car normal speed mode. When the Chiron is fully stopped again, you can attempt top speed again. Wallace says that at 261 mph the car is arrow straight. But as stable as the car is even Wallace, a professional race champion, is cautiously aware the car is travelling a mile every ten seconds.

Bugatti makes it easy to brag. Along the carbon fiber spine (which is part of the vehicle's carbon chassis) that separates the driver and passenger Bugatti imbeds four high-resolution digital instruments into a large slice of aluminum. The gauges provide information like turbo pressure, oil, water temperature, and how much fuel is remaining. But they can be reset and reconfigured to record the maximum horsepower, speed, rpm, and g-forces the car sees. We managed to hit over 1,300 hp on our best run. Top speed? Well let's say for the record, we obeyed all the posted limits.

Bugatti says most cars, like the VW Group's own Passat sedan, use displays with around 125 dpi. The high resolution TFT displays in the Chiron are 300 dpi, about the level of an iPhone 6—and those screens can display deep reserves of information. Bugatti says around 1500 pages worth. However, engineers wisely configured the screens so that the faster the Chiron is driven, the less information is made available—to keep the driver focused.

We particularly like the tire information screen. It not only shows you the pressure, but also tire temperature and even "expected" tire pressure given the current driving style. Wallace says, once those tires reach about 75 degrees on dry pavement, they are ready to provide the grip necessary for a full-throttle launch.

When manufacturers test their prototypes, the majority of the testing, especially high speed testing, is done during the day. But Bugatti was able to extend test sessions into the night because the Chiron has four 90mm compact projector LED lamps. Bugatti says they are the flattest one's ever fitted to a production car.

The solid lenses are installed into delicate polished aluminum brackets with a dedicated controller for each side. These lamps are so bright testers were able to test the Bugatti up to 250 mph in darkness. Impressive and frightening.

The Chiron employs active aerodynamics to create the right amount of downforce or lack thereof for any speed or condition. The new rear wing is 39 percent wider than the one used in the Veyron and can change its attitude with the help of hydraulic rams.

When the wing is fully retracted, it sits at an angle of -10 degrees. In Top Speed mode, the wing sits up at an angle of just 3 degrees. In "autobahn" mode the angle moves to 10 degrees, and for "handling" mode it comes up to 14 degrees. In the last mode, called "air brake," the big wing is at its maximum angle of 49 degrees. Wallace says that the Chiron braking system, including the rear wing in air brake mode, generates a maximum of 2g of braking force or about double the force you'd feel in a conventional car.

Bugatti says it won't attempt a true top speed run until 2018. Wallace implied the Chiron reaches its limited speed of 261 mph with relative ease. So, could there be another 39-mph left? He says that speed is unlikely because the forces at that level are devastating.

Even at 261 mph the wheel and tire has to withstand extreme forces. The valve cap on each wheel weighs 2.5 grams, but it equates to 16 pounds at 261 mph. As the speed moves even higher, the loads increase exponentially. Wallace says at the moment, there is no tire that can withstand the g-loading at 300 mph, but he predicts Michelin engineers will sign off on a top speed with the current production tire slightly north of 280 mph. Perhaps a future version of this car will be engineered to hit that magic 300 mph milestone.

Ben is a lifelong enthusiast of anything with wheels. He has been contributing to Popular Mechanics for nearly 20 years and lives in Venice with an eclectic collection of vintage pickup trucks, muscle cars, and motorcycles scattered in various garages around SoCal.

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