- bugatti just set a production-car record with its 300-plus-mph run in a chiron a week ago; now it's offering a very limited-edition super sport 300+ model that is basically the same car.
- the super sport 300+ will have a 1578-hp version of the w-16.
- this one, though, will have a standard ride height—and a passenger seat.
when we told you about bugatti's record-setting 304.773-mph run in the chiron last week, the company was already hinting that it would make a limited-run production car with similar specs. we didn't have long to wait, with the super sport 300+ being officially unveiled to owners who are taking part in the company's 110th-anniversary tour in europe last night.
the super sport 300+ will come with the same naked carbon finish as the record-setting car, with an equally snazzy set of orange stripes. (buyers will be able to specify other finishes, but there would seem little point buying an undercover version of the record-setting car.)
the roadgoing version will have a similarly tuned engine as the record-setting car, with a 1578-hp version of bugatti's monstrous quad-turbocharged w-16 mill. that is the same output as the forthcoming bugatti divo, and it represents an improvement over the standard car. bodywork changes include an extended tail section reminiscent of mclaren's longtail models.
there are other differences between the 300+ and the actual record-setting car, which was shown on the bugatti tour complete with grime and bug splatter from the track. the road-legal super sport won't have the full roll cage that was fitted to the car andy wallace drove at volkswagen group's vast ehra-lessien test track in germany, and it will also come with the passenger seat that was taken out in the speed-run chiron to accommodate computer and timing equipment. it will also have a standard ride height—the 300-mph car sat lower—and bugatti admits it will have a speed limiter, although the company hasn't said what that will be set to yet. it seems likely that the determining factor will be the maximum speed that the car's michelin tires can digest for anything other than very short periods. although not confirmed yet, we also presume the 300+ will have a working air brake, something that the record-setting car didn't use.
but for buyers determined to get close to wallace's speed, bugatti is also hinting it may offer the option of both a truly unlimited car and time on the track at ehra-lessien so that owners can experience what life at five miles a minute feels like. given wallace's description of what achieving the record entailed, including finding a surface change at the test track that earned the nickname "the jump," we suspect relatively few owners are likely to take bugatti up on this offer.
just 30 will be built, with a base price of about $3.9 million at current exchange rates. that's a relatively modest increase over the regular 261-mph-limited chiron, which is now going to seem positively lethargic.