At a test track in Germany, Bugatti has just recorded an open-top speed much quicker than the iconic Veyron managed with a roof on when it stunned the world in 2010. Next stop, says Mate Rimac, is 500 km/h (311 mph) and the outright speed crown.
The car in question: a W16 Mistral, featuring Bugatti's epic 8-liter, quad-turbocharged W16 engine. Technically a discontinued model, the W16 has underpinned everything from the Veyron to the Chiron and the wild, track-focused Bolide.
Well, it wasn't exactly a W16 Mistral; it was a one-off "World Record Car" version. Exactly what the changes are here is unclear - perhaps the standard W16 Mistral's 1,600-horsepower (1,193-kW) engine has been hotted up closer to what the 1,825-hp (1,361-kW) Bolide uses. Certainly, the standard car's 420 km/h speed limited has been lifted.
Either would disqualify Bugatti from claiming an official world production car speed record – as indeed would the fact that this was merely a one-way run, where proper speed records need to be both ways within a certain period of time, in order to cancel out any potential wind advantages.
Mind you, the official production car speed record hasn't budged since the Koenigsegg Agera RS went 447.19 km/h (277.87 mph) back in 2017. Bugatti and SSC have both gone faster, but only in one direction, and with pre-production or non-homologated cars.
Still, unofficial or not, Bugatti managed to beat Koenigsegg's official two-way record from 2017 with this open-top W16 Mistral, logging an insane one-way speed of 453.91 km/h (282.05 mph) despite the inherent aerodynamic disadvantages. Check it out:
Technically, I guess our "world's fastest hairdryer" headline is out the window too, since Bugatti's official test driver (and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner) Andy Wallace wore a helmet during the attempt.
Mind you, on closer inspection it would appear that Mr. Wallace probably wasn't in the market for a hairdryer anyway. His personal aerodynamics would appear very low-drag in this regard.
What's next for Bugatti? Well, perhaps the iconic marque is ready to get back into the outright top-speed rumble again under the ownership of Mate Rimac. In a brief interview with Top Gear, the Bugatti Rimac CEO admitted he was making enquiries with tire supplier Michelin around the question of "can we put the 'five' in front of the top speed record?"
Wasteful? Sure. Unnecessary? No argument. But as long as there have been cars, there have been people wanting to know which one is the fastest. The title of "world's fastest car" holds plenty of prestige for many of the world's richest individuals – and for a lot of 10-year-old kids as well.
So whether or not the engineering effort might've been better spent coming up with a better wind turbine, or headphone cables that don't tangle up in your pocket, or a toothpaste tube that lets you squeeze the last bits out, or a pair of socks that don't vanish to different dimensions when going through the wash, these kinds of records still represent incredible work.
Source: Bugatti
