The new Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport is a €3m drivers’ hypercar

By topgear, 04 March 2020

Where the Bugatti Chiron Sport 300+ blitzed the top speed run – and broke records and the hearts of rivals in the process – so this new Chiron is built for blitzing corners. It is officially called the Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport, and you must officially ready your finest driving gloves.

Let’s start from the bottom. Bugatti’s engineers stiffened up the front springs by 65 per cent, and rear springs by 33 per cent as well as tweaking the adaptive dampers for better performance.

Bugatti also fitted carbonfibre stabilisers all round, fitted new, rather special 16kg lighter wheels (wrapped in special Michelins), 2kg lighter titanium brake pad base panels, and 1kg lighter titanium discs.

All in, we’re told this sharper, corner-hungry Chiron is 50kg lighter in total and steers “more directly and accurately through bends”. Consider you’ve got a 1,500hp 8.0-litre engine lurking behind you, and that’s a lot of speed to carry through said bends.

There’s an additional drive mode (Sport+) which delays the deployment of traction control on a dry track, so get as lairy as you like. Indeed, the 1,500hp is unchanged from a ‘regular’ Chiron (which nobody says), but that W16 quad-turbo unit redlines 200rpm higher (at 6,900), and is attached to a revised 7spd gearbox with closer ratios.

Yes, top speed has been reduced to 350km/h because of downforce, but it’ll go from 60km/h to 120km/h two seconds faster than before. And anyway 350km/h is really quite fast enough already thank you.

Oh yeah, downforce. It’s sprouted a new rear diffuser, but something bigger is at play here. Literally bigger: out goes the hydraulically extending spoiler (saving 10kg), and in comes a 1.9m-wide fixed rear spoiler pinched from the pages of science fiction. No, really: Bugatti says the ‘X’ wing mounts that attach said scaffolding to Chiron is inspired by “science fiction and motorsport”. More of that please, Bugatti.

The exhaust has been 3D printed from titanium, is lightweight, and will no doubt make that W16 sing just a little louder. Elsewhere on the body you’ll spot wider front air inlets, a larger horseshoe panel, and a monster front splitter. The bottom of the Pur Sport features exposed carbonfibre, too, the reason being… it just looks fantastic, that’s why.

There’s lots of Alcantara inside, lasered patterns on the door trim panels, and everything is either black, anodised aluminium or titanium.

“We spoke to customers and realised they wanted a vehicle that is geared even more towards agility and dynamic cornering,” explains Bugatti boss Stephan Winkelmann. “A hypersports car that yearns for country roads with as many bends as possible.”

Just 60 will be built, with each one costing €3m plus local taxes. “We have come full circle,” Winkelmann added, “back to the good, old Bugatti tradition.” Circle, yes, but also corners. Like we said, warm up those driving gloves…

STORY Vijay Pattni

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