In ‘modern’ times, the Bugatti brand is commonly associated with speed and opulence. When the Veyron EB 16.4 debuted in 2005, after being brought back to life by the Volkswagen Group, it was quite literarily a Concorde moment for cars and thus set the trend for hypercars to come.
While the Veyron was way ahead of its time, it was never going to be the tool to set blistering lap times around a circuit, given its weight and setup. The Veyron was a beast that famously loved straight line speed. Its successor, the Chiron, was pretty much the same deal, however more and more emphasis was put on cornering and it showed, as reported by fellow journalists. But it wasn’t enough for the French marque as it turns out.
After Bugatti outed the insane Chiron Super Sport 300+, there wasn’t really much else the brand could do to push the boundaries of what was possible and that is why we’re here. Bugatti, it seems, has shifted its focus from straight line speed, to cornering. Enter the Chiron Pur Sport.
“We spoke to customers and realised they wanted a vehicle that is geared even more towards agility and dynamic cornering. A hypersports car that yearns for country roads with as many bends as possible. An unadulterated, uncompromising driving machine. Consequently, the vehicle is called Chiron Pur Sport”, explains Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti.
“By cutting the weight by 50 kilogrammes while simultaneously boosting the downforce and configuring an uncompromising, sporty chassis as well as suspension setup, the Chiron Pur Sport boasts incredible grip, sensational acceleration and extraordinarily accurate handling. It’s the most uncompromising yet agile Bugatti of recent times” he continued.
Weight is the adversary of performance and the new Chiron is taking weight shedding seriously. A new massive 1.9-metre fixed rear wing replaces the active unit in the ‘regular’ car and losses 10kg in the process as it negates the need for the hydraulic actuators that articulate the rear spoiler. The brand says that the rear wing alone “generates serious amounts of downforce, and the diffuser also significantly boosts the vehicle’s aerodynamics.”
Still on the subject of weight, the exhaust system is now made from 3D-printed titanium. Even the wheels have been put on the Atkins. The staggered wheels are made from magnesium and were designed to suck air from the inside to the outside, which creates downforce and improves cooling. The Aero wheel cuts out 16kg in unsprung mass and is wrapped in an exclusively-developed set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres measuring 285/30 R20 up front and 355/25 R21 out back.
Bugatti says the modified tyre structure and rubber mix creates more grip, this combination helps boosts the vehicle’s lateral acceleration by 10 percent to increase cornering speed. The brake callipers have a titanium pad base that’s 2kg lighter than before, along with discs that are a kilogram lighter as well.
Obviously with a car that places such an emphasis on agility, the chassis and suspension system have been improved for better handling. The springs on the Chiron Pur Sport are 65 percent stiffer at the front and 33 percent at the back. It also gets new stiffer dampers, bushes and carbon fibre stabilisers front and rear.
The power source for this agile apex hunter remains unchanged from the car it’s based on. It still uses a W16 quad-turbocharged 8.0-litre engine that delivers 1,103kW of power and 1,600Nm of torque. However, in this application it has been tweaked to increase its engine speed by 200 rpm to 6,900 rpm. This means a top speed that’s LIMITED to 350km/h.
The gearbox though, has been thoroughly reconfigured and features gear ratios that are 15 percent closer together. Bugatti says that 80 percent of the transmission has been revised while the entire gear set including four shafts and seven forward gears has been adapted to the new parameters.
“We reconfigured each gear and calibrated new ratios despite this iconic engine boasting an abundance of power. The gears are closer together now to enable shorter gear jumps and also benefit performance. Most of all when coming out of corners the Chiron Pur Sport accelerates even more aggressively in conjunction with the added grip as well as the more direct chassis and suspension”, Gregor Gries says as the Head of Major Assemblies at Bugatti.
The Chiron Pur Sport will enter production in the second half of 2020 and as mentioned in the headline, only 60 units will be produced and is priced from three million Euros or a shade over 5 million Australian dollars, before taxes. It’s a momentous year for the brand, as they are also preparing to deliver the first batch of Bugatti Divo’s this year.
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