2018 Bugatti Chiron Fully Exposed Carbon on 2040-cars

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Rembrandt signs off on the latest special edition Bugatti Vitesse

Remember when the Bugatti Veyron first came out? You'll have to go back the better part of a decade to 2005. People were taken aback by the million-dollar asking price. But now there are plenty of cars with price tags in the seven-figure range.
Pagani gets that much for the Huayra, as does McLaren for the P1 and Ferrari for LaFerrari. Aston Martin charged seven digits for the One-77, Hennessey charges that much for the Lotus-based Venom GT, Zenvo does for the ST1 and you can bet SSC will charge at least as much for the Tuatara. Suddenly the notion of a million-dollar supercar doesn't seem so absurd, does it?
$3 million - now that's another story, but that's just what Bugatti gets for the latest special edition Veyron you see here. The price for the "basic" Veyron inflated over the years, of course, and then went up with each iteration. The Grand Sport kicked it up a notch when it blew the roof off. The Super Sport that much more when it upped the power and the speed. Bugatti got that much more when it combined the best attributes of both to make the Vitesse roadster, and squeezes out just an extra little bit for each edition of its Legends series.

Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport Review | It's the slowest but the quickest

Apparently, even some Bugatti owners consider the real-world ramifications of a $3.6-million, 1,500-horsepower car. The Chiron Pur Sport is proof. Somewhere, perhaps between the helipad and the superyacht, Bugatti prospects are realizing they’ll never have the opportunity or skill to reach 300 mph, or 261 mph — the respective top speeds of the Chiron Super Sport 300+ and standard Chiron. The Pur Sport squeezes a mere 217 mph from its own 8.0-liter, 16-cylinder, quad-turbo engine. But Bugatti says the Pur Sport is the quickest Chiron at any speed between zero and 217 mph. ItÂ’s also the lightest, sharpest-cornering, least-insulated version — optimized for a driverÂ’s sensory stimulation, versus the largely psychological bragging rights of top speed. Consider it the high-performance version of one of historyÂ’s highest-performing cars. After driving the Pur Sport in Connecticut, with three-time 24 Hours of Daytona-winner Butch Leitzinger riding shotgun, IÂ’ll say itÂ’s definitely the one you want. “You” here would refer to Powerball winners, a payback-minded Melinda Gates, or silver-spooners who scoop up one of 60 Pur Sports, among 500 Chirons scheduled for production through about 2023. Leitzinger explains how it all works, as we walk around a Pur Sport in striking Atlantic Blue paint. Tasteful copper trim adorns the BugattiÂ’s signature C-shaped line that shelters doors ahead of the side inlets for turbo air and their intercooler radiators. Front wheel-arch vents extract more air. Less-tasteful is the optional number "16" emblazoned on the Pur SportÂ’s widened horseshoe grille, as if anyone could forget the unsurpassed cylinder count. Ditto for giant "Bugatti" lettering on the Pur SportÂ’s angled, 74-inch-wide rear wing. Add a Bugatti pillow, and it could double as a sunbathing deck. (As with everything Bugatti, the jersey number and lettering are entirely a matter of choice.) The fixed wing is tasked solely with downforce, replacing the electro-hydraulic wing/air-brake on other Chirons that adjusts to trim drag for record-setting acceleration runs. Its stanchion and a massive diffuser form a cool X-shape, atop an artfully thin-walled, 3D-printed titanium exhaust, its temperature-resistant outlets seemingly large enough to service a nuclear reactor. The view-blocking wing saves 22 pounds, among 110 pounds of total weight savings versus a Chiron.

Bugatti 'Blue Dream' plane being replicated with Kickstarter help [w/video]

Ettore Bugatti, the automobile designer behind the Automobiles E. Bugatti nameplate, was famed for his engine and vehicle designs. Yet few realize that the Frenchman also worked on a spectacular twin-engine racing aircraft, intended to compete in the 1939 Deutsch de la Meurthe Cup Race, called the 100P. Designed by Louis de Monge, the low wing monoplane featured two engines, both mounted aft of the pilot (nearly end-to-end), driving twin counter rotating propellers through long drive shafts. To achieve its maximum speed, estimated at nearly 550 miles per hour, it was fitted with two powerful inline eight-cylinder engines each making about 450 horsepower.
Sadly, the plane never took flight. Instead, the one-of-a-kind aircraft spent World War II slowly rotting in a French barn, hidden from the Germans. Restored today, but not in flying condition, Bugatti's original 100P sits in the Airventure Museum in Oshkosh, WI.
Seven decades after the original mostly balsa and hardwood aircraft was locked away, businessman Scotty Wilson is leading a team (including Louis de Monge's great-nephew, Lasislas de Monge) intent on seeing an exact replica of Bugatti's 100P "Blue Dream" take to the sky. And that is where Kickstarter comes into play...