Latest news with #Bolide
Top Gear
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
An E30 BMW resto powered by a V10? That's Bugatti boss Rimac's 'dream' project
Mate Rimac is a man on a mission. He talks V10 Bimmers and Bugatti's next steps It's a cold day at Paul Ricard. Wrapped in a bomber jacket Mate Rimac is standing on the pitwall, pointing his phone at the Bolide as it comes ripping past at full noise. He grins and looks over, 'pretty cool, huh?' Rimac could have pulled the plug on the Bolide project when he took control of Bugatti three and a half years ago. But he was never going to, was he? He's a car guy. He's on the pitwall with his phone, filming for posterity because his wife is out there in the passenger seat. Rimac, by the way, has yet to drive a Bolide. Given his reputation, his love of driving and drifting, the fact that his dream one day is to do 'a proper, proper E30 restomod, with a V10. Not just the technical stuff, but also design. I don't know when I will get round to that – it might be my retirement project', why hasn't he got into the Bolide yet? Photography: Mark Riccioni 'I'm always super detailed about testing and driving cars, about every detail, and when I drive our cars I come back with a long list of things I want improved or changed. But with this car it's just so far outside my level of competence. It's a racecar, a track car and I'm a road car user. I can't come anywhere near what this car can do.' That's fair enough, it's not like he's short of work elsewhere. He now has three projects, of which Bugatti is only half of one strand – that's the Bugatti-Rimac car division. Then there's Rimac Technology providing solutions to other car companies, and last year he launched Verne, a robotaxi company. 'We showed it in June last year, a few months before Tesla showed theirs – and just three weeks after we introduced the Tourbillon. 'Last June,' he admits, 'almost killed me.' Two weeks ago he was at Nardò driving the Chiron-replacing Tourbillon. He pulls out his phone and shows me a video clip, 'Look how fast it revs, that noise. I was blown away by how good the car is. I'm so, so proud of it. You are in this car, you have this steering wheel with a fixed hub, you have analogue instruments, you have the performance of 800 electric horsepower with 1,000 combustion horsepower. There is nothing like it. 'And you don't need the engine to accelerate fast. That's the advantage. In the Tourbillon if you're lazy and don't want to shift down, or just wanna go ahead, there's so much electric power that you don't have to. Like why else carry around all that weight and complexity?' He has a small dig at other hybrid supercars. 'I have driven them all and I don't get it really. Why would you have a hybrid powertrain with a turbo engine? Like, a turbo engine is a compromise on its own, right? By going from turbo to naturally aspirated we lost 600bhp. I knew we could more than make up for it with the electric powertrain. So the electric powertrain enabled the cool combustion engine. In the Tourbillon, you have 70km of all electric range while others in electric mode are super limited.' Development is progressing well. In total Bugatti is building 35 prototypes before the first customer cars. 'We are basically done with the development and now we do the homologation and testing. The goal is to be lighter than Chiron. It'll be the first hybrid that's lighter than its combustion only variant. We have a big battery – 25kWh – we have three electric motors and we are lighter. Just one example, the suspension is 45 per cent lighter compared with the Chiron because of 3D printing.' There is, by the way, some carry over from Chiron to Tourbillon. 'We have decided to take over one part, which is the switch for the interior lights.' First Tourbillon deliveries are scheduled for 2026, built at Molsheim in a new building alongside the existing factory, known as the Atelier. Hard though it is to believe, Molsheim will have its busiest year ever in 2025, building the remaining Bolides (14 have been delivered so far), plus the 99 Mistrals. Then 250 Tourbillon coupes will be next, and after that a roadster? 'You can assume,' Mate comments with a smile, 'but also there are many things you can do with this hybrid powertrain. You can make a version without hybrid, or with it minimised, or without the [driven] front axle, whatever.' Would he do a non-hybrid Tourbillon? 'Uh, well, it's pretty difficult because the starter is the hybrid motor. So you don't have belt drive. You don't have an alternator, you don't have an air conditioning compressor, but you could do a very reduced system.' Beyond that Rimac won't be drawn on future product. But it's widely rumoured he wants Bugatti to have a second model line. That's nothing new. When we interviewed previous boss Stephan Winkelmann back in 2019, he said the same. But with Rimac at the helm, how about a four door with the V16 in the front? Something that could recreate the appeal of the iconic Royale from 1927, which celebrates its centenary two years from now. And was powered by a straight eight... which is basically half a V16. As yet, no comment. It's noisy in the pit garages, with the Bolide thundering in and out and the rattle of wheel guns, so we walk over to the foyer where Bugatti has positioned a Type 35. Does it give him a sense of legacy when he sees cars like this? 'It's really important. It makes me think about some of the small things, like what Ettore said, 'if it's comparable it's no longer a Bugatti', or when Piëch described the Veyron by saying 'it's a car to do over 400kph and the same day go with your wife to the opera'. It's a little bit of craziness that I have, when you look at where I came from to where I am now "It's just a few words, but there's so much depth and meaning [to those phrases]. We repeat that often to the engineers, telling them this car will still be driving around in a hundred years. How do you make sure this seal will last 50–60 years, how do we make sure these electronics can be serviced in 50, 60 years? 'I won't say much because we haven't decided yet, but I think warranties for these kind of cars need to be very different. I'll give an example. So Chiron is now four years carefree warranty with service included and that's pretty good. Why are people not using the Veyron so much? They would use it more if the tyres and wheels weren't so expensive, so we are trying to make a new set of wheels and tyres. "Look at the LaFerrari and P1 and 918, people get a bad battery and it costs hundreds of thousands to replace. We want to make sure this is never the case with Tourbillon. A Bugatti has to be super reliable and worry free, because that also ensures resale value.' I ask Rimac about future developments – where does he reckon we are with solid state batteries for instance? 'I feel like a fossil in this industry although I'm just 37. But I've been making batteries for 16 years and I've been reading about solid state and breakthroughs in the fundamental technology for 16 years, and it always seems like it's just there, but it's not. What has happened is the price [of conventional batteries] has come down 90 per cent – it used to be €1,500 per kWh, now it's like €100 per kWh.' Elon Musk then. Hero or villain? 'So for me, before this whole thing with the elections and all that stuff, he was the most exciting person in the world. I mean, sending reusable rockets into space, preparing to launch rockets to Mars, send people to Mars. I know how the [auto] industry works and how much Tesla has driven the change in all of these car companies. And I know that the only difference between Tesla and all of the other car companies is just Elon, nothing else. He has really changed the world, really had a huge impact.' And is China a threat or an opportunity? 'Europeans have been shipping cars there and producing cars there for decades and shipping, like, containers of money out, so it seems a bit hypocritical now the Chinese want to do the same here. If they can offer a better product at a more competitive price, why wouldn't they? They seem to have good products and the growth trajectory is crazy. Look where they've come in 10, 15 years.'
Top Gear
15-05-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
The 'king of engines': one last hurrah in the 8.0-litre, 1,578bhp Bugatti Bolide
The quad turbo W16 gets a final, intense flourish in the lightweight, track only, multimillion pound Bolide. TG hangs on tight This is not a new noise. It's the sound Bugatti's W16 has always made and there's nothing else like it because no one else has ever had a W16. The king of engines doesn't need to be rowdy. It communicates in another way. It's the only engine I've come across that uses the ground underneath it as a resonating surface, sending vibrations far and wide, like how a croc ripples its back in the water. You'd probably read it as a warning not to mess, and that wouldn't be a bad interpretation. Even now it's unsilenced and decatalysed, it's not so much noise that it emits as presence. The king of engines whoomphs into life. Definitely whoomphs. It doesn't snarl or scream, it doesn't pepper the air with fake pops, there's just a sense of a lot of air being drawn in, and then suddenly combusted deep inside. Whoomph. The bodywork? That makes a tad more fuss. From the sinewy snout along the raked profile to the X-wing rear end, it exudes menace. A wheeled knuckle duster, the king of engines dressed as a street fighter. You'd imagine quite a lot has had to be done to the quad turbo 8.0-litre for this track only version, what with all the forces it's got to deal with. Nah. It's not the engine that's had to be changed. It's the car. Because Bugatti has done something remarkable here. It's built a car that can cope. The Bolide is the most extreme Bugatti there's ever been. It's more powerful than any racing car, has to shed more energy in the course of a lap, delivers 2,900kg of downforce, 2.5g of cornering force, explosive acceleration force – in short it's one of the most forceful cars there's ever been. And it is the last place a W16 engine will ever call home. Now 20 years old, we'll miss it when it's gone. Other hypercar engines rev higher, shriek louder. One or two produce more power, several are more power dense, all are smaller, lighter. But just as you don't doubt the lion's claim to be king, nor do you question the W16's. All others live in its shadow. Well, you don't start with a Chiron. Dallara built Bugatti a bespoke carbon tub to Le Mans Hypercar regulations, and from there Bugatti set about creating a car that would showcase the engine in its purest form. Because that's what's going on here. This is not a track car that happens to be powered by a W16, it's a W16 given a new dimension on track. That's a small but important distinction. The engine itself is pretty much as it came out of a Chiron Super Sport. Same internals, same valvetrain, pistons and conrods, even the same oil and water pumps. But how do you take a 1,578bhp, 1,179lb ft powerplant, that together with its (only lightly modified) twin clutch transmission is a leviathan weighing some 700kg, and build a track car around it? Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. I'm at Paul Ricard in the south of France. Tomorrow four owners are turning up to drive their new cars. Today is the training day for the instructors who will sit alongside them (no thanks) and Bugatti has found a small gap for me to drive it as well. It's a busy day. Some 40 people mill around. Big boss and CEO Mate Rimac is here, so too most of Bugatti's board of directors. I spend the morning in track briefings, filling out terrifying paperwork and watching the Bolide thunder around. Bugatti has laid on a pair of GT3 RSes as track learning cars. I'm watching them howl down the main straight when I sense another movement. The Bolide is storming out of the final corner. It devours the distance to the hard charging Porsches in great chunks, rips past them under the gantry. The speed differential is colossal, but more than that there's just this sense of immense pent up aggression being released. I think about this an hour or so later as I'm strapped into the Bolide. It's tight in here, the wheel butting up close to the A-pillar, the view out blinkered by high front arches. The 3D printed steering yoke is reassuringly solid in my hands – just as well given how hard I'm clenching it. Raindrops have just started to pepper the windscreen. I'm on slicks. Andy Wallace has the good grace not to look remotely concerned as he straps in alongside me. 'Once you've got the pit speed on, just put the throttle wide open and hold it there.' 'In first gear?' I reply bemusedly. 'Yep, in first. And then at the end of the pitlane, knock the limiter off and hold on tight.' I point blank refuse. 'No way. It'll spin all four wheels and I'll be straight into the barriers.' 'Honestly. As long as it's got good tyre temperature, it'll hook up without a trace of wheel slip.' Whoomph. The king of engines fires. I immediately resolve not to do as I'm told, given the engine appears to be clawing its way through the bulkhead. The Bolide throbs and pulses with barely contained energy. I wincingly click the paddle for first gear, gingerly touch the throttle and the Bolide crawls away, docile as anything. I pull second. Barely sense the shift. Chiron vibes. And so, once clear of the pitlane, I nail it. My world erupts. Noise. Force. Power. All of it huge. It's all consuming, a furious, unrelenting onslaught. I brake for the first corner. There's little heat in the brakes so they surf on. Ooh gawd. Then I turn in and the Bolide starts to slide. Gulp. Don't forget it's damp, Marriage. It slides through turn three. And four. And five. Bloody hell. But by the end of the lap I don't want to park up, I just want more. Because the Bolide moves so well. Yes it slid, but a) that was entirely my fault for getting carried away on cold tyres and a damp track, b) it was caught masterfully by the life – and reputation – saving stability control, and c) the reason I was happy pushing immediately was that the Bolide felt calm in my hands, not snatchy, but progressive. 20 minutes 57 seconds The handling takes its lead from the motor, which delivers its power with creamy smoothness across the whole rev range. There's no top end crescendo, just this outrageous thrust everywhere, accompanied by monstrous bass roar. It's not sharp and zingy, the king of engines likes the power to be poured on and kept on, not fiddled with mid corner. And the dynamics are the same. When I speak to Mate Rimac afterwards he'll tell me, 'Ultimately it's not about lap times in this car, it needs to be engaging for our customers to drive. And many of them are not racers.' He goes on to admit that some of them aren't even likely to drive the car at all. I understand the 'wheeled artwork' argument sometimes, but not here, not with this. So despite the way it looks, it's friendly, benign, approachable. There's nothing tricksy about it. The steering rack is fast but not Ferrari twitchy. There's not much actual steering feedback but it's positive and incisive into corners and there's loads of feel through the seat. The chassis is a great communicator. Hadn't expected that. But the best bit happens after the apex. And it's not just because you get to shovel air and 102 octane fuel into the power station. It's how all four wheels deal with the resulting torque onslaught. Because the diffs are sensational at putting the power exactly where it's needed to maximise traction without spoiling trajectory. It's just wonderfully flattering, makes me feel like a hero as it exits slow corners with a whiff of four wheel drift. The twin clutch box has new ratios and final drive, better suited to sprinting up to the 236mph max. Downforce at that speed hits 2,900kg. Once into sixth at, what, 170-odd mph, I notice the acceleration let up a fraction as drag takes effect. And then there are the brakes. Early suggestions of a 1,250kg kerbweight came to naught – the Bolide is probably around 1,625kg with fluids and me on board. Yet the power means it arrives into braking zones at outrageous speeds, a kinetic energy conundrum that Brembo has solved with 390mm carbon carbon brakes that apparently feature F1 materials. And ABS. A rare, perhaps unique, combo. They're foolproof and the stopping power hangs me in the belts every time. Ever skydived? That breath crushing feeling when the parachute is yanked? It's that. Every corner. Mega pedal feel – I see operating temperatures up over 800°C and those outside get glowing discs. I'm swatted down the track like a suddenly flattened fly. I hoot with laughter If there's an issue here it's the load all of this places on the tyres. Due to high speed aero load, Michelin insists on high pressures – around 35–38psi. They're fine there, but Wallace says grip drops away significantly when they go above that. The long and the short of all this is that the Bolide is very harmonious. The king of engines has been matched in braking power, lateral grip, and yes, traction. On my last lap I slow down on the back straight and engage the pit limiter. It sits smoothly at 40mph in first gear and I hold it there for five seconds to let the four turbos pressurise. And then I thumb the little black button on the steering wheel to cut loose the king of engines and I'm swatted down the track like a suddenly flattened fly. I hoot with laughter, while blown away that the slicks can cope with every single one of the 1,600-odd horses without so much as a chirrup. Andy reckons it's even more vivid than launch control from a standstill. I can believe him. Like I said, the Bolide feels very together, each component balanced against the others. I remember thinking the same after I drove another track only hypercar – McLaren's P1 GTR. The whole car is calm under pressure – and more than that it feels like a Bugatti. When I track down Mate afterwards he tells me 'the hardest thing for this project was to make it a Bugatti in terms of detail and quality. Racecars are fascinating things, but they're not Bugattis". I'd expected to find the Bolide a racecar with a W16 shoved in. With only 40 being built I thought it would be heavily compromised, a bit of a Frankenstein's monster. But as Mate said, if that were the case, it wouldn't be a Bugatti. Instead the Bolide seems to have been as rigorously developed as a Chiron by people with a very clear idea of who it's for and what it needs to do. Ballistically fast, yes, but also polished and flattering, which gives the driver the mental capacity to enjoy and appreciate the Bolide's centrepiece, the 16 pulsating pistons and conrods, four turbos and 64 valves that make up the world's one and only W16 engine. The king of engines.
Motor 1
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Motor 1
Video: The Bugatti Bolide's Track Pace Will Melt Your Mind
The Bugatti Bolide is a track-only hypercar unlike any other. Only 40 will ever exist, and each one costs $4 million. It's the type of car you'd expect to find in a climate-controlled garage waiting for the 2088 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Thankfully, that's not the life of every Bolide out there. A new onboard video from the Nürburgring GP track shows the utterly bonkers performance the Bugatti offers. The Bolide makes the same power as its road-going counterpart, with 1,578 horsepower from its W-16 engine. But it only weighs around 3,200 pounds, as opposed to the 4,300-pound Chiron. The speed at which the Bugatti closes the gap between other cars is wild to watch. The power turns the Porsche 911s and other incredible performance cars on the track into annoying traffic for the Bugatti driver. A McLaren Senna is little more than a blur as the Bugatti passes it. The Bolide has a lower top speed than the Chiron, 236 miles per hour versus 261. Despite the explosive acceleration, it doesn't even get near that on the track. The digital display shows the Bugatti reaching a top speed of 186 mph—still pretty nuts for a road course. Bugatti originally showed off the Bolide prototype in 2020 with a theoretical 1,825 horsepower and a top speed of over 300 mph. It'd be three years before the company revealed the car in production form , with another year of testing before deliveries began. It's great to finally see the car on the track, bringing joy to riders and fear to other drivers. Read More Bugatti News: Bugatti's New V-16 Has a Bizarre Timing System Rimac Wants Complete Control of Bugatti: Report Get the best news, reviews, columns, and more delivered straight to your inbox, daily. back Sign up For more information, read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use . Source: Misha Charoudin / YouTube Share this Story Facebook X LinkedIn Flipboard Reddit WhatsApp E-Mail Got a tip for us? Email: tips@ Join the conversation ( )
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Inside Bugatti's Extreme Testing of the $4.7 Million Bolide Hypercar
Read the full story on Modern Car Collector Ensuring perfection for a track-exclusive hypercar demands extreme measures, something Bugatti knows all too well. The elite French automaker is currently delivering its $4.7 million Bolide, a limited-production model developed solely for circuit use. Limited to just 40 units, each vehicle is meticulously examined through a demanding validation program Bugatti likens to automotive "torture testing." At the Circuit de Mirecourt—a challenging 2.3-mile track located near Bugatti's historic headquarters in Molsheim—each Bolide is evaluated extensively by an eight-member team comprised of specialists, including two precision drivers, mechanics, cooling and tire managers, and electronics technicians. Bugatti's comprehensive process unfolds in two distinct phases, dubbed "Precision and Fundamentals" and "Extreme Performance." The preliminary stage validates foundational components, assessing steering accuracy at moderate speeds and carefully analyzing braking performance at increasing increments—from 31 mph progressively up to 155 mph. Technicians carefully listen for anomalies while inspecting all digital dashboard indicators and vehicle functions to ensure readiness for more intense evaluations. Once preliminary testing is completed successfully, the Bolide proceeds into phase two, an exhaustive series of evaluations termed "Extreme Performance." Here, drivers gradually raise temperatures in tires, brakes, and transmission components over increasingly intense laps. Stability control, traction assistance, and the car's ABS systems undergo intense scrutiny under real-world conditions. Additionally, the team rigorously simulates race scenarios—repeatedly using Launch Control and pushing speeds toward 186 mph to guarantee consistency during competitive use. The Bolide is then subjected to severe braking trials, experiencing intense deceleration forces of up to -2.5G and brake disc temperatures reaching 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit—a figure typically seen during Formula One racing conditions. Following these punishing tests, the car undergoes meticulous cooldown periods with closely monitored thermal targets. Philippe Grand, Director of Quality at Bugatti, noted that the uncompromising approach and close collaboration with Circuit de Mirecourt has allowed the brand to implement an entirely new standard of hypercar validation. "We refuse anything less than perfection. For Bolide, there was no existing benchmark—so we created our own," Grand said. Thanks to this painstaking quality assurance procedure, Bugatti confidently delivers each ultra-exclusive Bolide, ensuring buyers receive not only one of the fastest, most advanced track cars ever constructed but also a machine of unparalleled dependability, capable of extraordinary performance under the harshest track conditions imaginable. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Bugatti Prepares Bolide Owners With Porsche GT3 RS Track Sessions
Read the full story on Modern Car Collector Owning one of the world's fastest cars doesn't mean you're instantly ready to drive it at speed. That's why Bugatti required Bolide customers to warm up in a Porsche 911 GT3 RS before unleashing their multimillion-dollar hypercars at Circuit Paul Ricard. With a claimed top speed of 311 mph, the track-only Bugatti Bolide is in a league of its own. Equipped with a quad-turbocharged W-16 engine producing 1,578 horsepower, the Bolide offers a level of performance that even experienced drivers must approach with caution. To ensure that owners were prepared, Bugatti first put them behind the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, a 518-horsepower supercar renowned for its precision and balance on the track. Bugatti's event, held at the former French Grand Prix circuit, aimed to ease owners into the Bolide's extreme performance. Before piloting their own vehicles, participants received guidance from professional instructors, including endurance racing veterans Andy Wallace and Bruno Spengler. Bugatti structured the training to help drivers refine their technique in the GT3 RS before transitioning to the Bolide. 'The morning session saw them on track in Porsche 911 GT3 RS models, sharpening their skills in preparation for the afternoon, where they transitioned to their own Bolide,' Bugatti stated. Only four customer-owned Bolides participated, each finished in bespoke liveries, ranging from deep carbon black to striking combinations of ruby, blue, and argent. Bugatti did not disclose lap times but noted that each driver pushed closer to the limit with every lap. While the 911 GT3 RS is a formidable machine, the Bolide exists in a different stratosphere, making even the Porsche feel tame by comparison. Some owners may have left the event questioning whether the Bolide is too much car—but that's a thought few would admit out loud. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
