It’s been rumored, spied and dubiously rendered, but the long awaited replacement for the Bugatti Veryron is finally here in the form of the Chiron. Let’s take a deeper dive to see what the newest Bug is all about.
5) What is a Chiron?
Or rather, who was Chiron? Chiron was a centaur in Greek mythology known as the most noble, pragmatic and wise among his kind. Unfortunately for him, he wilfully took an arrow poisoned with hydra blood to save the life of Prometheus, the Titan who later allowed mankind to use fire.
4) It was the most powerful car production car ever for about 12 hours.
With 1,478 horsepower, the Bugatti Chiron was the most powerful production car ever when it was announced the day before the 2016 Geneva Motor show, but later in the day, Koenigsegg pulled the wraps off the production version of its 1,500-hp Regera. No matter. With 25 percent more power than the Veyron and 1,180 lb-ft of torque between 2,000 and 6,000 rpm, the Chiron will do 0-60 in 2.5 seconds, 125 in 6.5 seconds and 186 mph in 13.6 seconds. Top speed is 261 mph.
3) It’s even faster than Bugatti is letting on.
The 261-mph top speed is electronically limited, but Bugatti suggests the Chiron could be much faster. Speeds in excess 280 mph could be possible when it hits Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track later this year. So, why the capped top speed? Tires are the limiting factor. Each gram of the Chiron’s specially developed Michelins is exposed to an incredible 3,800 gs of force at top speed. Any faster for a sustained period of time, and they could turn to black mist.
2) It’s not a hybrid.
The Chiron bucks the hybrid-electric trend set by the McLaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 918 hypercar triumvirate and instead relies on lots of cylinders, lots of turbos and big displacement to make its ludicrous power figure.
1) It’s all about the numbers.
Its 8.0-liter engine has 16 cylinders, which are fed by 32 fuel injectors and four turbos, which can force up to 60,000 liters of air through the engine per minute. All that friction and internal combustion produces plenty of heat so the Chiron has also been fitted with 10 radiators.