We’re approaching the top of the Bugatti W16‘s run, because the final Bolide rolled off the manufacturing line final week. Bugatti nonetheless has a handful of Mistral roadsters to construct, plus the one-off Brouillard will not be delivered to its buyer for one more couple years, however that closing Bolide being constructed continues to be an enormous milestone for the corporate. Solely 40 of those track-only specials have been made, with the primary Bolide being completed in early 2024. Because of its absurd W16 engine, all-wheel-drive system and wild aerodynamics, the Bolide is perhaps extra excessive than every other automaker’s track-only particular, and at round $5 million to start out additionally among the many most costly.
Usually the ultimate unit in any Bugatti mannequin’s manufacturing run is a particular spec, and this Bolide isn’t any totally different. The client, a collector and “longstanding buddy of the marque” from Switzerland, commissioned his Bolide in a classic shade scheme that matches his nearly-100-year-old Kind 35. It is a a lot classier alternative than most different Bolides, and it isn’t the primary time this buyer has regarded to his Kind 35 for inspiration.
It is known as Bleu Grand Prix Lyonnais
Again in 2016, this unnamed collector was the client of the ultimate Veyron Grand Sport, which used a shade scheme impressed by his then-freshly-restored 1928 Kind 35C. In the middle of that automotive’s restoration, they checked out an unique interval brochure shade palette to land on a shade known as Bleu Grand Prix Lyonnais. It is a lighter, extra muted shade than the intense blue we usually affiliate with Bugattis and different French race automobiles, but it surely’s nonetheless an correct hue, as the kind of blue used trusted the area. On the Veyron Grand Sport Le Grand Bleu, that shade was paired with Darkish Blue for the outside two-tone, plus darkish blue leather-based.
The Bolide is not the very same blue, but it surely’s shut. Bugatti says the outside colours are Particular Blue Lyonnais and Black Blue, whereas the inside is roofed in Lake Blue Alcantara with Mild Blue Sport stitching. The colour scheme actually appears to be like incredible on the Bolide, particularly on the rear the place the brighter blue is used to nice impact on the wing and diffuser. I want the wheels have been color-matched or at the very least vivid silver, however c’est la vie. (There’s one photograph in Bugatti’s set the place the automotive appears to have silver wheels on it, so there’s hope.)
Rigorous improvement
After the Bolide’s reveal in idea kind in late 2020, the next summer time throughout Monterey Automobile Week Bugatti introduced that it could enter manufacturing, at which level improvement started with Bugatti’s exacting consideration to element. The design was finalized in 2022 whereas engineering was accomplished in early 2023, after which level the primary prototypes have been capable of be examined and refined in real-world situations following “1000’s of hours of engineering evaluation, aesthetic refinement and meticulous consideration to element.” On the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023 Bugatti had the chance to take a Bolide to 217 mph with lead take a look at pilot Andy Wallace on the wheel, and intensive on-track improvement continued from summer time 2023 to early 2024. Mentioned Bugatti in regards to the Bolide’s improvement:
This era demanded absolute dedication from all the staff, with engineers and technicians working from early morning to late into the night time, each single day. Every day adopted a meticulously deliberate schedule, so exact that downtime was measured in minutes relatively than hours, making certain most monitor time when the circuit opened within the morning. Each night, the staff performed detailed debriefings to evaluation the day’s actions towards the plan and assess outcomes. All through the night time, the automotive was ready for the next day’s testing. Come morning, the staff would reconvene early to finish closing preparations, making certain the Bolide was prepared the second the monitor opened.
Bugatti says it was significantly vital to make sure the Bolide matched the impeccable high quality and refinement of Bugatti highway automobiles, and to satisfy the shoppers’ expectations of excellence all through the car’s lifetime, which the automaker says was “an immense problem” for its engineers, suppliers and manufacturing staff to realize for a high-performance monitor automotive. “The thought of being an ideal monitor automotive for each gents {and professional} drivers just isn’t really easy to translate into driving attributes, but it surely’s important what makes it a Bugatti,” stated chief know-how officer Emilio Scervo. Earlier this 12 months Bugatti held its first monitor day for house owners at Circuit Paul Ricard, and different house owners have already pushed their Bolides round Circuit of the Americas, Spa and the Nürburgring.
I doubt that is Bugatti’s final monitor particular
Mentioned Bugatti president Christophe Piochon, “We got down to create a automotive that may carry out on the racetrack but additionally belongs on this planet’s best collections. That is why we devoted extraordinary consideration to each element of execution, from the paintwork to the inside, in order that proudly owning a Bolide displays the identical degree of expertise as each different Bugatti in your assortment. This was a brand new problem for our manufacturing groups within the Atelier and for each provider and accomplice. Motorsport usually prioritizes elements that may be modified rapidly, but a Bugatti is created to face the take a look at of time. Upholding that philosophy whereas delivering excessive efficiency required absolute dedication from everybody concerned.”
That makes me fairly certain the Bolide will not be the final track-focused automotive we see from Bugatti. The Bolide’s W16 could also be headed off into the sundown, however the Tourbillon’s naturally aspirated V16 is a worthy successor, and being developed by Cosworth and already fitted with a hybrid system, it is an engine I might simply see being put in a brand new monitor particular — or perhaps even a race automotive. In any case, it could be a disgrace if Bugatti put all this work into the Bolide with out the chance to place these learnings to good use once more within the improvement of one thing new. Racing is in Bugatti’s blood, in spite of everything, with the Kind 35 being the winningest race automotive in historical past.