Before
it is retired, Bugatti's 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 engine has added another
record to its impressive collection: the top speed of an open-top road car. At
the Papenburg test track in northern Germany, a Mistral in a one-off
"World Record Edition" specification recently achieved an
independently verified top speed of 453.9 kph. If you prefer vintage vehicles,
that's 282.04 mph. Without a roof. Andy Wallace, a British top speed specialist
and Le Mans winner, drove the Mistral, which set the closed-car top speed
record of 304.7 mph in the Chiron Super Sport 300+ back in 2019.
The
Mistral, a limited edition of 99 open-top Bugattis with a custom roadster body
and the same 1,578 horsepower foundation as the Chiron Super Sport, gets its
name from a southerly French breeze. Because the W16 breathes through twin ram
air intakes right behind the seats, the characteristic Bugatti C-shaped intakes
in the flanks are smaller than the Chiron's, and the vertical headlights are
modeled after the one-off La Voiture Noire and the track-only Bolide's X-bar
light at the back.
Why,
then, did Bugatti set its prior speed record at Papenburg rather than
Ehra-Lessien? Unfortunately, Bugatti no longer has the keys after leaving
Volkswagen to form a joint venture with Rimac.
Its alternate location isn't the best for v-max runs. Andy had to carry a lot
more speed off the banked turns to ensure clinching the 282mph peak because the
4km straights on the banked high-speed track are only about half as long as the
ones Bugatti is used to.
If you're keeping score, the Mistral beats the open-top record set by the
Hennessey Venom GT Spyder, which set it back in 2016 with a speed of 265.6 mph.
The Hennessey Venom GT Spyder beat the 1,183-bhp Veyron Vitesse, which had
previously set a speed of 254 mph.
The
peak speed of the Mistral was previously stated as "over 261mph."
Yes, and somewhat.
However, this Mistral is a one-off, whereas a limited edition of World Record Edition
cars were used to honor prior world record-setting Bugattis. In order to set
the record, the owner, who already owns a Veyron Super Sport, Vitesse, and
Chiron 300+ in identical colors, hired Bugatti to create a single
carbon-with-orange model. It will continue to be unique, mission completed.
And, we'd bet, a member of a rather valuable group.
Top Gear got unique access to the record attempt, so stay tuned to TopGear.com over the next week for behind-the-scenes insights at how the record was established, how it was shot (with the world's fastest camera car), and a review of the Mistral itself from behind the wheel.
