The Bugatti Chiron is already four years old. It seems like we were waxing poetic about the hypercar’s blistering 261-mph (420 km/h) top speed just yesterday, but its debut was back in March 2016 at the Geneva Motor Show. Since then we’ve seen plenty of videos showing the car in action, but actually, we’ve seen very few clips of the car actually reaching its top speed.
Admittedly there are very few places in the world where a street-legal car can attain such velocities, but Bugatti has a new video series on YouTube that reminds us just how quick this car is. Naturally, that includes a top-speed run, which is featured in the video above.
It can go faster:
This is actually the fifth episode in a series called Andy Wallace: How to … Chiron, and as you can probably guess, legendary race car driver and Bugatti test driver Andy Wallace helms the series of short clips. All five episodes were released today, starting with an intro to the car followed by a look at the interior, drive modes, and launch control. As cool as the Chiron is, those subjects have been featured extensively in its four-year model life. Hence why we’re skipping to episode five, which focuses on the speed key.
Gallery: Bugatti Chiron top speed run
Just like the Veyron before, the Chiron requires a special key to enter top speed mode. The video shows us the key, with Wallace narrating some of the system checks the Chiron goes through before allowing the driver to set off. At that point, we’re treated to some properly artful flyby camera angles mixed with interior shots as the Chiron sprints to 261 mph in a decidedly effortless fashion.
The sprint doesn’t take place in real-time, but we know the car can reach 249 mph in just 32 seconds. Attaining the extra 12 mph doesn’t take much longer; we don’t know the exact time but seeing the speedometer gainfully climbing as it hits the speed limiter tells us all we need to know about the quad-turbocharged W16 positioned behind the driver.
With the speed limiter removed and with some extra aero tweaks at the back, we know the Chiron can top 300 mph. That is, in prototype form anyway – the custom Chiron Longtail hit 304 mph (490 km/h) last year, but the production version dubbed the Chiron Super Sport 300+ will be electronically limited to only 273 mph (440 km/h).