Listen to the W16 Bugatti Bolide in Lake Como

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The Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este stands out as one of the most esteemed car events globally. Each year, the excessively luxurious, multimillion-dollar opulence cars assemble on a flawlessly landscaped lawn with a view of the awe-inspiring Lake Como in Italy. Due to the event’s renown, automakers find delight in utilizing it as a platform to reveal their most remarkable vehicles. One such vehicle was the Bugatti Bolide, which not only made an appearance but flaunted its thunderous exhaust noise.

The previous year, Bugatti introduced the Bolide, a lighter iteration of the ultra-luxurious Chiron hypercar. The concept was to elevate engine power, bestow it with a distinct carbon fiber body, eliminate all lavishness from the cabin, and observe what its quad-turbocharged engine could achieve without the weighty burden of the Chiron’s massive curb weight. What commenced as merely an experiment rapidly evolved into a limited production model (40 units worldwide), tailored for the track, priced at $4.8 million, and a monstrous spectacle.

This clip captures the Bugatti Bolide being unloaded from a trailer, allowing you to witness its intense cold-start, as its thunderous 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 engine roared to life. Initially, Bugatti claimed the Bolide would deliver 1,825 horsepower on 110-octane race fuel, but later opted, for the limited production units, to utilize commercially available fuel, resulting in a power drop to 1,578 horsepower. Additionally, it generates a maximum torque of 1,180 pound-feet at a mere 2,250 rpm.

Upon peering inside the Bolide, you’ll notice the absence of lavish leather or exquisite trimmings. Instead, you’ll be greeted with fixed carbon fiber racing seats, an F1-style racing steering wheel adorned with a dozen labeled buttons, a compact digital gauge display, and several switches affixed to a carbon fiber central console. Ditching all luxuries of the Chiron and equipping it with an all-new carbon fiber body diminishes the Bolide’s curb weight to just 1,450 kilograms (3,196 pounds). Therefore, it weighs less than a Porsche Cayman GT4 RS, yet generates more than triple the horsepower. Perhaps that’s why Bugatti asserts it can accelerate from 0 to 311 mph in a mere 20 seconds.

Understandably, one may feel fatigued with hypercar extravagance and somewhat cynically regard each new multimillion-dollar endeavor in spec-sheet competition. However, it’s challenging not to be awestruck by the Bugatti Bolide. It’s entirely beyond the reach of anyone without a ten-digit bank account, yet it epitomizes the type of vehicle born when engineers are given complete freedom, with budgets thrown to the wind, and that’s always a delight to witness.