The question:

What if … Bugatti developed a radically light, completely new concept around its iconic 8.0 litre W16 engine?

The answer:

The BUGATTI Bolide

An uncompromising experiment, a thoroughbred, a Pur Sang that, in its brute exclusivity, impresses above all with high performance, low weight and a driving experience in a new dimension. Driving the Bolide is like riding on a cannonball.

With the experimental study of the Bugatti Bolide, the French luxury car manufacturer is presenting a new and unique vehicle concept for the ultimate Bugatti performance kick: a track-only hyper sports car featuring the W16 engine derived from series production combined with a minimal body for maximum downforce. The Bolide offers an unprecedented and ultimate Bugatti driving experience: reduced, raw, authentic.

Here's what Bugatti says:

Sovereign power meets prodigious lightness:

“We asked ourselves how we could realize the mighty W16 engine as a technical symbol of the brand in its purest form – with solely four wheels, engine, gearbox, steering wheel and, as the only luxury, two seats.” – Stephan Winkelmann, Bugatti President.

The Bugatti Bolide is the most extreme, uncompromising, fastest and lightest vehicle concept in the company’s recent history – with an incredible weight-to-power ratio of 0.67 kg per PS. This is made possible by the combination of the W16 engine with 1,850 PS and a vehicle weight of just 1,240 kilograms. The Bugatti Bolide achieves figures that are almost on par with Formula 1 while its top speed is well above 500 km/h – without compromising maximum handling and maximum agility.

The ultimate Bugatti driving experience:

The Bolide is the unrivalled technological concept of a track-focused Bugatti hyper sports car. This puts the Bolide with its W16 power plant at the absolute top in terms of combustion engines used in automotive engineering and shows what this iconic machine is really capable of. We have freed the car of all baggage, and combined the powertrain with the lightest possible chassis to create the ultimate Bugatti and to discover a whole new driving experience. With the Bolide, we are presenting our interpretation of a Bugatti track car of modern times to our enthusiasts all over the world.

The DNA: Bugatti Type 35:

Back in the 1920s Bugatti produced one of the most successful racing cars of all time: the Type 35. The open-top sports car achieved over 2,000 victories between 1924 and 1930, making it a true legend in racing history. It was inimitable in terms of technology, design and performance: powered by a high revving 2.3L inline 8 cylinder, the supercharged evolutionary models developed 140 PS and could reach top speeds of over 215 km/h. As well as their impressive power, these engines were primarily renowned for their reliability and endurance. And their lightness: a race-ready Bugatti Type 35 weighed only around 750 kilograms, making it a masterpiece in terms of weight-to-power ratio.

The Type 35 was inimitable in its time in terms of technology, design and performance. Just as the Bugatti Bolide is today.