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Bugatti made its fastest supercar slower because customers wanted one that handles better. The result is the new $3.3 million Chiron Pur Sport.
Bugatti made its fastest supercar slower because customers wanted one that handles better. The result is the new $3.3 million Chiron Pur Sport.
Tim LevinMar 5, 2020, 19:07 IST
BugattiBugatti Chiron Pur Sport.
Bugatti customers asked the company to build a car that handles better, one that's not just for driving as fast as possible. The result is the new Chiron Pur Sport.
The car emphasizes cornering rather than top speed, and Bugatti says it should be more nimble and agile than the standard Chiron.
The Pur Sport is both lighter and stiffer than the regular Chiron, and it also has a six-foot-wide rear spoiler that helps keep the car planted to the ground at high speeds.
It has the same 1,500-horsepower, quad-turbocharged, 16-cylinder engine as the standard Chiron, but a lower top speed of 217 mph.
Bugatti only plans to build 60 Chiron Pur Sports, and each car will retail for approximately $3.3 million.
The $3 million Bugatti Chiron doesn't need improving upon - the supercar serves up 1,500 horsepower, almost 1,200 pound-feet of torque, a 261-mph top speed, and a claimed 0-60 time of just 2.3 seconds. Heck, in some specs, the Chiron is the fastest production car on the planet.
But Bugatti owners can be fickle - they can certainly afford to be - and when they demanded a car that handled better, Bugatti got to work.
That's the origin story, Bugatti says, of the new Chiron Pur Sport, a more driver-focused Chiron that's built for intense, high-speed cornering rather than outright acceleration or top speed.
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To transform the Chiron from a speed demon into the handling machine that is the Pur Sport, Bugatti shaved off some weight, stiffened up the suspension, tweaked the transmission, and added an enormous, fixed spoiler to keep everything planted firmly to the ground. All the changes meant that - in a very un-Bugatti-like move - the company had to cut the Chiron's electronically limited top speed down to 217 mph.
The Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport costs roughly $3.3 million, and only 60 of them will be produced - scroll down to learn more.
Bugatti, the company that made its name building wildly fast supercars with seven-figure price tags, unveiled a new, unexpected version of its Chiron supercar on March 3.
Last year, Bugatti built a version of the Chiron to break the 300 mph barrier — that model was dubbed the Chiron Super Sport 300+.
But Bugatti's latest Chiron-based creation — the Chiron Pur Sport — emphasizes handling rather than outright speed. That's not something you'd expect from the company that's constantly trying to make the fastest cars around.
Bugatti made several tweaks to the Chiron to make it better suited for spirited driving in the twisties — first off, the Pur Sport weighs roughly 110 pounds less than the standard Chiron, which should make it more nimble, Bugatti says.
Bugatti shaved off weight partially by replacing the existing exhaust system with a lightweight, 3D-printed, titanium tailpipe.
The car also gets new magnesium wheels that offer roughly 35-pound weight savings.
The rims can be outfitted with optional "aero blades" that draw air away from the wheel and push it down the side of the car, helping with aerodynamics.
For better cornering, Bugatti reworked the Chiron's suspension ...
... introducing 65% firmer springs in the front and 33% stiffer springs in the rear.
Lest we forget the elephant in the room: that massive, six-foot spoiler on the car's back that produces oodles of downforce.
By fixing the wing in place rather than employing the same retractable one that's found on the standard car, Bugatti shaved 22 pounds from the Chiron Pur Sport.
Working in tandem with the rear wing to keep the Pur Sport planted to the road is a dramatic front splitter.
But don't let the handling-focused nature of the Pur Sport fool you. It's still very much a Bugatti, so it's absurdly powerful and quick.
The Pur Sport shares the same engine with the standard Chiron — a 16-cylinder, quad-turbocharged unit rated at an astonishing 1,500 horsepower and 1,181 pound-feet of torque.
In the Pur Sport, that massive powerplant allows for an electronically-limited top speed of roughly 217 mph, Bugatti says. That's not quite the 261-mph top speed of the standard Chiron, but it's blisteringly fast nonetheless.
The Chiron Pur Sport can be purchased for around $3.3 million (before Value Added Tax), but only 60 will be built. Production is scheduled to start in the latter half of 2020, so you'd better start saving up now.
