These details make the French supercar marque even more amazing in our book
We all know the elemental facts about hypercar maker Bugatti. It doesn’t sell anything for less than two commas. It’s built one of the only cars to ever officially break the 483 km/hr barrier—although it was a slightly modified, “near-production” Chiron that achieved that feat—along with one of the most expensive new vehicles of all time, the La Voiture Noire. Its Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe is arguably the most beautiful car ever built and, with a mere three left in existence, demonstrably one of the most expensive at US$40 million a piece. With the brand on the verge of a new era after merging with Croatian EV maker Rimac in 2021, there’s no bad time to see just how much you really know about Bugatti.
Bugatti built trains during the 1930s, including one that was the world’s fastest
The Bugatti name may be mainly associated with hypercars in 2022, but it has graced other products over the years, including airplane motors and, more recently, pool tables. The company also spent time during the 1930s working on trains, or, as it liked to call them, autorails. These vehicles may have never been used widely, but they were still impressive, setting multiple speed records between 1933 and 1936.
The Bugatti factory has narrowly avoided burning down—twice
Founded by Ettore Bugatti in Molsheim, France, Bugatti has been pushing the boundaries of physics and engine capabilities in pursuit of speed since 1909. In 1939, one of its early engines started a sizable fire due to a testing explosion. Reportedly, the surrounding area was in peril of being engulfed as well. In 2001, when testing the first Veyron engine, that 1,200 hp mill allegedly generated enough heat that the factory building was in danger of being scorched.
Bugatti has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice
We all know that Bugatti likes to show off on the test track, but it also used to do the same on the race track. Although the brand hasn’t entered in any major competitions for quite some time, it used to. In fact, Bugatti was a force in racing during the ’20s to ’30s. A privately entered Bugatti won the very first Monaco Grand Prix in 1929, but the marque’s greatest triumphs came at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where cars driven by Jean-Pierre Wimille were victorious in 1937 (along with co-driver Robert Benoist) and 1939 (Pierre Veyron—more on him in a bit).
Bugatti briefly produced a saloon called the EB 112 in the mid-’90s
Since being brought back from the dead by Italian businessman Romano Artioli in the late ’80s, almost all of Bugatti’s effort and resources have gone toward the development of boundary-pushing hypercars. We say almost, though, because the brand briefly produced a saloon called the EB 112 before it was purchased by Volkswagen Auto Group in 1998. Why is the sedan all but forgotten at this point, you may ask? Because the brand only ever built three examples of the vehicle. On the rare occasion one of those hits the market, you can expect it to sell for in excess of US$1 million.
The Veyron was a giant pipe dream that nearly didn’t come to fruition
When Volkswagen’s Ferdinand Piech (grandson of famed Ferdinand Porsche) bought Bugatti back in the late 1990s, he had already been dreaming of a 1,000 hp super machine. His engineers had previously told him this would not be possible. Along came the Bugatti platform and his vision was realized several years later when the Veyron officially launched in 2005.
The Veyron requires 10 radiators to keep its quad-turbocharged W-16 engine functioning
Three radiators handle the engine, while another trio tackles the air-to-liquid intercoolers: a separate unit for the air-conditioning, another specifically modulates the engine oil, and yet another cools the transmission oil. One final radiator is dedicated to the differential oil. Each radiator takes 15 hours to construct, meaning the whole shebang takes nearly four weeks to complete the requisite 150 hours of labor.
A full-speed, 402-km/hr run in the Veyron would only last 15 minutes and would cost more than US$42,000
Technically, you’d only make it 12 minutes, because the 26.4-gallon fuel tank would be empty at that point. However, even if you had enough road—the Veyron can 407 km/hr, meaning it covers 6.78 kilometres a minute. You would need 81.4 kilometres of road to keep your foot buried for 12 minutes. But the Veyron’s tires wouldn’t last. They’re only good enough for running at 402 km/hr for about 15 minutes. After that, Bugatti would need to swap them for a new set, which reportedly will set you back a whopping US$42,000.
Bugatti lost a heap of money making the Veyron, reportedly about US$6 million per unit
The total cost to produce the Veyron’s 450 examples amounted to about US$1.62 billion, the bulk of which was research and development. Even selling some special versions of the Veyron for as much as US$3 million per car couldn’t help recoup those ginormous losses.
“Veyron” was a real, pedigreed race driver
It’s not just a cool-sounding name drummed up by marketers around a whiteboard. Pierre Veyron was a champion race driver between 1933 and 1953, notching plenty of victories, including several for Bugatti (most notably the 1939 24 Hours of Le Mans where he piloted the Type 57S with Jean-Pierre Wimille). Veyron became a test-driver for Bugatti in 1932.
The 500-unit Chiron production run sold out in just five years
The hypercar, by definition, is exclusive. This is especially true of Bugattis, though. In fact, the brand has only built two series production models, the Veyron and Chiron, since it was acquired by Volkswagen AG in 1998, both of which were produced in very limited numbers. Only 450 Veyrons were built during the 10 years it was in production. Amazingly, the Chiron sold through its entire production run, which will include 50 more examples than its predecessor, in half that time.