Bugatti - Back at it again

Ever since Bugatti fell into German ownership back in 1998 they have been known for their extremely high top speed. Bugatti were first to pass the 400 km/h-barrier with the Veyron 16:4, they then took the record for the highest speed achieved in an open top car with the Grand Sport Vitesse. Both records were stolen by others but if I would have had the chance to do a 400+ run in any of the cars that have since done it, I’d go for a Bugatti without a shadow of a doubt. Their cars are often described and Bentleys with outrageous performance. Such is the quality of a Bugatti. But that comes at a cost. When the total run of 450 Veyrons were done, Bugatti had lost around 6 million euros per car sold just because of the galactic investment needed to achieve their goals. But no worry for VAG, just sell a few Golf, A3 or Ibizas and that bill is soon forgotten. The torch was then left in the hands of another car baring the name of a famous racing driver, the Bugatti Chiron. It was a heavily reworked Veyron sharing its gearbox and the famous quad-turbo W16 engine. But where the Veyron got 1200 hp in the fastest versions, the Chiron started out with 1500. The top of the range model was the Chiron Super Sport with 1600 hp. Just like with the Veyron Super Sport Bugatti took the Chiron Super Sport to the Ehra-Lessien test track to see what it could do. Of course another record was set. This time they were first to pass 300 mph in a series produced road-legal car. That record was so extreme that even Bugatti themselves said ”ok, let’s take a chill pill guys.” No more records would be pursued. The risk vs reward was just too big.But over the past few years competitors like Hennessey, Koenisegg and others have been pushing for an even more ”important” goal. You see back in 2019 when Bugatti set the Chiron Super Sport free at Ehra-Lessein they failed to do a critical thing. To run it both ways. Why is this such a big deal you might ask? Well because in order to be considered the true record holder of this title you must run the car in both directions and then calculate the average top speed. For example if you run one way you can have a tail wind to push you forward, or the road itself might not be completely flat so you can gain speed in one direction very slightly. So the Chiron SS record is more like a ”record” because of this. Now that Mate Rimac has stepped in the aim is once again to do a proper two-way average record attempt. But just like with Koenigsegg and Hennessy they all suffer from the same problem. The speeds they can achieve are so great that the only thing holding them back now is the rubber. Once a proper tyre is invented that can guarantee to hold under these kinds of loads then the attempts will follow. And in the case of the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut, the Hennessey Venom F5 and Bugatti Tourbillion, all of them can in simulations go well past 300 mph. The race here will most likely be who can do it first? So who would you bet your money on in this triple-header? Comment below.