Bugatti Chiron Clocks 305 MPH thanks to Top Notch tires

Environmental regulations may be driving the auto industry to produce hybrid and electric cars, while consumer preferences require high-capacity SUVs and crossover vehicles. But for some, the raw speed always takes precedence over all other considerations. Among them are the Bugatti fans, who are undoubtedly delighted to learn that the latest vehicle in Volkswagen's ultra-luxurious branch has become the first production car to exceed 300 miles per hour.

Bugatti test driver Andy Wallace reached 304.773 mph on the Volkswagen test track at Ehra-Lessien in Germany. It's almost 40 mph faster than the last Bugatti record holder, the Veyron Super Sport (268 mph), and well above its high-speed competitor, the Koenigsegg Agera RS (278 mi / h). (It's also 287 mph than the Chiron that Bugatti showed last summer, but this one is made of Lego.)

In a statement, Bugatti chairman Stephan Winkelmann said the company was considering such a run for a long time, but now that it's done, Bugatti is tired of pushing the speedometer. In the future, he said, "we will focus on other areas".

The new Bugatti champion is a pre-production prototype of a $ 3 million Chiron special edition, which is electronically limited to 261 mph and goes from 0 to 60 mph in less than three seconds. This variant would be the new Chiron Super Sport, pursuant to the Veyron Super Sport naming convention. Bugatti has not confirmed when it will launch the car, but the Frankfurt Motor Show is a good bet.

To move the Chiron to 44 km / h, Bugatti has made a variety of changes. according to Top GearTo watch the race, Bugatti engineers extended the rear of the car by about 10 inches to reduce drag and used a laser measurement system to regulate the ride height. They used a pair of stacked exhaust pipes to steer the exhaust gases away from the base of the car, improving aerodynamics. (Similar exhaust pipes are visible on the new $ 9 million Bugatti Centodieci, another variant of the Chiron.) They replaced the adjustable rear wing with a fixed-position model, Top Gear reports, added a roll bar and raised the power to 1,578 against 1,479 for the base model.

The tires have not been announced yet: tires: at a certain threshold, the rubber can not grasp the asphalt properly, which limits the speed of the car. To reach 305 mph, the Chiron tires had to resist 5,300 G by turning 68 times per second. Michelin has therefore made the car a special set of rubbers, with reinforced steel belts retaining everything. In a race on a test stand, the tires held it together at 318 mph, and the engineers passed x-rays to check their appearance before attaching them to the car.