Bugatti's Super Sport Legends: EB 110 | Veyron | Chiron

Recently updated on December 25, 2022 at 09:02 am

Extremely fast and very comfortable. With the Chiron Super Sport 300+¹ Bugatti is redefining luxury hyper sports cars. Once again. The French luxury car manufacturer designed its first Super Sport around 90 years ago: the Type 55 - created by the then still young Jean Bugatti. The other three models EB 110 Super Sport, Veyron 16.4 Super Sport and Chiron Super Sport 300+ set new touchstones in the decades of their appearance. The three Bugatti drivers Loris Bicocchi, Pierre-Henri Raphanel and Andy Wallace played a key role in this success. They met at the Bugatti headquarters in Molsheim and reminisced.

The Bugatti Type 55 Super Sport

The Type 55 is the only Super Sport from the Ettore Bugatti era. Its turbocharged 2,3-liter 8-cylinder in-line engine helped the vehicle to achieve top speeds that had never been achieved before. Its shape is also elegant, which Bugatti historian Jonathan Wood raves about: The horseshoe-shaped grille “fits in perfect visual harmony with the gracefully balanced side line that extends over the entire length of the car ... The flowing fenders make the vehicle look exceptionally elegant, the low entry (initially there were no doors) ensures comfort ”. Jean Bugatti introduced a new two-tone color scheme for this model, which inspired Bugatti in 2010 to create the horizontal color split that was offered for the first time for the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport.

The first Type 55 Super Sport was completed 90 years ago for the Paris Motor Show in 1931. Customers and the media especially praise the top speed, acceleration and good road holding of the Type 55. In its July 1932 issue, the widespread magazine “Motorsport” points out that the Type 55 accelerates almost twice as fast as the Type, which is praised for its agility 43. "The roadholding corresponds to the usual high Bugatti standards, cornering is effortless, and if a curve is taken too quickly, the Type 55 seems to correct the error independently without the driver's involvement." The magazine's editors succeeded, " to reach a top speed of over 180 km / h. It feels like "gliding in a fast airplane, with no noise other than the rustling of the wind," the report says. Only 38 Type 55 vehicles were built. Its rarity makes it an even more popular collector's item today.

“With the Type 55, Bugatti produced its first Super Sport and thus certainly the ultimate grand tourisme of its time. With its combination of comfort and sheer performance, but also its uncomplicated drivability, the vehicle is way ahead of its time, ”says Luigi Galli, Specialist Heritage & Certification at Bugatti. "With this, Bugatti took comfort to a new level 90 years ago and defined a new type of vehicle."

Loris Bicocchi and the Bugatti EB 110 Super Sport

“I am still amazed at how modern the EB 110 SS is today. Direct, to the point, easy and damn fast. It lies well on the road and offers a high level of grip, ”enthuses the gifted test driver Loris Bicocchi, who helped develop the EB 110 from the ground up at the Bugatti plant in Campogalliano in the early 90s. “The first prototypes had the code names A1, A2, A5 and still had an aluminum chassis. Fortunately, the decision was then made to switch to carbon, which made the EB 110 the first production car with a partially carbon fiber body. "

The extremely light monocoque made of pure carbon only weighs 125 kilograms. Aluminum and carbon are used for the body, the wheels are cast from magnesium, and the screws are made from titanium. It is powered by a V12 engine with four turbochargers that develops up to 610 hp. The power is distributed to all four wheels. A manual six-speed gearbox, all-wheel viscous lock and limited slip differential at the rear ensure quick drive and control of the fast vehicle.

“Despite the immense power of over 600 hp, the EB 110 is extremely easy to control and balance. The chassis is agile, the steering is direct, and the EB 110 also offers a lot of comfort, even for longer journeys, ”says Loris Bicocchi, who spent practically every day in this car from 1990 to 1995. “It was the best time of my life,” he says looking back.

In fact, it developed the best super sports car of the early 1990s: the EB 110 plays in a new league and breaks a series of speed records: 351 km / h in Nardó, 296 km / h on ice, 342,7 km / h with CNG and from 0 to 100 km / h in 3,26 seconds.

Between 1993 and 1995, around 96 of the EB 110 GT and the lighter and more powerful variant 39 EB 110 Super Sport with 610 hp were produced in the factory.

Pierre-Henri Raphanel and the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport

“I will always associate a very special moment in my life with the Veyron Super Sport. I still remember very well that I didn't sleep well the night before my record run. But when I woke up at 4:27 am, I took that as a sign ... and the rest is history, "says Pierre-Henri Raphanel, Bugatti's Pilote Officiel, multiple participant in the Le Mans 24-hour race and long-time Guinness book author Record holder. In June 2010 he set the speed record for street-legal series sports cars in a Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, with an average speed of 431,072 km / h: the outward journey is 434,211 km / h, the run in the opposite direction is still 427,933 km / h.

When the Veyron 16.4. Comes on the market in 2005, Bugatti is once again writing automotive history. “I was lucky enough to be Bugatti's first Pilote Officiel and to introduce customers and the media to this hyper sports car. Their reactions were incredible, they felt like they were on a roller coaster on wheels, as one medium put it, ”remembers Raphanel. The Veyron heralds a new era in the next millennium and catapults super sports cars into another dimension. The newly developed 8,0-liter W16 engine initially developed 1.001 hp and 1.250 Newton meters of torque. This means that the Coupé can accelerate from 2,5 to 0 km / h in 100 seconds and reach 7,3 km / h in 200 seconds. All-wheel drive puts all the power on the road.

“To improve such a masterpiece and to achieve such unbelievable increases as Bugatti did with the Veyron 16.4. Did great sport was considered unthinkable at the time, ”says Raphanel. The powerful drivetrain is increased to an incredible 1.200 hp and enables the Coupé to accelerate from standstill to 6,7 km / h in just 200 seconds, at a regulated top speed of 415 km / h. “It's still an extraordinary vehicle. In addition to the unbelievable performance, its perfection lies in the ease of driving and the high-quality workmanship, ”enthuses the world record driver. Only 450 Veyron will be built in the factory studio in Molsheim by 2015, including 48 Veyron 16.4 Super Sports.

Andy Wallace and the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+

“When I first heard about the idea that I should break the 'sound barrier' of 300 mph with the Chiron Super Sport, I was very nervous. However, this nervousness decreased with each passing day. Because the Bugatti engineers managed to implement my feedback 1: 1, and so we were able to keep optimizing the car. Today the Chiron Super Sport 300+ drives very precisely and easily, even at speeds of over 400 km / h. And after 8 hours in the car, you still have the feeling of sitting in a comfortable limousine, ”says Bugatti's Pilote Officiel Andy Wallace, describing his experience with the Chiron Super Sport 300+.

In September 2019 the time had come. Andy Wallace is the first driver to break the 300 mph mark in a Chiron Super Sport 300+. It drives 304,773 mph (490,484 km/h). "The acceleration of a Chiron² cannot be compared to anything else. With the even more powerful Chiron Super Sport 300+, the incredible boost never seems to end. It's always moving forward, ”said Wallace.

With the Chiron, Bugatti will be introducing a completely redeveloped hyper sports car from 2016. The 8,0-liter W16 engine now delivers at least 1.500 hp and 1.600 Newton meters of torque. With 1.176 kW / 1.600 PS, the Chiron Super Sport 300+ outperforms the Chiron by another 100 PS, making it the most powerful Bugatti ever built. Visually, the Chiron Super Sport 300+ differs mainly from the Chiron in its elongated and aerodynamically optimized body, which is designed for extremely high speeds of over 420 km / h. The special edition Super Sport 300+ in a number of 30 pieces consists of deep black carbon fiber and two racing stripes in orange, which run from back to front over the entire body of the hyper sports car.

“The Veyron was in a class of its own and still drives fantastic today. The Chiron has managed to penetrate completely new physical dimensions and push the limits of what is technically feasible. It is unbelievable how Bugatti drives the fastest and most luxurious automobiles to such perfection and to such high performance, ”explains Andy Wallace.

The former racing driver and Le Mans winner has been presenting the latest Bugattis to potential buyers since 2011; since 2015 he has also been supporting the development team. He has already covered more than 100.000 kilometers in the luxury hyper sports car from Molsheim and has given the engineers regular feedback. In his eyes, the Chiron Super Sport 300+ is more than just the fastest production sports car in the world. It is evidence of technical refinements, a very high quality of workmanship and great attention to detail - and it will not be the last super sport in Bugatti's long history.

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Super Sport Legends EB 110 | Veyron | Chiron
Photo credit: Bugatti

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