Video: $6.5 million Bugatti Bolide hypercar hits the race track

French luxury car-maker Bugatti has released a new video of the Bolide – an even more extreme version of its Chiron hypercar with different bodywork – before customer deliveries of the race track-only monster begin in 2024.

First revealed in 2020, the Bolide is Bugatti’s wildest hypercar to date – with a claimed 1177kW and 1600Nm from its 8.0-litre, quad-turbocharged W16 engine.

In a video uploaded to YouTube, the French company showed off the Bolide testing on an open airfield, with its exposed carbon-fibre body showcasing its radical aerodynamic elements.

Unlike the Chiron upon which it is based, the Bugatti Bolide has been designed and developed exclusively for the race track, though not for any particular racing series as it does not meet the strict safety and design requirements of most global competitions.

Bugatti claims the Bolide can generate almost three tonnes of downforce – or twice its 1450kg kerb weight – at its 500km/h-plus claimed top speed, while its slick racing tyres are said to allow it to generate up to 2.5G of lateral force around corners.

The company has made a number of bold claims since the Bolide was revealed in 2020 – all of which have been based on simulation programs.

Bugatti claims the Bolide could achieve a ‘theoretical’ lap time of five minutes and 23.1 seconds around the Nürburgring Nordschleife race track – just four seconds slower than the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo racing prototype, but about 72 seconds faster than the production car record-holding AMG One.

Around the Le Mans ‘Circuit de la Sarthe’ and its long straights, Bugatti believes the Bolide could go seven seconds faster than the Toyota TS050 race car, which currently holds the qualifying record of three minutes and 15.3 seconds.

Production of the Bugatti Bolide is limited to 40 examples, priced from approximately €4 million each – equivalent to $6.5 million in Australian currency.