Bugatti owners unleash 400km/h hypercars on space shuttle runway

French car-maker Bugatti has given 18 owners of its luxury hypercars the experience of a lifetime – allowing them to legally go faster than 400km/h on the former NASA space shuttle runway in Florida.

Held at the Kennedy Space Centre’s Launch and Landing Facility – which served as the final stop for NASA’s space shuttles from 1979 to 2011 – the ‘Bugatti 400 Drive’ took place in April 2023 for certain customers of the French brand from around the world.

The goal for the 18 Bugatti owners was to reach at least 400km/h on the 3.0-mile (4.8-kilometre) runway in a fleet of Chiron hypercars – a target which they all met, and subsequently passed.

Bugatti claims all 18 customers reached up to 412 km/h – just 8km/h shy of the Chiron’s 420km/h top speed – with each participant later receiving a tailored Bugatti race suit and helmet inscribed with the highest speed they achieved.

In a video posted to YouTube, Bugatti showed off the eye-watering speeds the hypercars can achieve when given enough space to accelerate and then slow down again.

The Bugatti Chiron set the production car record for the fastest 0-400-0km/h time in 2017, doing so in 41.96 seconds on a 3.2-kilometre closed circuit – a feat made possible by its its 1117kW/1600Nm 8.0-litre W16 engine.

It’s not the first time a civilian has taken a Chiron close to its claimed top speed, but it is so far the only time Bugatti has enabled its owners to do so legally.

Last year, Czech billionaire Radim Passer hit 416km/h while driving his Bugatti Chiron on a speed-unlimited stretch of Germany’s autobahn highway.

While the stunt drew both criticism and praise after being uploaded to YouTube, German prosecutors dropped their attempts to charge the businessman, finding he had not violated any laws.