# Bugatti Chiron tops 300 mph **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 4, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugatti-chiron-tops-300-mph/839689 "2019-09-04T15:31:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugatti-chiron-tops-300-mph/839689/1 "2019-09-04T15:31:27Z")
[Bugatti](https://www.popsci.com/bugatti-chiron-300-miles-per-hour-speed-record/) once again holds the record for fastest production car in the world, with a record run in August of a modified Chiron that reached 304.773 mph, 490.5 kph. > [@](#): > > Bugatti’s 1,500-horsepower Chiron hypercar has reclaimed the world speed record for production cars with a run of 304.773 mph, making the French luxury marque the first to top 300 mph in a production model. > > The Chiron seemed destined to be the world’s first production car to top 300 mph when it was introduced as the replacement for the Veyron. After all, that car held the record of 267.8 mph, and the Chiron is more powerful. > > Especially after Swedish rival Koenigsegg wrested the record away in 2017 with a run of 284 mph in that company’s Agera RS. There are lots of details and a video at the link. Interestingly, they don’t seem to have done two runs in opposite directions, which is the standard practice for land speed records. The test driver, Andy Wallace (who has won LeMans and earned previous records), says, > [@Andy Wallace](#): > > “ **I think most people have been 150 mph at some time during their life** ,” said Wallace, perhaps optimistically. “If you then add just 30 to make it 180 mph, that’s a whole different world. Then when you get to 200, it’s a lot faster than 180. But when you’re talking about 300, it’s a massive, massive step.” (Emphasis mine.) I don’t know about you, but I’ve never driven at 150 mph, even though [I drove cars on race tracks for 12 years](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=369540&highlight=Performance). But I have gotten as high as 130 mph in my own car (2003 Nissan 350Z) and on one occasion took two laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a two-seater IndyCar that got up to 180 mph. (The driver was Davey Hamilton, who ran the Indianapolis 500 eleven times.) The difference between 130 and 180 was light years beyond anything I’ve experienced in any of my other track driving! Although that was mainly down to the G forces in the turns, which were incredible! Probably one of the most memorable things I’ve done in a car. So I have a faint glimmer of what Wallace is saying about going up to 300 mph, although for the most part, he wasn’t doing any significant cornering: his record run was on a 5.5-mile straight with banked turns at each end that were only used for acceleration and deceleration. Even so, it’s an amazing achievement. The report says they had “the equivalent of the world’s largest lint roller to clean the track surface of any stones or grit prior to the run.” Bugatti says that this is the end of their quest for speed records. “‘In future we will focus on other areas’ explained Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti.” ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugatti-chiron-tops-300-mph/839689/2 "2019-09-04T19:35:02Z")
The video of the event is actually rather non-exciting simply because the car is moving so fast that it doesn’t seem very interesting/notable. I would have appreciated seeing the tach and the volume of fuel being consumed in real time. It is an incredible achievement and the fact that the video isn’t more exciting demonstrates the power of the engine as well as the reliability of the car. The 304mph speed is notable in being not 100 mph slower than the rocket car crash last week that killed Jessi Combs. (but now in reading more on that crash, it isn’t clear at what speed she was going.) ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugatti-chiron-tops-300-mph/839689/3 "2019-09-04T20:26:46Z")
I cruise at 140-160mph on my daily work commute. I can definitely attest to the huge difference at 180+mph. I occassionally go as fast as 170-180, and its not at all the same as the difference between 60 and 80. Traffic has never allowed me to break the 200 barrier, though the car is capable. I have however gone over 190mph. I couldnt imagine doing 300. I’d love to if given the chance, though. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugatti-chiron-tops-300-mph/839689/4 "2019-09-04T20:38:19Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > I cruise at 140-160mph on my daily work commute. I can definitely attest to the huge difference at 180+mph. I occassionally go as fast as 170-180, and its not at all the same as the difference between 60 and 80. Traffic has never allowed me to break the 200 barrier, though the car is capable. I have however gone over 190mph. I couldnt imagine doing 300. I’d love to if given the chance, though. If I might ask-What are you [del]piloting[/del]driving? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugatti-chiron-tops-300-mph/839689/5 "2019-09-04T21:03:47Z")
Finally! Just what I’ve needed! A way to spend a shit ton of money on something i can never really enjoy. Sweet! I plan on parking mine in a garage, putting a tarp on it and telling people about how fast it is! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugatti-chiron-tops-300-mph/839689/6 "2019-09-04T21:58:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If I might ask-What are you [del]piloting[/del]driving? Seconded! Merc? Bimmer? > [@Ambivalid](#): > > Finally! Just what I’ve needed! A way to spend a shit ton of money on something i can never really enjoy. Sweet! I plan on parking mine in a garage, putting a tarp on it and telling people about how fast it is! That’s pretty much what I said about the “cheaper” Veyron in [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=876691). > [@me](#): > > That said, although it represented an absolute pinnacle of engineering excellence, its only function now, especially for someone who isn’t a skilled racing driver, is as a sign of conspicuous consumption. It’s useless as a daily driver in the real world for reasons others have mentioned here, and even if you wanted to drive it on the track, there are plenty of cars that can outperform it on a road course for a tiny fraction of the price. I doubt that there’s anywhere east of the Mississippi that you could legally take it up to 250+. It takes several miles of nearly straight road to get up to that speed, and once you get there you can only maintain it for a few seconds before you run out of fuel. > > I’ve driven sports cars on racetracks and ordinary cars in New York City. If I were rich enough to buy a Veyron, I wouldn’t, because there are scores of other cars that are more fun to drive and cost much less. If I were rich and crazy enough to buy one, I would never dream of driving it home from a showroom in Manhattan, for the same reason I wouldn’t buy a Ming vase downtown and carry it home on the subway. I would have had the vase delivered to my house, and the car delivered to the motor sports country club where I drive and garage all my track cars. > > IMHO, [Tracy] Morgan was an idiot to buy the car and a bigger idiot to even consider driving it in the city. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugatti-chiron-tops-300-mph/839689/7 "2019-09-04T22:39:44Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If I might ask-What are you [del]piloting[/del]driving? 2018 Charger HellCat.