April 21, 2021
Pure Madness
The 2021 Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport
Written by Thom Williams
Imagery courtesy of Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.
April 21, 2021
We don’t need to tell you—on its own, the name Bugatti Chiron instantly conjures a vision of speed, luxury, and excess unlike anything else in the automotive market. The scarce multi-million-dollar hypercars seem to defy the laws of physics, almost as easily as they defy the logic of supercar ownership on the chiseled and scarred roads of 21st century America. To call the Chiron “fast” is to call a dog a mammal; yes, it’s obviously painfully fast, but it’s so much more. The Chiron Pur Sport, in essence, is distilled dynamics, raw power, and a focus on shredding through your favorite canyon roads like no one (even the highway patrolman) is watching.
On the topic of fast, the numbers paint a misleading picture. Yes, the Bugatti Chrion Pur Sport can hit 217.5 mph, which is a lot by some standards, but that’s also 43mph more than the standard Chiron and 86 mph lower than the absolute lunacy that is the Chiron Super Sport 300+. Some of you will instantly know why this is, but for those scratching their heads, allow me to explain. What has been done, is that every gear of its 7-speed twin-clutch gearbox has been shortened. This in turn takes less torque for the engine to rev its way to the top of the gear, and in turn, faster acceleration figures. In trade, when (if) you hit the Chiron Pur Sport’s top speed, there’s plenty of engine power left, but you’re just out of gearing to keep accelerating. With 1,479 horsepower and 1,180 lb-ft of torque on tap, Bugatti has already proven that the Chiron can do top speed unlike any other, but in this form, the Pur Sport is a completely different animal.
Bugatti being Bugatti, they didn’t just reconfigure the gearbox and call it a day—that would be far too easy. The standard Chiron was handed over to the team’s chassis and driveline engineers for a proper once over, having given them the mission statement of ‘make this thing a canyon carving rocket’. Its suspension was completely reworked. Its aerodynamics and interior also saw some retuning, with the intent of shaving weight down. In total the Chrion shed 110 pounds, which isn’t a small feat. In the words of Bugatti’s R&D Chief Stefan Ellrott, you can’t drive 300 mph and be really fast around corners in the same car, and the tweaks to the Pur Sang reflect that. For example, the complex hydraulic aerodynamics control system of the Super Sport was stripped out of the Pur Sport. Due to the increased torque load on acceleration, as well as the changes in suspension geometry, Bugatti even had Michelin develop a new specialized tire specifically for the Pur Sport.
The new $3,599,000 Chiron Pur Sport, is a cunning move for Bugatti, I’ll give them that much. Since the days of the Veryon, the two things that come to mind when the name Bugatti is raised are top speed and price. Though limited in production to only 60 cars worldwide, the Pur Sang is making a compelling case to change that perspective. While we don’t doubt many of these will go to some of the eccentric collectors who already own multiple Bugatti models, it could also easily convert someone looking to level up from their current Ferrari or Lamborghini choices.
