Bugatti released a video a few days ago. If you are reading this article in 2050, the thing to note is that humankind raced fighter jets with passenger vehicles. So, Bugatti decided to show how fast its Chiron Sport is against a fighter jet, as you might be expecting. What better fit for this race than a Dassault Rafale?
Before I criticize the video, let’s note that the Bugatti Chiron Sport is powered by an 8-liter quad-turbo W16 engine (designed in the late 1990s). This generates 1,500 PS and 1,600 nm of torque. The engine is coupled with a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox delivering power to an all-wheel drive system, enabling the Chiron Sport to reach 420 km/h. It is a fast car, and you would never be able to experience its full potential.
The unique characteristics of the Chiron Sport are the ‘Les Légendes du Ciel’ exclusive edition, which is limited to twenty vehicles. All of these are probably gone now.
Bugatti pays homage to the unique and fruitful relationship between its founder and France’s legendary pilots and race car drivers, including Louis Blériot, Roland Garros, Robert Benoist, Bartolomeo Costantini, and Albert Divo.
Honestly, this is an excellent project from Bugatti, honoring its aviation heritage, and I liked it.
However, using a Dassault Rafale Marine fighter jet with 5,727 PS to show that the Chiron Sport is faster on the ground is a bit too much of a throwback to the 2000s. The Tesla Model S would also probably outpace a Dassault Rafale, as well as many other vehicles, because airplanes don’t move their vehicles for propulsion; they use compressed air instead. Therefore, planes can’t accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h as quickly as a car.
Videos like this used to be impressive ten or fifteen years ago, back when Nokia was the best phone manufacturer. The world has changed since then; sadly, you can’t impress people with these PR exercises. There are more creative ways to present an exclusive edition compared to this.
I didn’t write this article to moan about video production. Bugatti is a great brand that develops unique vehicles, and I would like to see them go forward in every direction.
Images // Bugatti