We’re pretty sure that motoring enthusiasts would still recall Richard Hammond of the BBC’s motoring extravaganza Top Gear racing a Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon jet fighter with a Bugatti Veyron back in 2007… But it seems Bugatti is not quite done yet picking such ridiculously uneven fights!
This time around, however, it’s the turn of Bugatti’s Chiron Sport ‘Les Légendes du Ciel’ to do the same. It’s a special edition of the already outstanding car, with only 20 examples built to celebrate Ettore Bugatti’s involvement in French aviation. It also pays homage to some of the early Bugatti race drivers who flew for the French Air Force in the early 1900s.
And what of its winged contender? Well, how about picking on a French Navy Dassault Rafale Marine for size this time around then? So, essentially, it’s a supercar costing 2.88 million euros (around RM14.6 million), against a jet fighter with a 98-million-euro (about RM495 million) price tag!
The hyper sports car’s 1,480bhp went up against 15,252Nm of thrust coming from the naval jet. And up front, two elite professionals occupied the cockpits – Bugatti’s ‘pilote officiel’ Pierre-Henri Raphanel in the Chiron Sport and frigate captain Etienne in the Rafale Marine. The two teams prepared for weeks for this event that took place just recently on May 20th at the airstrip of naval base in Landivisiau, in the north-west France.
And what a race it was! Initially, the special edition Chiron Sport manages to get the jump on the plane as expected, but once the jet’s afterburners kick in, however, the car is left trailing, just like how Hammond was in the earlier, historic race.
This time around, the Bugatti Chiron Sport accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.4 seconds and to 200 km/h in 6.1 seconds. It takes 13.1 seconds to break a speed of 300 km/h and 32.6 seconds to accelerate to 400 km/h. Meanwhile, pilot Etienne and the Rafale Marine hit 165 km/h after just 150 meters and 210 km/h after 250 meters. He takes off after 450 meters at around 260 km/h.
So, the Rafale Marine overtook the Chiron in just under 1.6 km from the start line! But in the end, it’s not all about which machine could go faster…
It was also about which one could stop in the shortest bit of tarmac as well, mind you! Both car and jet are obviously kitted out with extra-special brakes. It takes the Bugatti 491 meters to come to a standstill from 400 km/h and 247 meters from a speed of 300 km/h. It travels 114 meters when decelerating from 200 to 0 km/h and 31.4 meters to get down from 100 to 0 km/h. Due to the shortness of the runway and the safety regulations, the Chiron Sport brakes at just 210 km/h and the Rafale Marine at 250 km/h!
Of course, Bugatti has gone to great lengths to link the two very different vehicles together, in some ways more tenuous than others. But perhaps the closest link would be the fact that the Rafale Marine’s brakes are developed by Safran Landing System, formerly Messier-Bugatti, which has links to the original Bugatti automobiles company.
Ah well, ‘till the next race then, eh Bugatti?
