The 1500HP Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport Is All About That Handling

Bugatti builds some of the fastest cars on the planet, like the $3 million Bugatti Chiron, which is capable of hitting 260 mph. They even built a limited-edition Chiron Super Sport 300+ that was the first production car to break the 300-mph mark.

While crazy top speeds are cool for bragging rights, they’re not really useful anywhere except on the Autobahn. Customers told Bugatti they wanted a variant that was more driver focused, able to tackle the most demanding corners, tracks, and twisting back roads.

The folks at Molsheim, France got to work, and the Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport is the result of these efforts. The Chiron Pur Sport features the same 1,500 horsepower quad-turbocharged W-16 engine as the standard Chiron, but the redline has been increased to 6900 rpm. In addition, Bugatti developed a new transmission for even better acceleration. The gears are 15% closer together now to enable shorter gear jumps and also benefit performance.

Bugatti also put the Chiron Pur Sport on a diet, reducing weight by 110-pounds, thanks in part to a lightweight titanium exhaust, liberal use of Alcantara in the interior, and a large fixed rear spoiler (which negates the need for the hydraulic actuators that articulate the rear spoiler on the standard Chiron). A new set of magnesium wheels also drops 35 pounds of unsprung mass with specialized rings called “aero blades,” designed to evacuate turbulent air near the wheel and channel it down the side of the vehicle to the large rear diffuser.

Perhaps the greatest change to the Chiron Pur Sport is to its suspension, sporting 65% stiffer springs at the front end and 33% at the rear, new dampers with a firmer setting, new bushings, and additional carbon anti-roll bars in the front and rear. Coupled with the new Michelin Sport Cup 2R tires designed specifically for the Pur Sport, this Chiron should handle like nobody’s business, providing quicker and more direct steering reactions, profound precision, and better grip in corners, even at high speeds.

Visually, the Chiron Pur Sport differs from other Chiron models, with very wide air inlets and an enlarged horseshoe on a longer splitter. The clamshell lines run through the air inlets of the front wings. Bugatti offers the Chiron Pur Sport with an optional split paintwork design. Here, the bottom part of the vehicle is finished in exposed carbon, which makes the car seem flatter visually. The back end is dominated by a static rear spoiler and a larger diffuser. And of course, there’s that massive 74.8-inch fixed rear spoiler that’s hard to miss.

Personally, I think the Chiron Pur Sport might just be my favorite Bugatti model to date, and I can definitely appreciate the more practical upgrades to the car versus chasing an ever-useless top speed record, bragging rights be damned. Plus it just looks damn good, with the aggressive front splitter, exposed carbon fiber, and massive new wing!

The Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport goes into production in the second half of 2020. Only 60 cars will be built, at a price of around $3.6 million. Like the old saying goes, “Speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?”

What do you think of the Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport?