Bugatti recently strapped its Chiron to a dynamometer and the results put to rest any doubts of the horsepower ratings of the company's hypercars.
The particular version used in the test is the Chiron Super Sport, whose official output is 1,578 hp, or 1,600 ps in the metric horsepower figures Bugatti uses.
Following the dyno run, Bugatti registered a peak output from the car's 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W-16 engine of 1,618 ps, which translates to 1,596 hp, or 18 hp more than the car's official rating.
The output at the wheels was measured at 1,301 ps, which is equivalent to 1,282 hp. The parasitic losses of the drivetrain here measure close to 20%, which is high but not unreasonable for a car with a complex transmission and all-wheel-drive system like the Chiron Super Sport.
Bugatti Chiron Super Sport dynamometer testing
Dyno tests are notorious for producing results which can vary based on a number of factors including the design of the dyno itself, which is why we've seen higher results achieved from regular Chirons during dyno testing. To achieve results close to what owners can expect in the real world, Bugatti used a special type of dyno designed for high-performance cars with all-wheel drive.
Here, each wheel sits on one large roller instead of between two small rollers like on most dynos. According to Bugatti, because each wheel has only one touchpoint, which is the case when a car is driving on a road surface, the results are more accurate.
The dyno can be adjusted to suit different wheelbases, and with maximum braking power of 1,609 hp per roller, speeds of almost 300 mph can be simulated. At such speeds, a car would be faced with a lot of high-speed wind. As a result, the dyno also features a huge fan with a rotor measuring 6.33 feet in diameter. It's able to shift approximately 10.5 million cubic feet of air per hour.
Unveiled in 2021, the Chiron Super Sport is the speed-limited version of the Chiron Super Sport 300+ which in 2019 managed to hit 304.773 mph at Volkswagen Group's Ehra Lessien test track in Germany. The Chiron Super Sport's top speed is capped at 273 mph, and compared to the 300+ version, the car also features added luxury and a more forgiving chassis. Production of the Chiron Super Sport started at Bugatti's Molsheim plant in France in April. The original price for one was set at 3.2 million euros (approximately $3.36 million).
