On August 2, 2019, Le Mans winner Andy Wallace strapped himself into a stripped-out Bugatti Chiron at the Volkswagen Group's Ehra-Lessien test track in Germany and did something no production car had ever done before. He hit 304.773 mph — smashing through the mythical 300 mph barrier and writing his name into automotive history forever. The Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ is the roadgoing version of that record-breaking machine.
Only 30 were ever built. All sold out before the first delivery. Each priced at $3.9 million. This is the car that made Bugatti declare it would never chase speed records again — because there was nothing left to prove.
The Record Run
The road to 300 mph was anything but smooth. The Bugatti team spent days at Ehra-Lessien, a 13-mile straight owned by the Volkswagen Group, pushing the prototype closer and closer to the barrier. On the fourth day, they reached 299.8 mph — agonizingly close but not enough. Wallace described the experience of finding a surface change in the track the team nicknamed "the jump" — a moment at 300 mph where the car briefly went light. The next morning, they went again.
The engine — Bugatti's legendary 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W16, internally nicknamed "Thor" — was tuned to deliver 1,578 horsepower and paired with longer seventh-gear ratios. The body was stretched with an extended tail section, reminiscent of McLaren's Longtail philosophy, to reduce drag and stabilize airflow at extreme velocities. Dallara, the Italian constructor that builds the Chiron's body, developed the aerodynamic package. Michelin created bespoke Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, each one X-rayed before being approved for the run — at 304 mph, the tires rotate over 4,100 times per minute.
From Record Breaker to Road Car
The Super Sport 300+ takes everything that made the record car special and wraps it in a road-legal package. The same 1,578 hp W16 engine. The same extended longtail bodywork. The same signature livery — naked carbon fiber with burning orange racing stripes that have become the car's unmistakable identity.
What changes? The full roll cage is gone. The passenger seat returns — in the record car, it had been replaced by laptops and GPS data-logging equipment. The ride height goes back to standard, and an electronic speed limiter is fitted, though Bugatti never publicly confirmed what it was set to. For owners brave enough, Bugatti offered the option to spec a roll cage, remove the limiter, and even granted access to the Ehra-Lessien test track itself.
"Bugatti was the first to exceed 300 mph. Its name will go down in the history books, and it will stay that way forever." — Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti
The End of an Era
After the record, Bugatti made a stunning announcement: the company would permanently withdraw from the competition to produce the fastest production car in the world. Not because they couldn't go faster — but because there was simply no point. They had climbed the mountain, planted the flag, and decided to walk away on top.
The Chiron Super Sport 300+ represents the absolute peak of the internal combustion hypercar era. An 8-liter, 16-cylinder, four-turbocharged engine producing enough force to push a car beyond 300 miles per hour on road-legal tires. The W16 engine — a Bugatti hallmark since the Veyron — has since been retired with the end of the Chiron production run, replaced by a new V16 for the Bugatti Tourbillon. But nothing will erase what it achieved.
The Batman Garage Verdict
There are fast cars, there are hypercars, and then there is the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+. A machine that exists in a category of one — the car that proved 300 mph was not just possible, but achievable with a passenger seat and leather interior. Black carbon fiber, orange war paint, and the most powerful production engine ever fitted to a road car. Bruce Wayne wouldn't just want one. He'd want the original record car, complete with bug splatter from Ehra-Lessien.
Only 30 exist. All delivered. All accounted for. If one ever comes up for sale, it won't just be a car transaction — it will be the acquisition of a piece of automotive history that can never be repeated. The Dark Knight salutes the mighty W16.
