Bugatti’s Mistral roadster has achieved a remarkable top speed of 282 mph, earning it the title of the world land speed record holder for production open-top vehicles.
This record-breaking run took place on November 9 at the ATP Automotive Testing Papenburg facility in Germany, with Bugatti’s chief test driver Andy Wallace steering the vehicle.
This newly achieved speed surpasses the previous record of 265.6 mph, which was set by Hennessey’s Venom GT Spyder in 2016. Notably, Bugatti’s Chiron Super Sport 300+ remains the fastest production car overall, having reached an astonishing 304 mph in 2019.
Wallace piloted a unique version of the Mistral, referred to as the Mistral World Record Car, to achieve this record speed. Bugatti noted that the car’s owner was present during the event.
The car commanded a price of 14 million euros (around $14.7 million), compared to the standard Mistral’s cost of 5 million euros ($5.3 million). It showcases the signature bare carbon and orange livery associated with Bugatti’s special World Record Edition vehicles, a designation given to those that have set new land speed records in the past.
Past examples of these notable editions include the Veyron Super Sport World Record Edition, Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse World Record Edition, and Chiron Super Sport 300+. The owner of the Mistral World Record Car also possesses one of each of those editions, as stated by Bugatti.
The Mistral was unveiled for the first time during the 2022 Monterey Car Week, celebrating the quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W-16 engine that first appeared in the Veyron two decades ago. Bugatti’s upcoming hypercar, the Tourbillon, is set to feature a plug-in hybrid powertrain along with a newly developed 8.3-liter V-16 engine as part of its internal combustion system.
The Mistral’s engine delivers 1,578 hp, but Bugatti has not disclosed any further performance specifications beyond indicating that it can achieve speeds exceeding the electronically limited 261 mph of the Chiron, which is the platform the Mistral is built upon.
Initially, Bugatti did not plan to develop an open-top car based on the Chiron’s platform, making the Mistral’s development more complex than that of most convertibles. Engineers had to modify the Chiron’s carbon-fiber chassis to maintain sufficient rigidity without a roof and work on aerodynamics to sustain stability at such high speeds.
Bugatti has confirmed that it will only produce 99 Mistrals, and all production slots have already been filled.
Image Source: Art Konovalov / Shutterstock
