The Bugatti Tourbillon is a timeless work of art
Meet the beacon of a new era of Bugatti under the management of Mate Rimac, the Tourbillon.
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In the last 20 years, the name Bugatti has become synonymous with record-breaking performance and pushing the limit. The Veyron famously dethroned the McLaren F1 as the fastest production car in the world in 2005. And at 1 million euros, the most expensive car as well. It had 16 cylinders conjoined in an iconic W configuration, 4 turbochargers, and 1001hp. The Veyron was truly mind-boggling when it debuted. Then came a continuation of its legacy, the Chiron, in 2016. It retained that incredible W16, and increased the power output to 1500hp. It also improved on the Veyron's top speed of 253 mph, topping out at 261 mph. The Chiron, just like the Veyron nearly a decade before it, blew people's minds. It reset all expectations of what an automobile could do. What a combustion engine could do. And that quickly became Bugatti's identity. Pushing the limits. The general public, car enthusiasts or not, associated Bugatti with the pinnacle of road car performance. But over time, things have changed. Electric sedans match Bugatti's straight-line acceleration figures to some extent. As far as speed limits are concerned, Bugatti-level performance has become more accessible and common. The relevance of a faster hypercar is gradually diminishing with time. It was time Bugatti needed a new era, and that came in the form of Mate Rimacs ownership, culminating in this car.
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Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti, said: “The development of the Bugatti Tourbillon was guided at every step by the 115 years of Bugatti history and the words of Ettore Bugatti himself. His mantras ‘If comparable it is no longer Bugatti’ and ‘Nothing is too beautiful’ were a guiding path for me personally, as well as the design and engineering teams looking to create the next exciting era in the Bugatti hyper sports car story”.
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"If comparable it is no longer Bugatti". Spine-tingling words that have defined the identity of the brand. And one of the many aspects that make the tourbillon truly unique is its engine. In place of its predecessor's W16 is a meter-long crankshaft, 1000 horsepower, naturally aspirated, 9000rpm, 8.3 liter, Cosworth-developed V16 engine. Given Mate Rimac's area of expertise, it is no surprise that this marvelous engine is assisted by 3 electric motors producing 800hp for a combined output of 1800hp. All of this magic results in a top speed of 277 mph, 0-60 mph in an estimated 2 seconds, and 0-250 mph in about 25 seconds. I was not around at the time the Veyron was unveiled, so I could never experience the sheer amazement of the world upon its unveiling. But now, I have. Just like that of the Veyron, the Tourbillon's engine is so extraordinary that it prompts a second reading of the figures. However, in the intent, there lies a difference. While the Veyron boasted incredible engineering for performance, the Tourbillon employs impressive engineering for passion. The ambition was to create an emotional experience, and for Mate Rimac, at the center of that lies a naturally aspirated engine. The removal of turbos improves the throttle response as well as the acoustic qualities of the car, appealing to connoisseurs of old-school driving experiences. Yet it does not compromise on performance. Despite it being naturally aspirated, it produces the same amount as the quad-turbocharged Veyron, and that feat, along with its displacement, the unique configuration, and the sound it produces, earns the V16 a spot amongst the greatest combustion engines in automotive history.
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An engine like that on its own will have earned the Tourbillon legendary status, yet Bugatti has gone further. And it starts with the name. Tourbillon. They have transitioned from their practice of naming the cars after successful racing drivers. In fact, the word tourbillon has nearly no application in the automotive world at all. Instead, it is a phenomenon of watchmaking.
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A tourbillon, translating to "whirlwind" in English, is a sophisticated mechanism found in mechanical watches designed to enhance accuracy. Invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1795, it places the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage to counteract the effects of gravity. This continuous rotation ensures consistent timekeeping in a pocket watch. The visually stunning tourbillon showcases the pinnacle of watchmaking artistry, bewitching onlookers with its delicate, graceful movement. Mate Rimac frequently alludes to the beauty of mechanical watches when talking about the ethos behind the Tourbillon. Just as every component of a skillfully crafted timepiece is a pleasure to the eyes, Mate Rimac wanted the Tourbillon to exhibit extraordinary attention to detail.
Even the rolling chassis of the Tourbillon was designed to look beautiful
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The interior, as Mate Rimac proudly claims, is the real revolution. Frank Heyl, director of design for Bugatti Rimac, agrees. "We're trapped in the technology of our time," he says. "So how do we make a car relevant at a concours in 2075 without looking silly in a time that will have holographic displays or augmented-reality contact lenses? Give the entire interior an analog way that you can interact with it."
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Not only is the interior analog with the lack of screens, it is an artistic masterpiece. The most outstanding element of the interior is what the driver will have right in front of their eyes. An instrument cluster designed and built with the expertise of Swiss watchmakers. Made up of more than 600 parts and primarily constructed from titanium, featuring gemstones such as sapphire and ruby, the skeletonized cluster is built to the largest tolerance of 50 microns, with the smallest at 5 microns, and weighs just 700g. This intricately engineered completely epic masterpiece remains the focal point of the driving experience, fixed in place as the rim of the steering wheel seemingly floats around it. Through this concept, Tourbillon drivers will have an unobstructed view of their gorgeous instrument cluster independent of the steering angle.
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The center console is a blend of crystal glass and aluminum, revealing the intricate workings of the switches and the engine start ‘pull’ lever. The glass was carefully developed to ensure it was both perfectly clear and extremely strong and safe in the event of an accident. The aluminum parts of the console are anodized and milled from a single block of metal, while the knurled aluminum switches sit at the head of a complex mechanism. Igniting the V16 engine is a tribute to the rituals of historic automobiles – a pull to start and a push to stop.
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BUGATTI TOURBILLON’S CENTRAL SCREEN
Today's road cars are mandated to have a rearview camera, and as such, a screen to host the footage of that camera. However, a screen would conflict with the principle of timelessness followed throughout the car. The solution? An incredibly cool, possibly overengineered screen that emerges from the dashboard and rotates into a horizontal configuration.
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In the words of Mate Rimac himself, “We look back through Bugatti history at the creations of Ettore and Jean and you can immediately see that they refused to compromise. The amount of patents Ettore had to his name was incredible, because he didn’t ever want the simplest solution, he always wanted the best solution, even if it didn’t exist yet. He’d go away and he’d build it, test it and refine it until it was perfect. And then he’d make it beautiful. It is why the cars are so revered today, and it is the driving force behind everything we have done with Tourbillon. So yes, it is crazy to build a new V16 engine, to integrate with a new battery pack and electric motors and to have a real Swiss-made watchmaker instrument cluster and 3D-printed suspension parts and a Crystal Glass center console. But it is what Ettore would have done, and it is what makes a Bugatti incomparable and timeless. Without that kind of ambition, you might create a great hyper sports car, but you wouldn’t create an icon Pour l’éternité’."
Timelessness is the underlying theme of the Tourbillon, present in every component in and out of sight. A Quartz watch is a more cost-effective, more accurate method of timekeeping when compared to mechanical watches. Yet, a century-old mechanical watch still maintains its appeal in an age of smartwatches. That is attributed to the craftsmanship behind it, and the timelessness of its design. Unlike its predecessors, the Bugatti Tourbillon does not intend to break production car records. That would be a temporary purpose, as records are meant to be and always will be broken. Instead, the Tourbillon is a car designed Pour l’éternité’.
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