Michelin helps Bugatti surpass a coveted milestone

Bugatti has taken its Chiron to new heights by breaking through the 300mph record – on Michelin tyres.

The holy grail for production car manufacturers has long been the 300mph (482km/h) mark. The likes of Hennessey and Koenigsegg have been chasing it for some time and getting incrementally closer, but Bugatti has now smashed through that barrier with a speed of 304.773mph (490.484 km/h).

To triumph in this “speed war”, Bugatti used a near-production prototype of the Chiron fitted with special Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres. The tyres had to be capable of withstanding the extreme forces experienced at speeds in excess of 500km/h, and any failure would have been fatal for the driver.

This involved some careful modifications to the Chiron’s Cup 2 series tyre. These were undertaken at Michelin’s Clermont-Ferrand headquarters, situated relatively close to Bugatti’s operations in Molsheim. To ensure that the rubber would survive such stresses, an additional layer of carbon fibre reinforcement was added. Michelin then performed extensive plane tests on these modified tyres in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the US, to determine their failure point.

The chosen venue for the record-breaking speedrun was the Ehra-Lessien test track in Germany. In August 2019, the moment of truth finally arrived. Andy Wallace, the driver, reached the maximum speed without issue, apart from a heart-stopping moment at 278mph (447km/h) when the car was briefly airborne.

Michelin is the sole supplier of tyres for the Chiron and the companies work in close partnership with each other. The modified Pilot Sport Cups are likely to end up on the limited-edition Bugatti Chiron Super Sports, of which 30 will be built. Production will start in 2021. However, this version will have a passenger seat, a higher suspension, and will come standard with a speed limiter. As for the price, buyers will need to part with something in the region of €3.5 million (R57.1 million).

Learn more about the tyres that made this achievement possible, the Pilot Sport Cup 2.