Bugatti Chiron Sport “Les Légendes du Ciel”

“Bugatti has had close associations with aviation since the company was established more than 110 years ago. Many successful Bugatti racing drivers, such as Albert Divo, Robert Benoist and Bartolomeo ‘Meo’ Costantini, flew for the French Air Force, the French aviator legend Roland Garros privately drove a Bugatti Type 18 to be as fast on the road as in the air,” says Stephan Winkelmann, President of Bugatti. “It is therefore almost an obligation for us today to pay tribute to the legends of that time and dedicate a special edition to them.”

Company founder Ettore Bugatti admired the fearless character and technical expertise of his drivers who were fascinated by high speeds – and also mastered them. On the road, the racing drivers benefited from the experience gained in aircraft cockpits. They, in turn, admired Ettore Bugatti for his talent as an engineer and were fascinated by his agile, light and speedy vehicles, embodying on the road what their planes were in the sky. Roland Garros even called him the “incomparable artist who alone knows, how to give life to steel.”

Ettore Bugatti has always been inspired by aviation. In around 1915, Bugatti himself designed aircraft engines and from 1937 he also developed an entire aircraft intended to break speed records. The project was stopped because of the outbreak of the Second World War. Ettore Bugatti kept in close personal contact with the pilots throughout his life.

The “Les Légendes du Ciel“ edition

The “Les Légendes du Ciel“ edition Bugatti is honouring these legends of aviation with the “Les Légendes du Ciel“ edition, based on the Chiron Sport and limited to 20 vehicles. The new edition references many features of the historic aircrafts in which Bugatti pilots gained profitable experience. In addition to the unusual colour of the paintwork, the vehicle includes a special full leather interior with hand-drawn sketches and diamond-cut aluminium.

Exceptional paintwork

A striking feature of the Chiron Sport “Les Légendes du Ciel” is its special, matt-grey “Gris Serpent” paintwork, a modern interpretation of the exterior colour of the aircrafts from the 1920s. This stretches across the entire vehicle and is traversed from the front to the rear via the extending rear spoiler with a high-contrast, white gloss centre stripe. The front wings are adorned with the “Les Légendes du Ciel“ logo. The “Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge” tricolour in Blue, White and Red decorates the front area of the side sills made of exposed black carbon fibre.

The horseshoe-shaped radiator grille also has a black gloss finish. The radiator grille mesh is made of laser-cut and deep-drawn aluminium, on which the dynamic pattern of the stitched seams is repeated on the leather seats, reminiscent of planes flying in formation in an air parade. The door entry lights project the edition logo onto the ground when the doors are opened. The door sills are made of brushed aluminium with the “Les Légendes du Ciel“ logo on the middle console inlays also characterises the new edition. The W16 engine cover is made of black exposed carbon fibre. These lightweight components are contrasted by white lettering. Black exposed carbon fibre and a black-coated exhaust trim cover made of 3D printed, high-temperature-resistant Inconel dominates the rear.

Detailed interior almost completely in leather

The interior also visually evokes aircraft from the past century. Bugatti uses fine “Gaucho” leather for the entire vehicle interior of the Chiron Sport “Les Légendes du Ciel”. The light brown leather is reminiscent of natural leather in these aircrafts of days gone by. The natural material is contrasted only by aluminum trims, an aluminum inlay with the logo “Les Légendes du Ciel” that can also be found on the headrests as well as the special edition numbering “1 of 20”. Bugatti optionally offers comfort seats and the glass roof “Sky View” through which occupants can gaze into the sky like in open-top aircraft of the past century.

On the door panels there is a hand-sketched racing scene between the Nieuport 17 aircraft and a Bugatti Type 13, which symbolizes the two souls honored by the edition.

The Nieuport 17 is a very special aircraft: it is a French biplane aircraft that was built from 1916 and was very popular with its pilots due to its reliability, speed, agility and manoeuvrability. The single-seater aircraft was powered by a 9-cylinder engine that delivered up to 130 PS.

The Bugatti Type 13 is a very special vehicle in Bugatti’s history spanning 110 years. It was the first model to bear the name Bugatti. From 1910, the Type 13 impressed with its lightweight design, agility and the high output for the time of more than 15 PS. More than 110 years ago, the “Pur Sang” (thoroughbred) already reached speeds of almost 100 km/h and won many races over the following years. The vehicle laid the foundations for Bugatti’s racing success. The perlée-finish, polished aluminum of the armrest tray and the centre console insert, are also reminiscent of the historic racing cars.

The Chiron Sport “Les Légendes du Ciel” with a W16 engine and a capacity of 8.0 litres delivers 1,500 PS and 1,600 newton metres of torque. Its maximum speed is electronically limited at 420 km/h. Bugatti will start production of the Chiron Sport “Les Légendes du Ciel” towards the end of 2020. The edition, limited to 20 units, costs 2.88 million euros net each.