First Prototype Of The Bugatti Centodieci

At the event ‘The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering’ in California, U.S.A, Bugatti has presented yet another project and this time the beast is called Bugatti Centodieci.

Beast of a car, the Bugatti Centodieci, is a highly exclusive, distinctive and high-performance hyper sports car. It pays tribute to the legendary EB 110 by way of its engineering and architecture.

Bugatti’s design director Achim Anscheidt said, “The challenge for us was not to get caught up in the design of the legendary EB 110 itself and avoid focusing solely on a retrospective approach. Our aim was to create a modern interpretation of the shape and technology of that time, but at the same time, we didn't want to lose the charm and character of the EB 110.”

This few-off project has a production of just ten vehicles. The next phase of the progress is coming to a start for the first prototype of the hyper sports car with a W16 engine, as series development is currently being assembled.

“Every newly developed vehicle poses an immense challenge, as we are creating a very small series that at the same time has to meet and even exceed all the quality and safety standards of a large series, with the newly designed body, there are changes in many areas that we had to simulate using special computer programs. Based on the data, we were able to establish a basic set-up as a starting point for series development and the first prototype,” commented Bugatti's technical project manager for one-off and few-off projects André Kullig. 

The Centodieci was built in a way where it has a perfect match between the exterior shape and the technology, at the same time, it must meet all the same technical requirements as a Bugatti Chiron. After well over a year of design and simulation, the team at Bugatti has now developed the first prototype.

Inside the Centodieci’s chassis, rests a W16, 8-litre and 16-cylinder engine which Bugatti claims to have a power output of up to 1,600 PS. The engine is placed behind a transparent glass surface, it is to ensure more efficient engine thermodynamics just like its inspiration the EB 110. 

Engineers at Bugatti crafted the Centodieci with a flat front, low-slung front spoiler and three-part air intakes. They adjusted the curvature of the components to compliment the incidence of light so that the appearance is consistent in all lighting conditions.

It gets a wide air outlet opening and modified air flows, in addition to guide flaps around the five circular air inserts which is positioned in the form of a rhombus. All of this is to compensate for sufficient air intake for the 16-cylinder power unit that the Bugatti Centodieci is sporting.

Rear of the beast is designed with a large ventilation outlet opening defined by the eight rear light elements. Furthermore, it is fitted with new light elements and a new rear wing design, which is permanently mounted in the style of the EB 110 Super Sport.

To ensure the Centodieci can move to the next stage of the development, the team made it a mission and succeeded in putting the rolling chassis of the hyper sports car into operation at the site’s own roller dynamometer in the Molsheim Atelier.

“In the next few months, in addition to building the exterior and running more advanced simulations in the wind tunnel, we’re very much looking forward to going out on the test track to start tuning the chassis,” Kullig further added.

During the premier of the Bugatti Centodieci project, in just a matter of a few hours, all ten units of the hyper sports car were sold out with a price tag of 8 million euros net. The highly exclusive, hand-crafted ten series production will be delivered to their new owners in 2022.