The 4-005 Done And Dusted, A Bugatti Chiron Prototype’s Story

A prototype of the Bugatti Chiron or the 4-005 has served its years and it brandishes battle scars as bear witness to a tough life.

This Chiron prototype was never spared and for over eight years it has aided as a piece of work equipment, a tool used to realize the Chiron we know today to production maturity.

Known as the 4-005, pronounced as ‘Four Five’, the four in the alias given stands for ‘prototype’ and the five stands for the fifth Chiron prototype. Out of the eight that were created, each was built by hand and included many custom-made parts.

It was the first Chiron to be driven in the USA, performs drifts in the snow in Scandinavia, completes laps on the high-speed ring in Nardò, passes heat tests in South Africa and is subjected to the afterburner of the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Moreover, aside from being test-driven, the hyper sports car also serves the Electrics and Electronics development department as a test lab on wheels.

At which, test engineers normally tend to render prototypes for a specific task and after testing their systems, said prototypes would be disposed of.

However, that’s not the case for this Chiron prototype. From 2013 onwards, all of the hyper car’s software was developed and tested in the 4-005.

The process involves about 30 vehicle control units undergoing a specific test procedure following a modification, first on the test bench and subsequently in the vehicle.

As aforementioned, the Bugatti team travels across the USA and half of Europe test driving, monitoring and fine-tuning the systems. To places such as the Death Valley, Granada, the Grand Canyon and the Großglockner.

Said process is to ensure all the prototype’s maps and navigation systems work flawlessly in every country or state it goes through. As well as its satellite, aerial, radio, and phone reception.

Also, as for the heat tests in the desert, monitoring of the air-conditioning system is constantly done by the engineers to ensure the cooling flows, responsiveness, and noises all function optimally.

Furthermore, the 4-005 also undergoes all the updates before it goes into series production. These include new navigation system functions and conference calling as well as the human-machine interface (HMI) menu navigation based on a strict design specification.

Regardless of it being a piece of work equipment, every drive in the Bugatti Chiron is special. Especially with the engineers updating the hardware and software numerous times, keeping the prototype at the cutting edge of technology constantly.

Resulting in over eight years of outstanding service and mileage of more than 74,000 km, notably in tough conditions, the vehicle electronics are still essentially wear-free. The 4-005 prototype has now gone into its well-earned retirement after all that hard work.