“The ability to travel at more than 400 km/h requires every single surface, inlet and ridge to be finely honed to ensure it is not only aerodynamic but also beneficial to the car’s thermodynamics,” says Bugatti, highlighting how the bodywork has been sculpted, not just to optimise airflow at high speeds, but to cool the colossal engine behind the cockpit.
This aero focus manifests in a number of distinctive new features, including a rear wing that remains ‘submerged’ even at top speed with no impact on its functionality, and a huge rear diffuser tunnel that extends right from the back of the cabin to the rear bumper – remaining largely invisible with the bodywork in place.
Less functional but more obvious are the Tourbillon’s dramatic, remote-opening dihedral doors, which “not only allow for easy entry into the vehicle but provide a dramatic sense of arrival”.
That said, though, designer Frank Heyl was keen to emphasise the relative subtlety of Bugatti’s hypercars against their more dramatically styled rivals. “This car is elegant,” he told Autocar.
“Elegance is about being remembered. It’s not about shouting out ‘look at me!’. It’s why we even chose to not paint it a shout-out, look-at-me colour. It’s almost understated for what it is. “
Interior
Key to maintaining the Tourbillon’s ‘timeless’ appeal, Bugatti says, is its analogue appeal, cultivated by its highly visible internal mechanisms and heavy reliance on physical controls – technology that doesn’t date as easily as today’s touchscreen-based systems.
