The Bugatti Divo is finally ready

By topgear, 27 April 2020

Bugatti has begun delivering the first of 40 €5million Divos to their owners. Those lucky, lucky things.

It may use the Chiron’s platform and 1,500hp quad-turbo W16, but the Divo is lighter, stiffer, more focussed and somehow even more outrageous than the car on which it’s based, and apparently not at all like it to drive.

Bugatti’s engineers have been fine-tuning the Divo’s setup for the last two years. Chassis development alone required more than 5,000km of testing at speeds of up to its limited top speed of 380km/h.

Weight is down by 35kg, while harder springs, more camber and a “more front-oriented setup” mean it’s “entirely different to drive than the Chiron”, according to the company’s Head of Chassis Testing and Application Lars Fischer.

“This is particularly evident when driving on roads with plenty of bends. With even more precise steering and greater downforce, the Divo drives through corners even faster and more predictably,” he says.

A 23 per cent wider wing means downforce is up, too, by 90kg to almost half a tonne at top speed. Max lateral acceleration is now 1.6g, with Bugatti touting a lap-time a full eight seconds faster than the Chiron’s around Nardo’s 6.2km handling circuit.

Fancy one? Well too bad – all 40 cars are spoken for by existing Chiron owners.

STORY Tom Harrison

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