Well, isn’t this just lovely? This is the Bugatti Destrier, the third car to emerge from Bugatti’s ‘Solitaire’ program (after the Brouillard and the F.K.P. Hommage) and named after “the strongest type of medieval knight’s horse” that reimagines the mad, bad, and mostly bewinged track-only Bugatti Bolide into a 1,578hp work of art.
That’s right, 1,578hp. Reports of the W16’s death, therefore, have been greatly exaggerated, because that 8.0-liter powerhaus...rides again. So no need for the...long face. Arf arf.
And it’s a long, beautiful car. Bugatti itself declares it as one of “the most significant designs” it has ever done, centered around a simple mission brief along the lines of ‘what if Bolide but no aero?’ A philosophy that should be applied to more exotica, to be honest.
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There’s the same carbon-fiber monocoque underneath, plus a slightly wider horseshoe grille. And, thanks to the base Bolide’s already “extreme” profile, this Destrier sits low and wide, with a lovely uninterrupted line flowing in waves from front to back. Wide here, pinched there, swollen, shrunken—the Destrier wears it all.
This particular one-off also wears a one-off color—‘Sapphire Celeste,’ which we think broadly means ‘midnighty purpley-blue-ish’—flecked with sparkles and surrounded by polished aluminum and exposed carbon fiber.
The wheels are bigger here than on the Bolide—20/21 inches front and rear versus the track car’s measly 18-inchers—while inside, Bugatti (or rather the car’s owner) has spared no expense in transforming the cabin into something less “where’s my fireproof underwear” and more “weekend jaunt to the Alps, anyone?”
Leather, nubuck, 3D-knitted textile. These are the three materials Bugatti focused on, all finished in a delightful warm brown, along with countless other details: the special stitching, the hammered brightwork, the tiny French flag.
“Destrier is not a car you understand with your head—it is a car you feel with your heart,” said Bugatti’s design boss Frank Heyl. “The Bolide gave us the most extreme proportions we have ever created, and by freeing them from the Bolide’s relentless pursuit of downforce, we let them speak as pure sculpture.”
He points to ye olde Type 57 chassis that formed the basis of two equally delectable Bugattis: one a Le Mans winner (the Type 57 ‘Tank’ racer) and the gorgeous Type 57SC Atlantic. Indeed, as a nod to this history of one chassis birthing two very different cars, there’s a laser-engraved (hand-engraved, of course) plate above the windshield depicting both the 57G and the 57SC.
“I believe Destrier will be gracing Concours lawns 50 years from now,” Heyl added. Forget 50 years from now—it’ll star at the Monterey Car Week and Pebble Beach Concours on August 16. Lovely.
More photos of the Bugatti Destrier:
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
