Bugatti teases McLaren Senna competitor
BY ROBBIE WALLIS | 7th Aug 2018
BUGATTI has taken to social media to release a series of teaser videos for its newest model, the track-focused Divo supercar that is set for a public reveal on August 24.
While few concrete details have been revealed of the Divo, it looks to be the French car-maker’s answer to McLaren’s track-focused Senna, down to the on-track performance emphasis, low weight, significant aerodynamic ability and a name that pays tribute to a former Formula 1 driver.
In a video, Bugatti president Stephan Winkelmann said that only 40 examples of the Divo will be made, and that they will cost “5 million”, which assuming he means Euros, would translate to $A7.8m.
“The car is light, it has a lot of downforce to be agile and nimble,” he said.
The Divo will be road-legal, and should be able to beat the Chiron around a racetrack with Divo project leader Pierre Rommelfanger adding: “More downforce, less weight, more G-force resulting in a faster lap time.”
Bugatti’s inspiration for the Divo comes from Albert Divo, a Grand Prix driver for Bugatti in the late 1920s best known for winning the gruelling Targa Florio road race two years running.
According to Bugatti head of exterior design Frank Heyl, the Divo will retain Bugatti’s signature design features, while creating “completely new form language” suggesting significant aerodynamic enhancements.
Only a single teaser image has been released for the Divo, showing what looks to be an aggressive carbon-fibre side skirt that channels air down the side of the car, emblazoned with the French national flag and aqua-blue trim elements. The photo is accompanied by the hashtag #BuiltforCorners.
A teaser video shows what looks to be chequered LED matrix tail-lights accompanied by a menacing engine rev and squealing tyres.
No powertrain details have been revealed, so chances are it will employ the same monstrous powertrain as the Chiron – an 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 petrol engine pumping out a tyre-shredding 1103kW/1600Nm, sending power to all four wheels via a seven-speed automatic transmission.
The Divo will be released in full on August 24.
