How the Bugatti Tourbillon Became More Aerodynamic Than the Chiron

Summary Points

Bugatti unveiled the Tourbillon in June 2024, the much-awaited successor of the Chiron. A French word and a reference to Bugatti’s heritage and home in Molsheim, the tourbillon is a watchmaking invention patented in 1801.

Developing a hypercar that’s blindingly quick, glorious to look at, and pays homage to its original creator’s mantra of “if comparable, it is no longer Bugatti” requires breaking new boundaries in aerodynamic design.

Although based on the Chiron’s silhouette, the Tourbillon is new from the ground up and has a shape developed collectively by computational fluid dynamics and passionate minds in the wind tunnel.

“Everyone has been fully committed to making the Tourbillon a new benchmark for the automotive industry, and it is a true testament to the skill and passion that has fueled its development,” said Paul Burnham, Bugatti Chief Vehicle Engineer.

Next-Generation Hypercar

Bugatti CEO Mate Rimac is on the right path to revolutionizing the Chiron, taking no shortcuts in conceptualizing the Tourbillion, the next hypercar slayer of the electric and hybrid generation. Rimac chose to forge the perilous and costlier path of creating an all-new model from scratch, which is what Ettore Bugatti would have done if he were here to develop the next poster child of the hyper-performance arena.

“The development of the Bugatti Tourbillon was guided at every step by the 115 years of Bugatti history and the words of Ettore Bugatti himself,” Rimac said, referencing Ettore’s mantra of “if comparable, it is no longer Bugatti,” and “nothing is too beautiful.”

Rimac also referenced the impact legendary Bugatti cars like the Type 57SC Atlantic, the Type 35, and the Type 41 Royale had on the Tourbillion’s development. “Beauty, performance, and luxury formed the blueprint for the Tourbillon, a car that was more elegant, more emotive, and more luxurious than anything before it,” he said.

Naturally Aspirated V16 Engine

The Bugatti Tourbillon and Chiron may look the same to untrained eyes, but the only common ground they share is the number of cylinders. Developed with Cosworth’s expertise, the Tourbillon’s V16 engine boasts 8.3 liters of displacement, weighs under 556 lbs. (252 kg), can spin to 9,000 rpm, and churn out 1,000 horsepower.

Hybrid Powertrain

Part of the Tourbillon’s extreme horsepower recipe is a three-electric motor setup: two for the front e-axle and another for the rear axle. The motors draw juice from a 25 kWh T-shaped and oil-cooled 800V battery in the central tunnel, just behind the passenger cabin.

Thanks to a dual silicon-carbide inverter, the electric motors can spin to 24,000 rpm and produce up to 800 horsepower, hiking the Tourbillon’s total power output to 1,800 stampeding horses.

An eight-speed dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive system with torque vectoring complete the hybrid powertrain package. Although throttle response and torque fill are the main priorities, the 25 kWh battery provides up to 37 miles (about 60 km) of all-electric range.

Top Speed

The Bugatti Tourbillon can race from zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) in two seconds or from zero to 248 mph (400 km/h) in under 25 seconds. The top speed is 236 mph (380 km/h) or 276 mph (445 km/h) by engaging the famed Bugatti Speed Key.

Bugatti's engineering team doing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. — Bugatti’s engineering team spent countless hours refining the Tourbillion before its public debut. Months of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations gave them insight into how to surpass previous benchmarks of what should define a Bugatti. Engineers and aerodynamicists worked together at a state-of-the-art wind tunnel facility in Italy on a half-scale model of the Tourbillon. Photo: Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.

Building Beyond Chiron

The Tourbillon’s face-melting acceleration and top speed would not be possible without an aerodynamically optimized body shell.

“The Tourbillon’s predecessor, the Chiron, was already a low-drag car,” said Paul Burnham, Bugatti Chief Vehicle Engineer. “But with the Tourbillon, we need to do better than that.”

The Chiron slices the wind with its 0.35 drag coefficient in Top Speed mode or 0.38 in EB Standard mode. Topping that would lead the Bugatti team to further explore, create, and optimize while making everything look eye-pleasing, precisely what company founder Ettore Bugatti would have done in pre-war Molsheim in the early 1900s.

“We look back through Bugatti history at the creations of Ettore and Jean, and you can immediately see that they refused to compromise. The amount of patents Ettore had to his name was incredible because he didn’t ever want the simplest solution; he always wanted the best solution, even if it didn’t exist yet,” Rimac exaplined. “He’d go away, and he’d build it, test it, and refine it until it was perfect. It is why the cars are so revered today, and it is the driving force behind everything we have done with Tourbillon.”

CFD Simulations & Wind Tunnel Testing

The Bugatti engineering team underwent countless hours of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to create the Tourbillon’s initial shape. Fifteen months before the car’s worldwide debut in June 2024, Bugatti engineers constructed a half-scale Tourbillon model and went to Italy for wind tunnel testing and validation.

The scale model is a work of art itself, made from 250 3D-printed individual pieces with over 100 pressure taps on the body panels. Bugatti engineers and aerodynamicists focused on static pressure points, mass-flow measurements, and air velocities to optimize airflow over, around, and under the car.

“This is the first test in which we assess different design volumes and different changes to the car,” said David Sostaric, Head of Aerodynamics at Bugatti Rimac. “By exchanging parts, we steer the car towards the pursuit of high-speed performance, shifting later on in the process to handling efficiency and dynamic ability.”

Design Enhancements

The Tourbillon looks similar to the Chiron because it bears the four Bugatti hallmark design elements: the horseshoe grille, the Bugatti line, the central ridge, and the dual-color split. Then again, the Tourbillon has a lower frontal area, a lower profile glass house, a new rear wing, and a unique rear diffuser.

The rear diffuser enables an open-end design and mainly contributes to the Tourbillon’s “aerodynamic equilibrium.” In addition, it and the aerodynamic reinforcements allow the Tourbillon to achieve its 276 mph top speed without extending the adjustable rear wing.

Join Automoblog Managing Editor Carl Anthony for a special tour of the Autoworld Museum in Brussels, Belgium. The tour includes a trio of rare Bugatti supercars: the Centodieci, Divo, and a La Voiture Noire.

From Concept to Production

Utilizing data from computer modeling and small-scale wind tunnel testing, Bugatti engineers constructed a full-scale prototype. They eventually returned to the wind tunnel to validate that the design changes met Bugatti’s drag coefficiency and airflow targets. Burnham noted the inherent challenges that come with the Tourbillon being a new program and how the hybrid powertrain and its cooling system are a departure from past Bugatti models.

“But that’s why we have taken the detail to the next level: looking intensively at the airflows through the radiator channels at the front, through to the intakes behind the door within the iconic Bugatti C-line to ensure that our digital simulations align with the physical model and deliver enough cooling to manage the car’s performance,” he said.

Only 250 Tourbillons will enter production, costing $4 million (€3.8 million) to purchase. The lucky few owners will experience a new wave of Bugatti supercars and be at the forefront of next-level engineering, technology, and craftsmanship. Customer deliveries are expected in 2026, following hand assembly at the Bugatti Atelier in Molsheim.

“We’ve moved on from a scale-model wind tunnel to a full-sized facility, continuing our program of validating the Tourbillon’s aerodynamic performance,” Burnham said. “Only now, we are using a full-scale prototype, which represents a natural step in enhancing calibration of our simulation tools, getting that next degree of accuracy in results.”

Alvin Reyes is an Automoblog feature columnist and an expert in sports and performance cars. He studied civil aviation, aeronautics, and accountancy in his younger years and is still very much smitten to his former Lancer GSR and Galant SS. He also likes fried chicken, music, and herbal medicine.