Bugatti reaches for the sky with special edition Chiron Sport

Bugatti is paying tribute to daredevil pilots of the past with a new limited edition Chiron Sport. Just 20 Les Légendes du Ciel cars will be built, inspired by the company’s earliest racing drivers who also flew in the French Air Force.

Albert Divo, Robert Benoist, Bartolomeo ‘Meo’ Costantini, and Roland Garros all took to the road and track in Bugattis and to the air in early biplanes. Ettore Bugatti was fascinated by aviation, designing aero engines from 1915, and even developing an aircraft to challenge for the Schneider Trophy awarded to the world’s fastest plane.

Les Légendes du Ciel Chirons are finished in a unique matte-gray “Gris Serpent” paint to echo the exterior of 1920s aircraft. A white gloss center stripe is prominently featured, along with special logos on the front wings and a tricolor emblem on the exposed carbon-fiber side sills. The iconic horseshoe radiator grille is finished in gloss black with a laser-cut aluminum mesh. Door entry lights project the car’s logo onto the ground, and the brushed aluminum kick plates are adorned with the special edition name. The cover for the mighty W-16 engine is in exposed carbon fiber, and the rear look is completed with a black exhaust trim 3D printed in Inconel.

The interior is trimmed throughout in Gaucho leather, again to evoke the material used in early aviation. The seat headrests are inlaid with special logos and the door trims feature a sketch of a race between a Bugatti Type 13 and a Nieuport 17 biplane.

Mechanically, Les Légendes du Ciel are the same as other Chiron Sports, with an 8.0-liter W-16 producing 1500 horsepower and driving all four wheels. To keep the car firmly on the ground, top speed is limited to 261 mph.

The price, however, is a sky-high $3.45 million.