Bugatti’s decision to name its latest Chiron the Hommage T50S has probably raised a few eyebrows at Gordon Murray Automotive, but the French company did get there first, by the small matter of 90 years. The original Bugatti Type 50S was the car the company used for its first assault on the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1931, a campaign Bugatti has taken inspiration from for a specially commissioned Chiron Super Sport.
This Chiron’s buyer apparently knew nothing about the number 5 Type 50 racer, only that he wanted a black-on-black Chiron Super Sport with some kind of visual connection to Bugatti’s past. So the firm told him about how number 5 was one of three cars entered at Le Mans in 1931, and how Bugatti’s chances were looking good thanks to the car’s strong pace down the Mulsanne Straight until one of the roadsters blew a tire causing it to crash out. Bugatti chose to withdraw the remaining two T50s at that point and it would be another 6 years before the firm would win at Le Mans.
Compared with the light, agile Type 35s that had come before, the Type 50S was a bit of a bruiser, and came equipped with a 5.0-liter supercharged V8 fitted with dual overhead cams and making a healthy 247 hp (250 PS). That was big power for the day, but things have certainly moved on in the past 90 years. The Chiron Super Sport’s quad-turbo W16 pumps out 1,578 hp (1,600 PS).
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There’s only ever so much you can do as a designer when trying to riff on a car made almost a century ago, but the big ‘5’ hand painted on each door and on the retro-style grille mesh clearly signal the connection between the old and new T50s. The modern team also added a ‘Le Mans 1931’ script that sits just ahead of the rear wheel arch on each side, and a circuit map, then treated the Super Sport to plenty of “Perlée” engine-turned trim, inside and out.
And though the Super Sport isn’t a convertible like the car old timer, this one does have Bugatti’s optional Sky View glass roof meaning you get to see the trees without worrying that you’re going to be ejected into them if a tire blows, something drivers of the real T50S would have had to worry about at Le Mans.
