And even less horsepower.
The unfortunate truth about the current state of the global economy is that the overwhelming majority of people live with very little, while a select few get to enjoy the finer things in life, including fancy watches, caviar, super yachts, and of course, supercars.
When it comes to powerful luxury vehicles, few do it better than Bugatti, which is responsible for exquisite feats of engineering such as the Bolide, Divo, and of course, the Bugatti Chiron. Six years later, it remains an engineering marvel. The Chiron costs close to $3 million, a figure that most will never be able to afford, but where there's a will, there's always a way.
In a YouTube video posted by NHET TV, we get to see a team of genius Vietnamese car-builders create a Bugatti Chiron look-alike from scratch. The 45-minute long video shows the process from start to finish, and it's probably the best 45 minutes you're going to be spending today.
The team starts by welding together the rudimentary shape of the car from light steel and then using simple clear sticky tape to get an idea of how the panels will flow. Clay is then piled onto the basic outline and modeled by hand and basic tools to form the trademark Chiron body shape we all know and love. When the builders are happy with the general shape of the panels, plaster is applied to the clay, and the clay is eventually removed, leaving behind a perfect mold.
The guys from NHET TV then use every amateur car-builder's favorite material, fiberglass, to fill the plaster mold, leaving a rough shell that will eventually get sanded and painted. Once the shell has been completed, it gets mounted on a road-going chassis that features a simple A-arm suspension setup in the front with inboard coilover suspension, and a five-link setup in the rear, also paired with inboard coilovers.
As with the real deal, this Chiron gets a mid-mounted engine, but unlike the famous 1,479-horsepower 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 engine found in the $3-million car, this tribute gets four cylinders of Toyota's finest carbureted fury, which means it will never see 257 mph. 57 mph, maybe. The final touches include adding mesh to the front grille, using rattle cans to spray smaller details, and finally a classy Blue over Black paint job that closely resembles the original. The interior features a basic remake of the real car's design with two bucket seats and a sweeping dashboard. We've seen numerous supercar copies, but this one has to be one of the most ingenious to be completed on a tight budget.
Keyword: Bugatti Chiron Built From Scratch Has Four Cylinders