Bugatti Chiron Sport ‘Les Légendes du Ciel’ meets Dassault Rafale Marine: A match-up of Two Superlatives

Molsheim, France – The driver and the pilot both look ahead, highly focused. They wait for the starting signal. The famous French Tricolor drops and moments later, the asphalt begins to vibrate. The two set off alongside one another. The driver and the pilot look into the horizon and go full throttle. With tires on smooth tar, two engines ignite their afterburners and proverbially light up the black surface. The two machines of kin and shared legacy roar and disappear out of view in a matter of seconds.

 

This is the start of an extraordinary match-up in Landivisiau, north-west France: the Bugatti Chiron Sport alongside the Dassault Rafale Marine. 1,500 PS up against 58,550 newtons of thrust (5,727 PS), a hyper sports car up against a Navy jet. The two high-technology products from France are at the top of their respective fields and stand for the technical progress made after decades of development work in automotive and aerospace engineering.

 

Two professionals occupy the cockpits – Bugatti’s pilote officiel Pierre-Henri Raphanel in the Chiron Sport and frigate captain Etienne in the Rafale Marine. They and their teams have been preparing for this day for weeks. The tension leading up to the start is immense for everyone involved.

 

Setting the most incredible scene

With its outstanding performance and incredible top speed, the Bugatti Chiron Sport is almost peerless in the automotive world. A Bugatti has gone toe-to-toe with a jet before. A Veyron 16.4 took on a Eurofighter Typhoon in a drag race in 2007. In the current match-up, the Bugatti Chiron Sport and the Dassault Rafale Marine are seeing how they measure up against one another in disciplines like acceleration, torque and braking behavior.

 

It’s an elaborate process that involves planning to even the most minute detail. Even a short flight calls for extensive preparation and follow-up. “Precision and preparation are everything. Everything happens very quickly in the Rafale Marine and every move you make has to be right. And the same goes for the Chiron Sport at high speeds,” explains Navy pilot, Etienne. “At high speeds, everything has to go perfectly both in the Chiron Sport and the Rafale Marine. Because the runway isn’t all that long or terribly wide for the both of us. This comparison will be a challenge for everyone,” adds Pierre-Henri Raphanel, Bugatti’s pilote officiel.

 

The comparable Bugatti Chiron Sport and the Dassault Rafale Marine

These two French icons have a lot in common. Ettore Bugatti founded his company in Molsheim, France, in 1909 and the French army introduced naval aviators in the following year. The Rafale was first deployed by the army in 2001, the year in which Bugatti unveiled the Veyron 16.4. The fleet at the Landivisiau base has consisted exclusively of the Rafale Marine since 2016, the year in which Bugatti introduced the Chiron.

 

The two extremes of their respective field share common ground in terms of technology and materials, too. “The Chiron Sport and the Rafale Marine have more in common than they don’t. They are both absolutely high-tech products, are manufactured with passion and precision, are beautiful and incredibly powerful and fast, can be maneuvered and can brake precisely like no other,” says Etienne.

 

The brakes of the Rafale were developed by Messier-Bugatti, a company that can be traced to Bugatti Automobiles in Molsheim. The brake block with a diameter of 33.8 centimeters weighs around 27 kilograms. Ten pistons apply pressure of 175 bar to the brake disks. An anti-skid system developed especially for aircraft keeps the jet on track even during tricky landings. A special heat shield on the brake protects the 36-kilogram alloy wheels and the 790×275-15 Michelin tires from overheating.

 

The tires of the Chiron Sport are a little smaller, but no less impressive, with 285/30 R20 ZR tires at the front, 355/25 R21 ZR at the back. In the Chiron Sport, brake disks with a diameter of 420 millimeters at the front and 400 millimeters at the back ensure safe braking. Eight brake pistons at the front and six pistons per brake caliper at the back bite into the disks.

 

To compensate for the extreme heat during landings, the jet’s tires are filled with nitrogen as they have to withstand temperatures ranging from –30 to +199 degrees. The pressure of 16 bar is sufficient for land-based landings, but this is increased to 27 bar for landings on aircraft carriers. In the Chiron Sport, the tire pressure is increased from 2.8 to 3.0 bar for the top-speed mode.

 

Around 70 percent of the aircraft’s skin consists of the composite materials carbon and Kevlar, which means the weight is reduced by approximately 30 per cent compared with aluminum. Aluminum does feature in the aircraft structure, together with titanium.

 

Bugatti has a long tradition of lightweight construction. Many of the materials used in aircraft construction also feature in the latest hyper sports cars. For example, high-strength stainless steels such as aircraft stainless steel are used for the Chiron’s wishbones. High-strength threaded bolts made from titanium are used to connect the Chiron’s driver’s cab to the drive unit. The brake caliper pistons are made from this material, too. The exhaust system with a volume of 68 liters is likewise made from titanium, while the exhaust cover is made with high-temperature-resistant nickel-based alloys (Inconel). Bugatti places its trust in high-strength aluminum for the brake calipers as well as for the entire front end with its clever crash test structure and rear wing mechanism. Extreme stability coupled with low weight is achieved thanks to the center and rear structural components and the entire skin made from carbon. Even the windscreen wiper arms are made from this light material.

 

In addition to the materials it uses, Bugatti embraces aviation with its adaptive chassis, too. The Chiron is the first automobile to feature an entirely hydraulically adaptive chassis, just like the landing gear of a jet. The only difference is that the landing gear of the Rafale Marine is withdrawn hydraulically, while the Bugatti’s chassis adapts on the basis of various driving programs. In the Top Speed program, for example, the Chiron Sport drops 3.5 centimeters at the front and 3.1 centimeters at the rear in comparison to the EB program.

 

Bugatti takes inspiration from aviation with the development of its hyper sports car’s aerodynamics, too. Whereas an aircraft uses the shape of its wings to generate lift, a different wing on the automobile generates downthrust for good roadholding, using the same principle to achieve the opposite effect. For the Chiron Sport, to be able to brake safely even at its top speed of 420 km/h, just like on a jet, the rear wing is raised from its angle of three degrees to 49 degrees in the Top Speed mode to serves as a brake flap. Bugatti controls this active aerodynamics at the rear and front with a total of 18 hydraulic cylinders.

 

There are even similarities in the Chiron Sport and the Rafale with regard to the human-machine interface and its operation. During a flight, the pilot controls the majority of the control elements via a joystick. This ‘hands on handle’ principle is made possible by 24 buttons on the throttle and its extension as well as 13 on the clutch. In the Chiron Sport, the majority of the functions are controlled via the multifunction steering wheel, meaning there is no need for the driver to take their hands off the steering wheel. The Rafale Marine is equipped with five screens for visualization, while the Chiron has two in the cockpit and four on the air conditioning controls.

 

The encounter between the Chiron Sport and the Rafale Marine

Returning to the scenario at hand: the Bugatti Chiron Sport takes the lead soon after setting off. The hyper sports car accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.4 seconds and to 200 km/h in 6.1 seconds. It takes 13.1 seconds to hit a speed of 300 km/h and 32.6 seconds to accelerate to 400 km/h, a speed at which pilot, Etienne, and the Rafale Marine look to match to take off.

 

The aircraft hits 165 km/h after 150 meters and 210 km/h after 250 meters, and takes off after 450 meters at around 260 km/h. “I pulled away from the Rafale over the first few hundred meters, but after a few hundred meters more it was around 20 meters above and alongside me in the air. An incredible and fantastic sight,” says Pierre-Henri Raphanel later. To be on the safe side, the Bugatti driver initiates his braking maneuver after approximately 1.5 kilometers and over 350 km/h – by which time the Rafale has disappeared into the horizon.

 

There are similarities between the two systems when looking at the exhilarating acceleration. The feeling in the Rafale Marine is the same as in the Chiron Sport. It’s a feeling of seemingly never-ending thrust, of an abundance of power. “The Chiron Sport has incredible acceleration force which comes very close to that of the Rafale. What you feel in the Bugatti is what you feel in the jet, including when braking,” explains pilot Etienne. Like in “Top Gun”, the Rafale Marine briefly flies over the runway and alongside the Chiron Sport – an amazing image. “But the reality with the Rafale Marine and the Chiron Sport is even better,” says Etienne.

 

The Chiron Sport likewise delivers top performance when accelerating: it goes from 50 to 150 km/h in 3.2 seconds, from 80 to 120 km/h in just 1.8 seconds, and from 100 to 200 km/h in 4.3 seconds.

 

To be able to decelerate stably at high speeds, both machines use extra-special brakes. It takes the Bugatti Chiron Sport 491 meters to come to a standstill from 400 km/h and 247 meters from a speed of 300 km/h. It travels 114 meters when decelerating from 200 to 0 km/h and 31.4 meters to get down from 100 to 0 km/h. Due to the shortness of the runway and the safety regulations, the Chiron Sport brakes at just 210 km/h and the Rafale Marine at 250 km/h.

 

To compare its braking performance with that of the Chiron Sport, the Rafale Marine approaches the runway at approximately 280 km/h (150 kt), makes contact with the ground, and catches the arresting gear with its tailhook on the rear, just like on an aircraft carrier. Etienne is thrust into his seat belt and the machine comes to a standstill within 150 meters. “It’s a very extreme sensation, as if you were driving into a wall or like a controlled fall,” he says, describing the maneuver. The Chiron Sport, meanwhile, brakes powerfully, but more softly. “With the air brake at the rear, the Bugatti remains incredibly directionally stable, even during abrupt braking maneuvers down from high speeds,” explains Pierre-Henri Raphanel.

 

The comparison of France’s top two technical systems is therefore declared a draw. They share more in common than what sets them apart from one another – in terms of technology and driving/flying behavior as well as emotionally. “Setting off alongside and so close to the Rafale Marine was an incredible experience,” explains Pierre-Henri Raphanel. To which Etienne adds: “The Chiron Sport is the ideal vehicle for navy pilots.”

 

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