Molsheim, France - The historical home of Bugatti, more formally known as Château Saint Jean, has become something of a pilgrimage for Bugatti enthusiasts.
Located near Molsheim in France, not too far from the German border, this is where Bugatti’s modern hypercars are built, but it’s also a historic site with an inextricable link to company founder Ettore Bugatti, who bought and renovated this Château as a place to welcome customers and introduce them to the lifestyle of Bugatti.
In modern times it continues to welcome a few very fortunate people from all over the world, and recently one very loyal Bugatti owner paid an extraordinary visit.
This long-time Bugatti customer has carefully curated a collection of rare Bugatti vehicles, including each of the World Record Cars, namely the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport World Record Edition, Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse World Record Edition and Chiron Super Sport 300+1.
His dream to reunite them with the place where they came to life, and the team who made it possible, recently came true when the three record-breaking hypercars were carefully driven up to the Château Saint Jean. They were joined by other rarities from The Singh Collection, Punjab, India: the Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang and the Divo.
The last world record car, the Chiron Super Sport 300+, was built to celebrate the first production series car to travel at more than 482.80 km/h. In 2019, a variant of the 300+ travelled at 490.48 km/h at the hands of Bugatti Pilote Officiel and Le Mans 24 Hours winner, Andy Wallace, who then became the first person to drive at more than 300 mph (482.7km/h) in a production series car.
Andy himself made the journey to Molsheim to meet again with the lucky owner of this collection and be a part of this historic reunion.
This dedication to achieving incomparable speeds in the modern era of Bugatti can be traced back to June 2010, almost 13 years ago.
At the Ehra-Lessien test track that day, a Veyron 16.4 Super Sport – powered by a development of the W16 engine with 883kW – set a record of 431.07 km/h, smashing the previous holder’s speed. The man behind the wheel that day was Pierre-Henri Raphanel, Bugatti Pilote Officiel and former racing driver, who welcomed the collector to Molsheim and shared with him the thrill of his own world record experience.
Three years after the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport set its record, Bugatti would create another benchmark, for the world’s fastest open top car with the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, which travelled at 408.84 km/h with the roof down. Both would be immortalised in Bugatti history with a very limited run of cars immortalising the world records.
To celebrate this special day, all his cars were hand signed by Bugatti design director, Achim Anscheidt – with a special note for the three world record cars that read: “In record breaking friendship. Molsheim, 26/4/23”.
To further immortalise this once in a lifetime moment, record-breaking drivers Andy Wallace and Pierre-Henri Raphanel both signed the Chiron Super Sport 300+ and the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport World Record Edition.
In return, the customer delivered a special gift from his collection, to be kept in Molsheim.
Such is the passion of this collector that he not only wanted to own these record-breaking hyper sports cars, but he nourished that dream of gathering them at the place they were created.
“For one owner to curate his own collection of all three of these vehicles, alongside an additional limited edition Veyron Pur Sang and the coachbuilt Divo2, shows an incomparable passion for the Bugatti brand, its history and its achievements,” said Christophe Piochon, president of Bugatti Automobiles.
“But an owner with this level of dedication to our brand knows that Bugatti ownership is about much more than the vehicle itself. We were really honoured to welcome him and his cars home to Molsheim and creating an experience that he will never forget.”