This is the Bugatti Devo,
and if I seem a little bit twitchy today,
it's because it is literally the only one in existence.
And it costs five million euros.
Now, we're in a studio in Hamburg today
but in a matter of hours this thing is being crated up
and shipped out to California for its world debut.
So, the fear of me tripping over my own shoelaces
and scratching this immaculate bodywork is quite strong.
Anyway, what you're looking at here
is not necessarily an all-new model for Bugatti,
more of an extension of the Chiron bloodlines.
So, we've got a Chiron powertrain, a Chiron chassis,
and then there's this all new body dropped on top
that's quite a bit more aggressive.
The mission with this car was to make something that was lighter,
that was stiffer, that had more downforce than the Chiron.
Essentially refocussing the car on being even faster around corners.
And it appears to have worked.
Because around the 6.2 km loop,
the handling track at Nardò where they've been testing this thing,
it a full eight seconds a lap quicker than a Chiron.
And before you ask, nope.
There are no immediate plans
to make an assault on the Nürburgring lap record.
As always with Bugatti the brand's heritage has played a big part here.
And the tradition of naming their cars after racing drivers continues.
Albert Divo was a French driver who won the Targa Florio twice for Bugatti
in the late 1920s.
It also continues a tradition of in-house coach building
that was strong in Bugatti's early years,
especially the 1930s,
where they would drop unique bodies onto an existing chassis.
But enough about the past, what about the present?
As I mentioned earlier, you get the same engine as the Chiron.
So, an 8-litre, quad-turbo W16, producing 1479 horsepower.
It will do 0 to 60 in 2.4 seconds.
You get four-wheel drive,
you get a seven-speed twin-clutch gearbox,
and top speed is where it starts to get interesting
because a Chiron is limited to 261 mph.
A Divo is limited to 237. And the reason for that is tyres
because it produces an extra 90 kilograms of downforce at top speed
and the wheels have been given a degree of negative camber.
It just adds more pressure to the tyres.
So that lower limit is simply a precaution from Bugatti.
What else is new? Well, there's a sharper steering ratio,
there's stiffer springs and dampers
and the Chiron's weight has been slashed by 35 kilograms.
How do they do that?
Well, with the carbon fibre windscreen wipers from the Chiron sport,
slightly thinner glass for the rear windscreen,
and special grooves that have been cut into the spokes of the alloys.
That saves a total of six kilograms.
Oh, and carbon. Lots and lots of carbon.
And what about this exterior design?
The idea was that it had to be immediately recognisable as a Bugatti.
So, the horseshoe grill,
the Bugatti line in the side profile,
and the strong central fin will remain.
But the design team also created two distinct halves.
A more elegant shape at the top
and then more aggressive and aero-focussed design lower down.
My favourite angle has to be the front end.
It's where the most is going on
and it's where it looks the most different to the Chiron.
Not least these new headlights.
On the Chiron they're horizontal.
Here, much longer, C-shaped, pushed right to the edges of the car
so really emphasising the car's width.
You've got the classic horseshoe
but you've got bigger air intakes down here.
You've got a much larger front splitter.
This intake here, that's an S-duct,
so that feeds even more air down to cool the carbon ceramic brakes,
a pressure vent on top of the arch like the Porsche GT3 RS.
This here is called the air curtain, so that reduces turbulence,
smooths the air as it passes over the front wheel.
More aeromadness down here.
On the roof, this is what Bugatti calls the NACA duct.
This forces air down, over the top of the engine,
but it keeps it attached all the way down the back of the car,
so when it meets this massive hydraulic wing at the back,
it hits it square on. It can do its job efficiently,
and deliver all the downforce you need in a car this powerful.
Around the back, what can I say about these tail lights.
It's pure concept car made real.
And then you've got this new finisher on the quad exhaust down there,
an even bigger split-diffuser.
Is there too much going on? Is it too busy?
You'll have to make your own mind up on that.
Certainly, there's plenty to keep your eyeballs interested.
Here we are inside the five million euro Bugatti Divo.
To be honest, it's not that far removed from the Chiron's interior,
but there are differences.
For starters, this new Divo blue colour
has very much migrated its way into the interior.
There's also lots more Alcantara because it's lighter than leather,
and, as everyone knows,
any car with racy intentions must be slathered in Alcantara.
These sport's seats, they're also more deeply sculpted,
presumably to hold your bum in place
when you turn this thing in at 237 mph.
Honestly, though, if a Hypercar's job is to make me feel like a giddy 15 year old,
just from being anywhere near it, well...
well done Divo. Job done.
It's time for some bad news now.
Bugatti is only producing 40 of these cars
although that is in addition to the Chiron's 500 car production run.
And they're all sold out.
But before you get too upset, you never really stood a chance.
In order to be eligible to buy one of these cars
you had to already own a Chiron in the first place.
So that's a cool 7.5 million for the pair.
Let's not talk about the cash, we all know it's silly money.
Instead, let's celebrate the lunacy of this car
and the fact that Bugatti has written another stellar chapter
in the history of the Hypercar.