As the automotive world turns its attention to Germany for the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, one car that’s noticeably missing from the festivities also happens to be the same car that everyone’s talking about these days: the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+.

Say what you will about the controversy swirling around the Chiron Super Sport 300+, but it did break 300 miles per hour, becoming the first “production” car to ever break that speed threshold. We can all argue about the veracity of its “production car” label, but the Chiron Super Sport 300+ still achieved something extraordinary, and no one’s going to take that accomplishment away from it.

So as everyone marvels at all the new debuts in Frankfurt, YouTube personality Supercar Blondie got to spend some time with the controversial Bugatti hypercar, and for more than 20 minutes, we get to see the Chiron Super Sport 300+ in a different light, completely removed from the spectacle of its record-setting run. Controversy notwithstanding, the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ is an incredible piece of machinery.

First of all, I understand where the controversy surrounding the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+’s record-setting run comes from. It doesn’t qualify as a “production car” in the technical sense because of the absence of a passenger seat and the inclusion of a roll cage. It also did just one top speed run. That’s one short of the requirements set by the Guinness Book of World Records, which requires performance cars to do two top speed runs and average the top speed of those two runs to come with the final number.

The Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ only did one. Bugatti claimed it was for “safety” reasons, and while I am inclined to believe that reasoning, I can’t begrudge anyone for thinking that Bugatti’s being a little cheeky with doing another top speed run out of fear that it wouldn’t come close to achieving the same speed as the record-breaking first run.

None of it matters to me, though. I’m less interested in the “record” than the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ and more interested in the car itself, specifically the engineering qualities that make it so special. That’s why this particular episode from Supercar Blondie’s YouTube channel is all sorts of intriguing. Like most people, SC knows about the controversy surrounding the Chiron Super Sport 300+. But unlike those who can’t seem to get past the issues, Supercar Blondie prefers to discuss the car with the people that played huge roles in its development.

When he didn’t look like he was flirting with Supercar Blondie, Bugatti Head of Exterior Design Frank Heyl provided a personal walk-around tour of the Chiron Super Sport 300+, pausing every so often to talk about specific aerodynamic modifications Bugatti made to ensure that the hypercar lives up to its “300+” billing. According to Heyl, those 10 extra inches are critical to the airflow that runs along the body of the hypercar.

The front section also benefits from several exclusive aerodynamic additions, all in the name of improving the hypercar’s airflow. The small eyebrows that sit just on top of the headlights help smoothen the airflow. The front section also benefits from new sources of ventilation, including the holes in the fender that are in place to reduce pressure in the wheel wells when the Chiron Super Sport 300+ is running at high speeds.

Then there’s the W-16 engine powering this madness of a hypercar. The W-16 unit produces 1,578 horsepower, a familiar number for those who followed another one of Bugatti’s recent releases. For those who do remember, that output is the same output produced by the W-16 engine inside the ultra-limited Centodieci. The setup of the Chiron Super Sport 300+’s exhaust system is also similar to that of the Centodieci. Turns out, these two high-priced exotics have for more in common than the Bugatti badges they’re wearing. And in somewhat of an interesting tidbit, Heyl claims that Bugatti developed the powertrain and exhaust system for the Chiron Super Sport 300+, meaning that the Centodieci, which made its debut a little earlier than the Chiron Super Sport 300+, actually owes its powertrain and exhaust system to the record-shattering hypercar.

Once Supercar Blondie finished her crash course education on the finer details of the Chiron Super Sport 300+ from Heyl, Bugatti's test driver, Andy Wallace, stopped by for a chat regarding the experience of driving 300 mph in a road car. To the shock of absolutely no one, Wallace admitted that it’s far more difficult to drive in a straight line at that speed, in part due to how sensitive the car becomes, even to the slightest of movements. It comes to a point, Wallace said, that steering input at that speed is so sensitive that the slightest adjustment could lead to serious consequences. Imagining that scenario in my head is already scary enough; try putting yourselves in the shoes of Wallace.

Fortunately, Bugatti didn’t just tell Wallace to jump into the Chiron Super Sport 300+ and drop the hammer like nobody’s business. Extensive testing and data analysis went into ensuring that the hypercar could reach 300 mph without any danger to the driver sitting behind the wheel of the car.

Say what you will about the legitimacy of that “record” — the official Guinness World Record still belongs to the Koenigsegg Agera RS — but even if the Chiron Super Sport 300+ didn’t do a second run, no one can deny that what it accomplished when it broke the 300-mph top speed barrier will go down the history books as ceiling-shattering achievement for Bugatti.

There is, after all, a reason why, as Supercar Blondie pointed out, Bugatti is keeping the condition of the Chiron Super Sport 300+ intact as it was when it broke 300 mph. That’s history preservation at it’s finest.

Further Reading

The Bugatti Chiron Has Officially Broken 300 MPH, But It's Not a Production Model

Read our full review on the 2018 Bugatti Chiron.

Read our full review on the 2018 Bugatti Chiron Sport.