How do you follow a car like the Veyron? With the 1103kW, 420km/h Chiron – excess is only the starting point.

It’s the calm before the storm. On a blurry-eyed Sunday morning on the outskirts of Lisbon, the gleaming two-tone piece of automotive art is dormant on a cobblestone driveway. Even more so than the Veyron, Bugatti’s second hypercar effort is a statement of extreme technology and mind-boggling wealth. Now more than two-metres wide without wing mirrors, but only 1212mm tall, the mighty mid-engined Chiron automatically switches all six senses into overload.

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As soon as you give the Chiron some stick, however, the only target your eyes must concentrate on is the road. A head-up display would be nice to have given the ferocious pace, but assistance systems in general are conspicuous by their absence. “In a puristic driving machine like this, less is more,” CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer says, and there isn’t the faintest trace of a smile on his face.

“Give it a try again once we’re past exit 12,” I hear from my eager side kick. I don’t need to be told twice. When it does come into sight, the straight is shorter than expected, but I tell myself, ‘what the heck, let’s do this’. The fast, blind left hander leading on to it tugs on the neck muscles – 265km/h and still going strong. A couple of seconds later the road opens up again, but at 325km/h and counting, even the widest road narrows fast. One small camber change is all it takes for the Chiron to briefly straddle the dotted line. You see, at 350km/h progress is a funnel-shaped experience, becoming increasingly blurred on both sides of the flight path. Objects are coming and going almost too fast for the human eye to comprehend.

And yet, all you hear are the slight sneezes from the turbos and their wastegates, the rolling thunder of the Michelins, the grinding noise of the brakes and the quadrophonic full-throttle upshifts. The twin-clutch is energetic, but not ruthlessly so, the ride is firm, but at all times sufficiently compliant and the ergonomics are intuitive – it works as a car, not just a supercar.

Of the 500 Chirons, more than 260 are already spoken for. Order one today, and chances are you will take delivery of a modified and more powerful version. The only available options are of the cosmetic kind, like a full carbon fibre exterior in the tint of your choice, which costs $350K extra. But then, money is no object to the typical Bugatti customer. Ultimately, true speed junkies must do whatever it takes to climb behind the wheel of this epic piece of machinery.

BUGATTI CHIRON

Star Rating: 5 Stars

Body: 2-door, 2-seat coupe Drive: all-wheel drive Engine: 7993cc W16, DOHC, 64v, quad-turbo Bore/Stroke: 86.0 x 86.0mm Compression: N/A Power: 1103kW @ 6700rpm Torque: 1600Nm @ 2000-6000rpm Power/Weight: 553kW/tonne Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch Weight: 1995kg Suspension: double wishbone, adaptive dampers, anti-roll bar (f/r) L/W/H: 4544/2038/1212mm Wheelbase: 2711mm Tracks: N/A Steering: electrically-assisted rack-and-pinion Brakes (F): 420mm ventilated carbon-ceramic discs, 8-piston calipers Brakes (R): 400mm ventilated carbon-ceramic discs, 4-piston calipers Wheels: 20.0 x 8.5-inch (f), 21.0 x 11.0-inch (r) Tyre Sizes: 285/30 R20 (f), 355/25 R21 (r) Tyre: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 Price: AUD$3.5m (estimated) Pros: Unlimited power; engaging handling Cons: Weight; price; thirst