Bugatti Tourbillon Tire Development Reaches Key Milestone at Michelin Facility
Bugatti and Michelin have identified the optimal tire specification for the Tourbillon hypercar after months of testing at Michelin's Ladoux facility.
- 1,800 PS
- 3
- 3+ years
What Happened
For the Tourbillon hypercar, the tires are the critical link between its 1,800 PS hybrid powertrain and the road. Bugatti and Michelin collaborated to develop bespoke tires, tested at Michelin's Ladoux facility in summer 2025. The team narrowed down multiple concepts to three tire sets through simulation and virtual development before physical testing.
- Frozen proving grounds in Sweden
- High-speed circuit at Nardò
- Michelin's Ladoux test facility in France
“The tire is the most important part. You only have four small contact patches connecting the car to the ground. What happens there defines everything else.”
“In the end, we are developing cars for people. We cannot develop everything just with computer technology. We need the drivers and this emotional, subjective factor in the whole story.”
Why this matters
For a 1,800 PS hybrid hypercar like the Tourbillon, the tires are the only contact with the road, making their bespoke development critical to safety and performance.
Terms in This Story
- Hypercar
- A high-performance sports car with extreme speed and power.
- Bespoke tires
- Custom-designed tires made specifically for a particular vehicle.
- Hybrid powertrain
- A propulsion system that combines an internal combustion engine with one or more electric motors.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.