Mate Rimac says Bugatti’s next target is the 500kmh barrier

On the day the Bugatti Mistral scorched to 282mph (453kmh) to become the fastest roadster on the planet, TopGear.com caught up with Bugatti chief Mate Rimac to ask him about his latest world record… and what he wants to do next.

TopGear.com: Congratulations Mate, another day at the office for you, another record smashed. 282mph. Can you just tell us a little bit about how this project came about? Because we didn't expect the Mistral to set a record.

Mate Rimac: Actually the customer came up with the idea – the customer's son – at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Where else? He said they had already the World Record Edition of the Veyron and Chiron, and wouldn't it be great to have a World Record Edition of the Mistral?

And we were then thinking about it, and said "Yeah, why not?" So we really listened to our customers and we were like, "why don't we just make one special for you because it's so important to you?" And that's what we did.

TG: How do you deal with all the customers when they find out there's only one of these? They're all surely going to come to you and say ‘I want one as well’. How do you manage that?

MR: We have special programmes that we do with our customers, so the cars are becoming more and more customised. Every car is actually really special. We are currently at half a million euros of customisation per car. So every Mistral is really very highly individualised already.

But then with some customers, we go another step and make something truly unique in this case where it's just a one-off.

TG: It's a great way to say goodbye to the W16 engine. It feels like we've been saying goodbye to it for a while, but this is a great swansong for it, but you've got to want to set more records. What's next?

MR: Well, this is the 33rd record in my life where I participated. I set five world records with the BMW E30 15-16 years ago. And then the [Rimac] Nevera set 27 world records last year, and this is now the first one with Bugatti. But I believe it's all about pushing the limits, raising the bar.

These kinds of cars are of course for people who can afford it. Great customers of ours. But I think they’re also to explore what's possible. We have the guys from Michelin here. We are pushing the tyre technology, the limits of tyres higher. Tyres today compared to 30 years ago are a completely different level.

TG: I saw you having a quiet chat with the gentlemen from Michelin and I thought, are you asking for a tyre that can do 500 kilometres an hour?

MR: That was exactly our discussion. I figured out that the guys who are here are actually responsible for this kind of high performance and racing tyres. And I'm like “Can you do this? Can you do that? Where's the limit?”

One of the questions was, “What's the maximum static load at zero kilometres per hour on the front and rear axle of the Turian tyre? And they were like “What? Why are you asking that?” Some of the very technical customers might know why I'm asking that.

So it's those kind of things. And the next question was “Can we put the ‘five’ in front of the top speed record?” Maybe next. Let's see…