NEW CARS

Farewell to a Monster: Bugatti Builds the Final Bolide

Bugatti doesn’t do half-measures. When the French marque decides to close a chapter, it does so with the kind of operatic flourish only Molsheim can deliver. And now, after years of engineering brinkmanship, sleepless testing cycles, and a return to the brand’s purest racing ideals, the final Bugatti Bolide rolls out of the Atelier—an exclamation point at the end of one of the most daring experiments in modern hypercar history.

The Bolide wasn’t born as a product. It began as a question: What if Bugatti pushed the W16 to its absolute physical limits in a track-only package?
In August 2021, that question left the sketchbook and entered engineering reality. According to Bugatti CTO Emilio Scervo, “it was a brand-new concept, in the very early design stages,” a clean sheet that demanded the brand reconcile two opposing forces: ruthless motorsport performance and the near-obsessive craftsmanship expected of anything wearing the Bugatti badge.

And that tension shaped everything that followed.

The Pursuit of Purity

“Perfect track car” is a phrase thrown around freely—but Bugatti didn’t want just fast. They wanted a car usable by a gentleman racer, yet potent enough to challenge professionals. That dual-purpose philosophy became the backbone of the Bolide’s development.

Through 2021 and into 2022, engineers dove into the deep end:

  • Breath-by-breath analysis of airflow through the Bolide’s skeletal body
  • Weight-paranoia at a molecular level
  • Tolerance checks worthy of aerospace labs
  • Tens of thousands of hours of simulations and refinements

By 2022, the design was locked. Early 2023 saw engineering sign-off, and the first prototypes roared to life.

Le Mans: Where Theory Meets Tarmac

The Bolide’s public trial by fire happened at a fitting location—the 100th anniversary of Le Mans in 2023. Draped in a livery honoring Bugatti’s pre-war racing triumphs, the hypercar hit 350 km/h on the Mulsanne with Bugatti’s official test driver Andy Wallace behind the wheel.

But that was just the midpoint of its education.

From summer 2023 through early 2024, Bugatti committed to a relentless test program. Days started before sunrise. Nights ended long after the circuits went dark. Debriefs stretched past midnight; mechanics worked through dawn. Downtime was counted in minutes.

This isn’t how most “ultra-luxury special editions” are validated. This is how race cars are born.

A Bugatti Must Be More Than Numbers

Even at full attack, engineering wasn’t the only target. Bugatti refused to let the Bolide exist as a raw, temporary track tool. It had to reach the same level of finish and longevity as the Chiron or any roadgoing Bugatti.

“Motorsport prioritizes parts that can be changed quickly,” Bugatti president Christophe Piochon explained. “A Bugatti is created to stand the test of time.”

So the Bolide became something unusual:
A hypercar that behaves like a prototype racer on track—yet is built like a bespoke, heirloom-grade object of art.

The Last of the 40

Only 40 Bolides will ever exist. The final example is something deeper than a production number—it’s a personal epilogue to Bugatti’s W16 era.

Commissioned by a longtime collector, its specification is a love letter to Bugatti history. The colorway draws directly from the owner’s beloved Type 35, echoing the “French Racing Blue” lineage that has defined Bugatti competition cars for generations. The same tones appear on his Veyron Grand Sport—the last one ever made—creating a trilogy only possible through decades of loyalty to the Molsheim marque.

This final Bolide wears:

  • Black Blue and Special Blue Lyonnais exterior highlights
  • Lake Blue Alcantara throughout the cabin
  • French flag accents
  • Light Blue Sport interior stitching

The delivery ceremony was intimate, framed not as a transaction but a shared milestone. A final handshake in a story that stretches from the Type 35 to the ultimate W16 track machine.

The Legacy of the Bolide

With production now concluded, each Bolide stands as a monument to Bugatti’s philosophy that performance and beauty aren’t mutually exclusive—they’re inseparable. More than that, the car proves that even in an era of electrification and software-defined performance, there’s still room for mechanical audacity.

The Bolide is not just the end of something.
It’s the last verse of an engine that reshaped the modern hypercar world.

Bugatti built 40 examples. The final one is now spoken for. And just like that, the W16 thunder grows a little quieter—leaving behind a legacy as loud as the machine itself.

Source: Bugatti

News

Bentley Brings Back the Carbon Fibre Styling Spec—Now More Advanced and More Exclusive

Bentley isn’t usually the brand you look to for subtlety, and its latest update to the Continental GT, GTC, and Flying Spur proves that Crewe still knows how to make a 5,500-pound grand tourer feel like a motorsport trophy on wheels. Enter the new Carbon Fibre Styling Specification, a fully reengineered aesthetic and aerodynamic package aimed at customers who want their six-figure cruiser served with a sizeable portion of track-inspired aggression.

And judging by Bentley’s own numbers—one in four previous-generation cars left the factory fitted with the Styling Specification—the appetite for carbon isn’t going anywhere.

A Mulliner-Level Makeover

This latest iteration expands availability dramatically. Previously limited to a narrower slice of Bentley’s portfolio, the carbon package is now open to every variant of the Continental GT, GTC, and Flying Spur, and even makes its way to the Bentayga lineup. More importantly, the Styling Specification has returned to Mulliner, Bentley’s bespoke division, where personalization borders on obsessive. Buyers can now commission carbon components that align with the handcrafted ethos of the brand’s highest tier.

The public got its first look at the refreshed kit on a Continental GT Speed in Orange Flame, shown at the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed—because of course Bentley would debut a carbon-festooned grand tourer by sending it up the hill in front of several hundred thousand car obsessives.

Hand-Laid Carbon with Motorsport Intent

The package includes a front splitter, full-length side sills with electroformed Bentley badges, a more comprehensive rear diffuser, and mirror caps, all constructed from multiple layers of structural carbon weave. Bentley insists this is not a styling exercise grafted onto existing bodywork: every component has been developed from scratch alongside the fourth-generation models.

True to Mulliner form, each piece is mirror-matched across the centerline, just like the wood veneers inside the cabin. The side sill badges deserve special attention—each is a three-dimensional electroformed piece, with a faceted, jewelry-like finish created specifically to avoid lacquer bubbles and micro-imperfections. It’s a tiny detail, but one that showcases how Bentley can turn even a performance add-on into a craftsman’s showcase.

Looks Good, Works Hard

The carbon fibre hardware doesn’t just sharpen curbside presence; it actually contributes to performance. Bentley’s new Performance Hybrid powertrains put out a monstrous 782 PS and 1,000 Nm, enough to shove the Continental GT to 62 mph in 3.2 seconds. That kind of thrust needs aerodynamic stability, not just swagger.

Bentley says the components underwent over 100,000 kilometers of durability testing, plus intensive lab-based stress cycles. The new reinforced front splitter is now twice as thick as before—engineered as a functional aerodynamic tool rather than a cosmetic flourish.

Pair the carbon package with the titanium Akrapovič exhaust and the Blackline Specification, and suddenly Bentley’s gentlemanly grand tourers take on a darker, more focused demeanor. Not quite a race car, but certainly a statement that this new generation of Continental and Flying Spur isn’t all about quiet luxury.

For New Buyers—and the Already Converted

Uniquely, the Carbon Fibre Styling Specification is available not just on newly commissioned cars but also as a retrofit for existing fourth-generation models. That gives current owners a chance to bring their cars up to the latest visual and aerodynamic standard—a rare move for an ultra-luxury brand, and one that signals Bentley’s understanding of its audience: owners who want the newest specification, even if their car is already parked in the garage.

Bentley’s new carbon fibre suite doesn’t reinvent the Continental GT or Flying Spur, but it sharpens their personalities in all the right places. It’s more cohesive than the outgoing package, more widely available, and engineered with enough functional credibility to justify its existence.

If you want a grand tourer with the poise of a luxury yacht and the attitude of a Le Mans pit lane, this is Bentley giving you exactly that—and doing it with a level of craftsmanship no other brand can quite match.

Source: Bentley

Restoration

A £900 Dream, Fifty Years in the Making: The Remarkable Rebirth of a 1965 Aston Martin DB5

In an age when collector cars trade hands like digital tokens and stories sometimes feel manufactured to inflate hammer prices, every so often a tale surfaces that reminds us why we love cars in the first place. This one begins in 1973 with an 18-year-old Welsh welder, a pocket full of hard-earned cash, and a train bound for London. It ends—well, for now—half a century later in Newport Pagnell, where Aston Martin Works has completed one of the most heartfelt restorations in its 70-year history.

A Teenager, a Train Ticket, and a Dream

Back in 1972, John Williams set himself a mission that would seem delusional for most teenagers today: buy an Aston Martin DB5. Not a poster of a DB5. Not a die-cast. The real thing.

Williams saved for more than a year, grabbed every overtime shift he could, and eventually scraped together £900—about £15,000 in today’s currency. In September 1973, at just 19, he made the long train ride from North Wales to London to see a used, slightly tired 1965 DB5 advertised in Motorsport magazine. The ad promised “many bills,” wire wheels, Sundym electric windows, and—most enticingly—the higher-output Vantage engine breathing through Weber carburetors.

It was, as Williams recalls, the car. His dream. And it was his.

Four Years of Glory, Then Four Decades of Quiet

Williams drove the DB5 home to Wales and used it as his daily for four years. Then life, as it tends to, intervened. A job in the Middle East. A growing family. Other priorities. The DB5 ended up on his driveway, uncovered and unused.

His wife, Sue, remembers local kids bouncing on the bonnet and one even snapping off the exhaust. Offers to buy the car came and went. Money got tight at times. But Williams held firm. As Sue told him: “You’ll never get another one.”

She was right.

Resurrection at the Source

In 2022—nearly 50 years after Williams parked the car—he and Sue delivered the DB5 “home” to Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell. More than 13,000 classic Astons were built here over five decades, and if any place could bring this car back from the brink, it was this one.

The DB5 arrived in a profoundly worn-down state. But it was also something special: a 1965 right-hand-drive DB5 saloon, factory-finished in Silver Birch, equipped with the coveted Vantage engine. Only 39 cars left the factory with this exact configuration.

The Works team stripped it to bare metal, restored the chassis and Superleggera frame, and hand-formed each aluminum panel. Williams and his wife visited throughout the build, watching younger craftsmen carry on the same techniques used in the 1960s.

More than 2,500 hours later, the car emerged not merely restored, but renewed.

A DB5 Better Than New

Aston Martin Works president Paul Spires calls the project “a lovely story,” and the finished car is nothing short of stunning—Silver Birch shimmering exactly as it did six decades ago, Weber trumpets gleaming in the light, the cabin trimmed with a precision that borders on obsessive.

Although Spires politely declines to dwell on numbers, he suggests that a DB5 of this specification and provenance could bring “up to £1 million” if it ever returned to the market. Not bad for a £900 investment.

But selling isn’t on the table. For the Williams family, this was never about flipping a classic. It was about reclaiming a piece of their own life story.

Reunited with “His Girl”

When John Williams slid behind the wheel of his restored DB5 a few days ago, it had been nearly 50 years since he last drove it.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said, visibly emotional. “But it’s been worth every penny. My girl’s back and up and running—back to her former glory.”

In an automotive landscape obsessed with instant gratification, this DB5 stands as a reminder that the truest form of car enthusiasm isn’t driven by resale values or concours trophies. It’s driven by commitment. By memory. By the kid inside all of us who once pointed at a car and said, One day.

John Williams made that day happen. It just took half a century—and a whole lot of heart—to get there.

Source: Aston Martin

Cars and catalogues