Bugatti Bolide Faces Radical Transformation Into Road-Legal Form

Turning race-bred exotica into road-legal curiosities has become something of a specialty for Britain’s Lanzante, and its latest undertaking is nothing short of audacious: converting the Bugatti Bolide, a machine designed purely for the closed circuit, into a car that can be registered and driven on public roads.

Conceived as one of the most extreme hypercars of the modern era, the Bolide is a stripped-down, feather-light missile with Chiron-derived carbon monocoque, razor-edge aerodynamics and Bugatti’s thunderous 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 delivering 1,600 horsepower. The result is staggering performance, with a sprint from zero to 100 km/h dispatched in just 2.2 seconds.

By design, however, the Bolide is not intended to see public tarmac. Production is capped at only 40 examples, each built exclusively for track use, and none in factory form are certified for road registration.

This is precisely where Lanzante’s expertise comes in. The British atelier has made a name for itself engineering the improbable into reality, previously homologating the Pagani Zonda R, McLaren P1 GTR, McLaren Senna GTR and, most recently, the Red Bull RB17 hypercar for road use. The Bolide is simply the latest—and perhaps boldest—chapter in that ongoing story.

The conversion is not without hurdles. Safety compliance is a given, but the most immediate challenge lies beneath the car: its bespoke racing slicks cost around 8,000 dollars each and wear out in less than 60 kilometers. Swapping them for street-durable tires will be among the many steps necessary to tame the Bolide for everyday use.

Deen Lanzante, who heads the workshop, has confirmed that the project is already underway. Whether Bugatti itself is involved remains unknown; all indications point to this being a private commission carried out directly between the car’s owner and Lanzante, independent of the factory.