There’s something about speed that enchants us. We never quite make it to the point where we say, “good enough” — the next big thing is always coming, and it must beat what preceded it. It’s simply human nature to try and outdo ourselves, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing in the auto industry these days.

Bugatti just took the wraps off its latest missile at the Geneva International Motor Show. They call it the Chiron, pronounced “shiron” for those looking to sound French. Its 8.0L W16 engine puts out a mind-boggling 1500 horsepower, on its way to a limited top speed of 261 mph. The actual top speed is reported to be significantly higher than the road limited number, but Bugatti is being hush hush about what it will really do. Once again, Bugatti has made the fastest production sports car in the world, and it could be yours for a paltry $2.6 million.

The ability to pilot a car that can go as fast as the Chiron is an engineering miracle. Every force exerted on the car is exponentially higher the faster you go, which makes each and every tick up the speedometer another problem for the engineers to solve.

So while this technological phenomenon is great to talk about and look at on paper, what’s the point of it all? There are only a few places in the world where you could feasibly reach the top speed because of the need for an endless stretch of pavement. The true potential of a car like this cannot even be halfway unlocked on public roads, since in just a little over six seconds you’re going 120 mph. Unlike the Autobahn in Germany, we have realistic speed limits. So if we try and use the car for its intended purpose, there’s a good chance we’d end up in jail.

The reason companies like Bugatti make cars like this is to be able to say they’re the fastest. Before the Veyron came out in 2005, no one had even bothered to try and beat the McLaren F1’s record of 243 mph. Bugatti set out on a mission to beat that speed, and the company ended up crushing it with the Veyron, putting its name at the top of the list for fastest production cars.

This relentless pursuit of top speed has been pursued by other companies as well. Koenigsegg has the One:1 with an untested but theoretical top speed of 273 mph. The Hennessey Venom GT has been clocked at 270 mph, but it’s not a production road car.

I’m as big a car enthusiast as they come, but for some reason these numbers just don’t excite me. They’re jaw-dropping and fascinating, but these outlandish speed records don’t mean anything for the everyday driver.

We’re fast approaching 300 mph. Though not predicted to make it there quite yet, the Chiron’s analog speedometer has digits reading up to 310 mph. I have no doubt that we’ll see somebody come out with a car that does make it to that terrifying speed one day. Not long ago we were entranced by the Porsche 959 which teased 200 mph and the Ferrari F40 that finally broke the 200 mph barrier. The game has changed with manufacturers upping the ante higher than ever every few years.

Most of us won’t exceed speeds of much over 100 mph in our lifetimes, so to imagine driving a car that goes three times that speed is almost comedic. I grew up with the McLaren F1 as a dream car because it was a complete automobile made for one purpose — to be the ultimate road car. The point of that car wasn’t to engineer it to a number, but the company made such a perfect machine that it crushed the competition in the top speed department anyways.

What Bugatti has done with the Veyron and what they’re doing now with the Chiron is commendable, but I think they’ve strayed from the reality that consumers live in. The people lucky enough to eventually buy a Chiron have something that should be considered a modern engineering wonder. But somehow, it doesn’t feel all that wondrous.

Zac Palmer is a sophomore magazine journalism major. His column appears weekly in Pulp. He can be reached at zipalmer@syr.edu.

Published on March 6, 2016 at 10:16 pm