Continental Develops Racing Brake Control System for Bugatti Bolide Supercar

On November 6, Continental developed an electronic brake control system for the Bugatti Bolide, a super sports car equipped with an anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic stability control (ESC) and traction control system (TCS). The electronic brake control system is based on the "Motorsports ABS Kit from Continental Engineering Services (CES)".

Image source: Continental

The motorsport brake control system allows both professional racing drivers and racing enthusiasts to control the 1,600-horsepower car. The Bugatti Bolide is an extremely powerful racing car from the super sports car manufacturer that is only approved for use on race tracks. Originally a concept car based on the Bugatti Chiron production car, the Bolide is currently limited to 40 units, with the first deliveries scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024.

Continental Engineering Services (CES), Continental's in-house development and engineering services provider, and Bugatti have been collaborating on advanced developments for many years, especially for the Bugatti Chiron and Bugatti Veyron models. The current project stands out for the development and integration of hardware and software components, since racing cars that are not approved for road use are mainly optimized for top performance and do not usually feature such complex driving dynamics systems.

Christian Willmann, Chief Engineer of the Bugatti Bolide, explains: “ESC systems have never been combined with carbon-carbon brakes – until now. With the Bolide, we have achieved this breakthrough and created a solution based on Continental Racing’s brake control system that exceeds our expectations in terms of performance, stability and safety. Continental’s racing ABS makes the Bolide even better.”

"We are very proud to have pushed the boundaries together with Bugatti on this extraordinary project," added Volker van Lier, Head of the Chassis and Braking Systems business unit at CES. "Developing brake control technology for a super sports car is a unique discipline in which Continental Engineering Services has extensive experience. Making the car controllable not only for professional racing drivers but for all drivers is a particularly interesting challenge for us."

Challenge: Make a 1,600-horsepower supercar accessible to everyone

CES was able to contribute its many years of experience working for Bugatti and in the field of motorsport to this sports car project. The development services provider had previously developed brake control systems for the Veyron and Chiron production super sports cars (the Bolide is based on the Chiron platform). In addition, CES also supplies all its motorsport customers with the basic motorsport ABS, which has now been adapted and enhanced for the Bugatti Bolide with new features.

Image source: Mainland China

In developing a custom product, the CES Motorsports team addressed the challenge of making a vehicle with outstanding driving dynamics accessible to all drivers. Despite the vehicle's 1,600 horsepower, the vehicle's acceleration and braking forces need to be precisely managed to ensure safe steering and handling. The vehicle dynamics control system makes this possible. The traction control system regulates the output of the 1,600 horsepower to provide maximum propulsion in every situation. The anti-lock brake system ensures optimal braking performance regardless of external conditions, while the electronic stability control system maintains the vehicle's stability even during complex maneuvers.

Exclusive vehicles of this type, not developed for use on public roads, must meet the high demands of professional racing drivers while guaranteeing safety for less experienced drivers. The solution is a brake control system that allows individual driving dynamics functions to be activated or deactivated as required.

The Bolide's brake control system offers five different driving modes for the combination of the anti-lock brake system and the electronic stability and traction control. These modes range from pure racing mode, gradual activation of driving dynamics control and extensive use of electronic assistance. The driver can adjust the driving characteristics directly on the steering wheel according to the track, weather conditions and tire state. If the brake balance between the front and rear axles is adjusted, the flexible system of CES can handle these changes seamlessly. This enables excellent braking performance at all times - regardless of whether the tires are cold or have reached optimal warm-up after a few laps on the track.

Software expertise combined with motorsport expertise

The extreme physical forces common in motorsport proved to be a particular challenge. Braking the 1,600 kg sports car generates decelerations of up to 2.5 g, more than twice the maximum deceleration of a road-legal vehicle. Aerodynamic downforce at high speeds also had to be taken into account in the control strategy of the CES racing brake control system: a vehicle travelling at 380 km/h exerts more than twice the load on the wheels at high speeds than at rest. To meet these extreme requirements, the experts at CES had to adapt and expand the in-house software package for the basic racing ABS – the control function algorithms were enhanced to control the extraordinary dynamics of the Bolide. Thanks to these optimisations, the systems are also able to fully exploit their impressive performance when interacting with racing components such as the carbon-carbon brake system and special endurance slicks.