The mighty 1,578hp Bugatti Mistral has just set a new top speed record for the fastest open-top car, clocking 282mph at the Papenburg test track in northern Germany.

It was driven by Bugatti’s British test driver and Le Mans winner, Andy Wallace, who also set the closed-car top speed record of 304.7mph in the Chiron Super Sport 300+ back in 2019.

The Mistral smashed the previous open-top record held by a Hennessey Venom GT Spyder, which clocked 265.6mph way back in 2016.

“Throughout the testing program leading up to this moment, it was incredible to feel how stable the car felt – I got the sense that it wanted to go faster,” explained Andy.

“And when it came to the moment itself, the experience was overwhelmingly thrilling; feeling the elemental forces from the open-top cockpit, the sound of the immense W16 engine emanating from the air scoops next to my ear – it made the achievement incredibly emotional.”

Named after a southerly French wind, the quad-turbocharged 8.0-litre W16 Mistral is a one of 99 limited-edition Bugatti roadsters, which use the same underpinnings as the Chiron Super Sport.