When the FIA Boss Shreds Tires in a 1,577 HP Hypercar
The man who governs global motorsport apparently doesn't just talk the talk.
He obliterates tires in a Bugatti Bolide at Dubai Autodrome.
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem recently unleashed his personal Bugatti Bolide on track, proving that motorsport's top bureaucrat still has petrol pumping through his veins.
The 14-time Middle East Rally Champion didn't just parade the hypercar around for Instagram clout.
He hammered it. Hard.
How hard? The Bolide's tires lasted just 36 miles before surrendering to physics and Ben Sulayem's right foot.
A Monster Unleashed
The Bugatti Bolide isn't your dentist's weekend plaything.
It's an 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 beast producing 1,577 horsepower in a package designed exclusively for track domination.
This isn't Bugatti's typical luxo-barge with speed. The Bolide strips away comfort for pure, unadulterated performance:
- 0-100 km/h in 2.2 seconds – quicker than most people can say "Bugatti Bolide"
- Top speed exceeding 311 mph – theoretical, of course, unless you've got a salt flat handy
- Simulated Nürburgring lap time of 5:23.1 – rivaling purpose-built race prototypes
The track-focused hypercar represents Bugatti engineering unleashed from road regulations and comfort compromises.
From Rally Champion to Hypercar Pilot
Ben Sulayem's driving credentials run deep.
Before becoming the suit who runs Formula 1's governing body, he dominated Middle Eastern rallying for decades, clinching 14 championship titles.
He founded Ben Sulayem Performance, specializing in modifying high-performance vehicles.
His history with Dubai Autodrome isn't spotless. In 2009, he crashed a Renault F1 car there but walked away unscathed.
Now he's back, older and wiser, but clearly no less enthusiastic about pushing mechanical limits.
When Rubber Meets Reality
The Bolide's track session reveals the brutal reality of hypercar ownership.
Thirty-six miles. That's all it took to shred the tires on Ben Sulayem's multi-million dollar track toy.
That's approximately $30,000 in rubber gone in less time than it takes to watch a Marvel movie.
For context, F1 cars can run entire race distances on a handful of tire sets. The Bolide devours them like popcorn.
This is the hidden tax of hypercar ownership that brochures don't advertise: consumables that evaporate at warp speed under actual performance conditions.
But when you're the FIA President with 14 rally championships, perhaps tire budgets are just another line item in the pursuit of speed.
