Bugatti made headlines, to say the least, when it pushed a Chiron beyond 304 miles per hour at the Volkswagen Group's Ehra-Lessien test track in Germany, becoming in the process the first automaker to crack the 300-mph barrier. But the car in which it achieved the record wasn't exactly "showroom stock."

In highlighting the circumstances surrounding the event, the French marque revealed that the record-setting car was, in fact, "a pre-production vehicle of a new Chiron derivative." And that's more than enough to get our minds racing as fast as... well, a Bugatti on a high-speed run.

So just what "new Chiron derivative" might Bugatti be working on? If we had to guess – and that's kinda part of our jobs here – we'd venture that a Chiron Super Sport is on the way.

It is, after all, something that we've been anticipating pretty much ever since Bugatti revealed the Chiron nearly three and a half years ago. Both the EB110 and the Veyron that preceded the Chiron yielded subsequent Super Sport versions – the former's output increased from 553 horsepower to 603 hp, and the latter's from 987 hp to 1,184 hp – differences of 8.6 and 18 percent, respectively.

Apply the same increase to the 1,479 horsepower produced by the existing Chiron's 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 engine and you'd be looking at somewhere in the range of 1,600 to 1,750 horsepower. For what it's worth, the limited-edition Centodieci packs an upgraded version of that same engine, tuned to produce 1,578 hp. And that's what's rumored to have powered the modified Chiron Sport that set the record, which also tellingly incorporated a rather McLaren-like extended tail section. It also sported a different exhaust system, with a pair of stacked dual tailpipes like on the Centodieci instead of the trapezoidal arrangement on the standard Chiron or the four side-by-side on the Chiron Sport.

The prototype was also outfitted for the record run with six-point harnesses and a roll cage with help from race-car constructor Dallara (which helped with development of both the Veyron and Chiron) and reinforced (but still street-legal) versions of the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires used on the road-going Chiron. We wouldn't count on those modifications to be fitted to the prospective Chiron Super Sport, explicit and specific confirmation of which we've admittedly yet to receive. But let's just say we won't be the least bit surprised when Bugatti reveals exactly that.