The Bugatti Veyron is the fastest and most expensive, street-legal car money can buy. Mike Gallagher races after it
Lock up your Lamborghinis, park your Porsches and flog your Ferraris. The car that every man and boy racer wants to be seen at the wheel of is the Bugatti Veyron. This is the car that the BBC's Jeremy Clarkson, in his normal understated way described as "utterly, stunningly, jaw droppingly brilliant."
"Other cars are small guesthouses on the front at Brighton and the Bugatti is the Burj Al Arab. It makes even the Enzo and the Porsche Carrera GT feel slow and pointless. It is a triumph for lunacy over common sense, a triumph for man over nature and a triumph for Volkswagen over absolutely every other car maker in the world," he said in an article in The Times.
At $1.7 million, the 16 cylinder, 1001bhp, 7-speed DSG Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is far and away the most expensive street-legal car money can buy.
John Phillips of Car and Driver magazine said, "Driving a Bugatti Veyron is like carrying a 14.6-foot-long open wallet that is spewing 50-dollar bills. Drivers rush up from behind, tailgating before swerving into either of the Veyron's rear-three-quarter blind spots, where they hang ape-like out of windows to snap photos with their cell phones. They won't leave, either, because they know the Bugatti, averaging 11 mpg, can't go far without refuelling and that its driver will soon need to take a minute to compose himself."
The car was named in honour Pierre Veyron, who won the Le Mans 24 hour race in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti company.
The car has a top speed of 253mph (407kph), thanks to four turbochargers and a seven speed Direct-Shift Gearbox computer-controlled manual gearbox which comes in the form of paddles which are located behind the steering wheel and engage the engine and change gear in less than 150 milliseconds.
While it takes this exceptional car only 2.5 seconds to go from zero to 100 km/h, it needs even less time - a mere 2.3 seconds - to come to a standstill from 100. To reduce the risk of injuries in accidents, Bugatti had a Formula 1 safety concept adapted for the Veyron.
The Electronic Stability Program (ESP) ensures the necessary flexibility and manoeuvrability at any speed. The Veyron reaches velocities that would literally lift the car off the ground - if it weren't for its ingenious aerodynamics, which keeps it firmly on the road even at full speed.
The Veyron's central nervous system consists of three data buses - one for the driveline, one for the convenience functions, and one for the internal diagnostics system. A total of 26 control devices are connected to these buses. This digital network comprises the car's complete intelligence system: from engine regulation to electric windows; from rear spoiler control to GPS. In place of a traditional network, Bugatti equipped the Veyron with a lightweight onboard network also used in aviation technology. This saves 5kg of weight and also offers extreme temperature resistance.
James May, Clarkson's co-presenter on the BBC's Top Gear probably summed it up best when he declared that the Veyron is "our Concorde moment."
© Banker Middle East 2009
