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| Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport 2010 |
No vehicle of the 21st century has created such a stir as the Bugatti Veyron, because no vehicle in the 21st century has produced performance figures like the Bugatti Veyron. Like the Ferrari Testarossa and Lamborghini Countach, this car would become a fixture on many a child’s bedroom wall, inspiring future generations of automotive enthusiasts and speed freaks. Nearly six years would pass as the Veyron went from concept to production, and there must have been tears in the eyes of those who worked on the car when the production version finally appeared at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 2005, for they had achieved what many thought to be impossible.
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| Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport 2010 |
The Veyron was the brainchild of Ferdinand Piëch, the chairman of the Volkswagen Group and a former engineer who worked on many automotive greats, such as the Porsche 917 and the Audi Quattro. Piëch directed Volkswagen to purchase the Bugatti name in 1998, and he instructed his engineers to design a car that could reach a top speed of 400 km/h with an output of over 1,000 horsepower; this was a request that many thought was utterly ludicrous. Such requests were typical of Piëch, who pressured engineers into producing the 2002 Volkswagen Phaeton, which Piëch insisted must be able to sustain being driven all day at 300 km/h at 50 degrees Celsius whilst still maintaining an interior temperature of 22.2 degrees Celsius.
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| Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport 2010 |
During development of the Veyron two years later, the primary question plaguing the engineers was how can they create a powerplant capable of getting a road legal automobile to 250 mph? Their solution was to bolt two W-8 engines together, to create a W-16 configuration, and then add four turbochargers. In a documentary about the Veyron’s development and construction by National Geographic, an engineer recalled the first time the Veyron’s engine was run at full throttle at Volkswagen’s Salzgitter, Germany, facility in 2001. The engine produced so much heat that it completely overwhelmed the building’s exhaust system on the roof, which almost went up in flames as a result. Months would be spent engineering the cooling and exhaust systems on the Veyron. Further development was riddled with similar setbacks, and since no car had ever reached such speeds, no one knew how the components would react under such pressure. Like the early days of the space program, these engineers were truly in uncharted territory.
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| Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport 2010 |
Fine attention to detail is necessary to build a supercar capable of such speeds, and as a result, almost every part on the Veyron has been hand built. Hundreds of hours are spent handcrafting such parts as the car’s 10 radiators, its carbon-ceramic brake discs, and even the tyres, which have been produced especially for the Veyron by Michelin. Bugatti employs just eight specialists to build the massive 16-cylinder engines by hand, and this is a job that takes one week from start to finish. Even though 1,001 horsepower is stated by Bugatti as the standard output of the cars, most cars can produce between 1,030 and 1,060 horsepower in optimum conditions; 1,001 was merely the lowest amount of horsepower the cars would produce in unfavourable conditions.
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| Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport 2010 |
Unknown to most, the Veyron can decelerate faster than it can accelerate, achieving a 100–0 km/h time of 2.2 seconds, compared to a 0–100 km/h time of 2.5 seconds. This is no doubt thanks to its rear air brake and spoiler, which provide almost a third of the Veyron’s total braking power. At its top speed, the Veyron will grind to a halt in less than 10 seconds, if the owner so desires. The Veyron finally reached its ultimate goal when it smashed Andy Wallace’s top speed record in the McLaren F1 by reaching a Guinness World Record-approved top speed of 253.19 mph at Ehra-Lessien, Volkswagen’s top-secret test facility in Germany.
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| Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport 2010 |
Next, Bugatti’s engineers developed a convertible version, which premiered at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2008, three years after the Veyron entered production. It was dubbed the Grand Sport, and a total of 150 examples would be made, making it approximately twice as rare as its closed sibling. The chassis was reinforced to compensate for the loss of the roof, and it was fitted with a marginally taller windshield and a modified rear bulkhead, helping to fit the removable top. The Grand Sport models were also updated with a new integrated rearview camera that was embedded in the rearview mirror, daytime running lights, an upgraded sound system, and new wheels, which were features that would find their way into future Veyron coupés. Whilst the Grand Sport retains the same top speed as the original Veyron, it is electronically limited to 220 mph with the roof off, which is more than fast enough to give one’s hair a complete restyling.
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| Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport 2010 |
According to its chassis plate, not only is this the 18th Grand Sport built, it is also the very first example delivered to its native country of France. This Veyron is finished in a two-tone colour combination of Rosso Italiano and polished aluminium, which is a very striking colour scheme. The interior, trimmed in magnolia leather and polished aluminium, feels inviting and warm, and even more so when the hardtop is removed. Both the interior and exterior are inscribed with a “669” motif that was specified by the first owner, an individual residing in Paris.
In terms of automotive history, the Bugatti Veyron is a landmark achievement of engineering, and it has certainly set the bar for which all other 21st century supercars will be judged.
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