Motorheads: BUGATTI VEYRON @ 253MPH

[stephent2]

My wife sent me this link, bless her heart. It's a BUGATTI VEYRON hitting 407 km/h, the soundtrack and video are a bit melodramatic, but dude, 407 km/h (253 MPH).

The Bugatti is a beautiful piece of work, it's the fastest production car and faster than F1s.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15...n-at-top-speed

[Apok]

I'd still take the Koenigsegg CCX, they don't hold back any of the power (Veyrons are restricted to ~600HP except at special track days apparently).
"I think Koenigsegg is Swedish for 'Oh no, my head's just exploded!'

It's cheaper too, and looks way better then the Bugatti. Hell if I had over a million to blow on a car I'd buy a Lamborghini Reventon. Not as quick but IMO the single best looking car available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ud4M7RGF2s

[andrew]

Originally Posted by Apok

I'd still take the Koenigsegg CCX, they don't hold back any of the power (Veyrons are restricted to ~600HP except at special track days apparently).

It's cheaper too, and looks way better then the Bugatti. Hell if I had over a million to blow on a car I'd buy a Lamborghini Reventon. Not as quick but IMO the single best looking car available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ud4M7RGF2s

Where did you hear that they are turned down to 600? I have always heard they are street legal, smog legal at 1,000hp, and that's the way they come.

[Apok]

Hmmm, I'm looking for the article, but maybe I was wrong. I know that you do need to unlock the engine with a separate key, but I'm not sure on whether each car is issued with it.

[Pete Galati]

253mph would just be too frightening.

The fastest I ever drove was around 1985. I forget what I figured I was going, but my speedmeter pegged a long time ago, and I was having trouble getting the tach any higher. But I had to back off pretty quick because I was covering too much ground too quick, and even though my car was very stable at those speeds, the slightest complication could have killed me.

I wouldn't want to do it again. And 253mph dwarfs what I did. I'd love to drive that Bugatti though!

[abraxas]

Originally Posted by Apok

I'd still take the Koenigsegg CCX, they don't hold back any of the power (Veyrons are restricted to ~600HP except at special track days apparently).
"I think Koenigsegg is Swedish for 'Oh no, my head's just exploded!'

It's cheaper too, and looks way better then the Bugatti. Hell if I had over a million to blow on a car I'd buy a Lamborghini Reventon. Not as quick but IMO the single best looking car available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ud4M7RGF2s

Same here! The Swedish supercar rocks. And it goes around corners too! (which is what we Europeans are all about!).

The other one is just a VW dudes.

Just a joke of course! But I'd still get the Koenigsegg any day of the week.

[sax4blues]

I haven't kept up with car models. But for motorcycles the manufactures have set a limit of 300km off the floor for fear of the liability. What you do to open it up after you buy is up to you.

[stephent2]

I love the look on the guy's face testing the Koenigsegg, still for style I'd have to go with the design of the Bugatti, IMO a more pleasing design (and I'm a Saab guy). Cost is of course an non-issue, i ain't in the market, my Saab 9-5 Sport Combi thrills me. But I've seen a few Bugattis up close, it was a religious moment.

[e-merlin]

Old news. The VW W-12 is cool, but when you can put half of it (VR6) and the DSG and 4-motion from a R-32 into a New Beetle, then pump it up to 500 Hp for under $50K it kinda loses its panache.

[Apok]

Isn't the Bugatti fitted with a W16? I thought it was two Audi V8's with four turbochargers (and ten radiators!).

VW put a W12 in a modified Golf
It's on Youtube, Top Gear got it for a test drive. Looks absolutely terrifying

[tiktok]

VW's been trying to find something to do with that W16 for years now.

I still favor the McLaren F1.

[ibobunot]

I think the Ariel Atom would be more fun to drive....

[stevieboy]

A couple of pics I pointed and shot about a year ago at the LA auto show...





The rear pic isn't too clear as they kept the drooling masses a few feet away, but you can see that engine fills up the whole rear of the car frome the passenger seats on back, really massive.

[boris bubbanov]

I think one of those little McLarens from a few years back is more than enough.

Sometimes too much is too much. I think a Noble would be just fine.

But I agree the SAAB 9-5 is a great package; my girlfriend and I each have one.

And you can park it and leave it overnight way back in the woods where an A-6 or BMW could never sit unmolested.


Bubbanov

[tjalla]

This fact does my head in - Such is the Veyron's acceleration, you could give a McLaren F1 a headstart to 120 mph, and the Veyron would beat the McLaren - from a standing start - to 200 mph.

Just for kicks, here's Veyron vs Eurofigher. Absolutely love Top Gear - those guys are great

[Nick JD]

I like it when Jeremy Clarkson says how although the Bugatti is a million or two pounds to buy - they actually cost 5 million each to build.

It's the automotive industry's equivalent of an arm wrestle, or dare I say it ... a dick measuring contest.

If any automotive megalith wanted to beat the Bugatti, all it would take is money and lots of it. The eighties, Corvette Sledgehammer did the same top speed for a fraction of the price.

Amazing car though - but kinda funny-lookin'. Gimme a Jag XJ220.

[Guran]

Originally Posted by stephent2

I love the look on the guy's face testing the Koenigsegg, still for style I'd have to go with the design of the Bugatti, IMO a more pleasing design (and I'm a Saab guy).

Well, that pretty much explains it. The grill of the Bugatti is just a cheap rip-off of an old Saab 96!

[jjz28]

When it comes to power and speed, this puppy deserves special recognition. 330km/201mph......in 1938 !!!! Winner of two F1 races(British/Italian) and the most expensive car sold by Christies Auction. 12 cylinder, supercharged, mid engine with torsion-bar suspension.

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by Guran

Well, that pretty much explains it. The grill of the Bugatti is just a cheap rip-off of an old Saab 96!

Ho, ho, but no it isn't - it's a fairly tasteless pastiche of the original Bugatti horseshoe radiator shape. If Ettore Bugatti could see this car he'd have fifty fits. Great feat of automotive engineering it may be, but to give it the Bugatti name is a travesty. And no REAL Bugatti was EVER left-hand drive - from the type 13 to the end they were always, correctly, right-hand drive. Oh, and despite the Italian-sounding name, Bugatti was a French car, built in Molsheim in the Alsace-Lorraine region.

And by the way, there was nothing at all wrong with the Saab 96 - superb car and a very strong vehicle indeed. Eric Carlsson used to corner them by bouncing them off trees. Only problem was a tendency to rust around the bulkhead, which is why there aren't many left. The one in your picture looks better than the later ones with the Ford V4.

[OaklandA]

Beautiful cars. I'm looking forward to Barrett-Jackson, though that has become more about muscle cars.

When it comes to exotics a friend of mine had an observation..."try buying a fanbelt in Casa Grande, AZ"

[stephent2]

When i posted this i didn't realize it would stir up the same emotion as Relic vs. Clean and Rosewood vs. Maple threads,...

I had a '70 Saab 96 (german industrial V4), now i won't argue that the two cycle Saabs were better balanced but that '70 Saab was amazing. The guy I sold it to won the Walter Mitty Race at Road Atlanta the very next week.

From Wikipedia

"Erik Carlsson, aka "Carlsson på taket"......had to maintain a high speed while cornering and developed the left-foot braking technique to perfection. Left-foot braking was performed by keeping the right foot on the gas pedal while pushing the brake pedal with the left foot. This brought the rear out in a controlled skid while maintaining speed. The drawback of this was that it significantly hastened brake wear".

But damn is it fun to do.

for more Saab/Carlsson fun, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Carlsson

Of all the cars I've bought and sold, I think I miss that Saab 96 the most, second would be a '69 BMW 2002 i owned which would hit 80 in second gear.

Thanks for posting the Veyron vs Eurofigher, what fun that was!

[tiktok]

The old Bugattis were works of art. This new one is an impressively fast luxury car.

[ibobunot]

Originally Posted by stephent2

When i posted this i didn't realize it would stir up the same emotion as Relic vs. Clean and Rosewood vs. Maple threads,...

I've seen guys fist fight over Ford vs Chevy vs Mopar....

[6942]

I think REAL cudo's....(and brass balls too boot) has to go to a Mr. Curtis (of aviation fame).
Who in 1908....put a V12 aircraft engine....into a motorcycle frame!!
He ran it on the sands of Daytona Beach....an incredible....135 mph!!!!!
THAT my friends....was MUCH faster than anything ever seen before....even other aircraft!!!
Staggers the imagination doesn't it!?

Steve

[kovachian]

Originally Posted by Apok

Hmmm, I'm looking for the article, but maybe I was wrong. I know that you do need to unlock the engine with a separate key, but I'm not sure on whether each car is issued with it.

Each and EVERY last Veyron made is equipped with the key-locked top speed configuration, including the key. If VW has any brains, I hope for their sake they're making the owners sign a waiver beforehand!

Of course no other car needs a silly key slot in the door sill, you just mash the gas and pray for your life. Not to stir the pot here, but the SSC Ultimate Aero has toppled the Veyron as the king of speed; the ugly duckling you see here has averaged 255.83mph. And before anyone calls out the technicality that Guinness hasn't recognized this record, just remember; they haven't acknowledged the Veyron's top speed either.

[tiktok]

I think the M3 a few years ago had some feature that would only let you do a clutch fry three times in a thirty day period (from a stop rev it to 3K, then drop the clutch).

[JStella]

Originally Posted by jjz28

When it comes to power and speed, this puppy deserves special recognition. 330km/201mph......in 1938 !!!! Winner of two F1 races(British/Italian) and the most expensive car sold by Christies Auction. 12 cylinder, supercharged, mid engine with torsion-bar suspension.

I have a coffeetable book on those cars through their restoration in recent years. Absolutely gorgeous! A funny/amazing anecdote from the book:

One of the test drivers (can't think of the name) was trying to set the land speed record on the Autobahn. He was doing 300+kph when he noticed a wheel pass him on the left and go hurtling into the woods. Looking down, he realized it was his left front wheel, and the only thing keeping the car off the ground was the air pressure from the high speed. He drove until he found a convenient corn field to slow down/stop in, leaped out and flagged down the #2 driver who was a few miles behind him. He took his car and set the record.

- Josh

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by JStella

One of the test drivers (can't think of the name) was trying to set the land speed record on the Autobahn. He was doing 300+kph when he noticed a wheel pass him on the left and go hurtling into the woods. Looking down, he realized it was his left front wheel, and the only thing keeping the car off the ground was the air pressure from the high speed. He drove until he found a convenient corn field to slow down/stop in, leaped out and flagged down the #2 driver who was a few miles behind him. He took his car and set the record.

Sounds like Caracciola or Rosemeyer. Wonderful cars in that era.