Speed & Sound: Bugatti Veyron
The World’s greatest supercar is here!
If you have the nerve, and the wallet, the only Canadian dealer awaits in Vancouver
Story by Nigel Matthews, Photos by Warwick Patterson
When you are the manufacturer of the world’s greatest supercar with a sticker price of nearly $2 million, how could you possibly top it? Perhaps that should be un-top it!
Bugatti has done it by cutting the roof off its Bugatti Veyron coupe. It might sound simple, but it is not. When you cut the roof off a car, you lose most of the strength and rigidity that holds it all together.
Bugatti has achieved the additional strength by substituting the aluminum doors of the coupe for carbon fibre doors on the newly named Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport. Additional carbon fibre bracing is added to the “B” pillars, the transmission tunnel, and the area under the gearbox. The Veyron Coupe has a curb weight of 1,888 kg; considering the work involved to strengthen the GS, which weighs in at 1,990 kg, the additional 102 kg has not hindered its acceleration times. It is still capable of 0-100 km/h in 2.7 seconds, faster than any production built car on earth.
Production of the GS is just beginning and firm orders and deposits for 30 of the 150 that will be built have already been received. You might ask who can afford to own a Veyron. Here are just a few names of some owners – Richard Berry (Yellowpages) Ferdinand Piech’s wife (he was the former chairman of VW, and she has chassis number 007), Ralph Lauren, Tom Cruise, Simon Cowell, Tom Brady (New England Patriots quarterback), and the most outrageously painted bright pink example belongs to Nigo the Japanese fashion designer.
You really have to look closely to spot the different GS features, which include a slightly taller windshield, different headlights and wheels, and changes to the air intake ducts making them a structural part of the car and integral part of the roll-bar system. If I had not known what to look for, I could have quite easily mistaken the removable black glass roof thinking that the car was a coupe.
When I drove the Bugatti Veyron Coupe in 2007, never in my wildest dreams did it cross my mind that a second chance behind the wheel of the world’s fastest and most expensive supercar would happen.
I have been waiting quite a few months to go into hospital for some elective surgery, but I can assure you of this, if I had received a call to say that the surgery would take place on test drive day, I would have canceled the surgery, honestly!
My co-pilot for the allotted two hours of seat time was Bugatti’s North American test driver, “Butch” Leitzinger, best known as an ALMS driver with Dyson Racing. He was a Bentley team driver at Le Mans in 2001 and 2002, with the Cadillac team at Le Mans in 2000 and raced for Panoz at Le Mans in 1999. He won the famed Rolex 24hrs of Daytona three times. I was obviously in very good hands and with someone who would not allow me to make a $2.2 million mistake.
Entering Stanley Park, our first stop was at Lighthouse point where Warwick Patterson did the photo shoot. Having burned up nearly 45 minutes of my seat time, Leitzinger handed me the keys and we set off for Cypress Bowl. It was a route that could make this thoroughbred stretch its legs and go for a good gallop.
Having rounded the tight right hand corner at the bottom of the hill, Leitzinger suggested that I kick it down into second gear using the steering wheel paddles and then give it full throttle.
There is absolutely no way to describe the feeling of power, unless perhaps you have been in a Formula 1 car or an F-18 Hornet trainer.
The W16, quad-turbo, 64-valve engine and seven-speed DSG gearbox which I had just flipped into 4th gear was putting out 800-hp on the 1001-hp gauge. Things were happening so quickly that I daren’t take my eyes off the road to even look at the tachometer.
I was shifting by the sound of the engine and relying on the rev limiter to kick in if I was overdoing it. The second key used to reach maximum speed was safely in the pocket of Jens Schulenburg, the factory engineer. He was watching from the lookout point half-way up the mountain. I had the chance to take two runs up the hill and then it was time to return to the Bayshore.
I have already given you a few names of owners who can afford to pay $137,500 for each of the 16 cylinders. Schulenberg told me that customers are only paying for the car and not the development. He is probably correct, considering Bugatti loses $300,000 to $400,000 on every one that they build.
The price of admission is just the starting point. The manufacturer recommends that you change the tires every 4,000 kms; with careful driving, you could probably stretch that to 10,000 kms. Each specially-built tire is worth $10,000; it is suggested that you change the wheels every three tire changes, which will set you back $60,000. Throw in the scheduled maintenance, insurance for a 40-year-old male with a clean driving record, fuel and what else you can think of and your yearly running costs will be approaching $300,000.
To sum up: the Veyron Coupe and GS are not exactly what I would call a practical vehicle. If you have the financial resources, any kind of a pulse and want to experience driving a ballistic missile that is only 0.5 of a second slower than a Formula One racing car from 0-100 km/h, you had better visit Asgar Virji at Weissach Perfomance Ltd, of Vancouver!
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