September 21, 2005. Copyright 2005, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Bugatti Veyron, the worldÕs fastest, most expensive, most exclusive super-car
By Neil Winton

LONDON, September 21, Graphic News:  When Volkswagen announced in 1998 that it would revive the famous Bugatti name, the news inspired dreams of open-topped, traditional sports cars with running boards and flared bodies, just like the famously fast and beautiful machines of the 1920s and 1930s.

A couple of years later, Bugatti unveiled the car which would rekindle the flame. The wide, squat supercar briefly disappointed. After all, it looked just like a score of others.

But when Bugatti revealed the specification of the new Veyron 16.4, disappointment was swept away by the awesome nature of the carÕs attributes. The Veyron would be the most powerful production car ever with almost 1,000 bhp. It would be the fastest, with a top speed of just over 400km/h (250mph). It would also be the most expensive, costing about 1 million euros. It would be the most exclusive, with only 300 models ever made.

Because of the price, clearly only the super-rich would be buying. Jay Leno, American chat-show host and owner of a collection of traditional Bugattis, is the favourite to take delivery of the first Veyron. Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher is thought to have forked out the 300,000-euro deposit to secure his car. Soccer star David Beckham is apparently weighing up an order.

The car has been delayed, because of difficulties matching gearboxes and tyres to the amazing power produced. The special run-flat tyres, made by Michelin, had to be able to handle bread and butter city driving, as well as speeds usually restricted to jet fighters.  But production at the Bugatti factory at Molsheim, near Strasbourg, France, finally began in early September, although the company is being cagey about exactly when the first car will be delivered.

The specification remains impossibly grandiose, not to say impractical.

The 8.0 litre, quad-turbocharged 16-cylinder engine produces 987 bhp. This huge power to all four wheels is tamed by a seven-speed automatic dual-clutch gearbox and propels the Veyron to 100km/h (62mph) in 2.5 seconds. 200km/h is reached in 7.3 seconds, and 300km/h in 16.7 seconds. The Veyron smashed the world record speed for a production car with 407.08km/h (252.95mph) at VWÕs test track, beating the previous holder, the McLaren F1Õs 386.4km/h (240.1mph).

Other statistics illuminate the darker nature of this car. This gas glutton will deliver an average fuel ÒeconomyÓ of 24.11 litres per 100km, or 11.72 miles per gallon. Carbon dioxide emitted is a shocking 574 grams per kilometre, hardly likely to endear it to environmental groups like Greenpeace.

That is unlikely to bother Jay Leno. And if heÕs got any spare cash left after parting with $1.2 million, Bugatti offers to personalise the cars with two 1 carat diamonds, cut with 16 faces to match the number of cylinders and set on the power dial, which displays what percentage of the engineÕs power is being used.

In a car which lives by superlatives, the percentage of power actually used, given the nature of public roads, is the only number likely to be puny and unimpressive.
/ENDS