Who’s been most afraid of the Bugatti
Veyron? Those who had to engineer it? The people who had to pay for it? VW
Group shareholders? No. It’s our Anthony, and this is his moment
And there’s no snarl, roar or scream. The
Veyron spears forward to an extremely expensive meld of oleaginous mechanical
millings laced with a whiff of something indefinable like the threshing of a
giant electric hedge-trimmer, the whole overlaid by the increasingly rapid
passage of air. In a word, 2.4 million Euros-worth of utterly addictive
whoooosh.
My go. And, after a few exploratory leans
on loud pedal and deliciously meaty helm, the good news is that Mr Wallace
shows no inclination to demand a photo opportunity. The bad news is that he
says ‘You’re still feathering the throttle..
Trouble is - and perhaps because massive
mechanical grip allied to all-wheel drive tailored to utterly eliminate the
possibility of over steer equips the Bugatti with infinitely braver pants than
any found in this driver’s top drawer - I keep running out of road.
Not wishing to spend a long night chatting
things over with a distinctly miffed Inspecteur Marigold, I ask Mr Wallace to
confirm that Bugatti does, in fact, have that reputed understanding with the
local gendarmerie. ‘If I get stopped, I make a phone call,’ he replies. ‘But if
you get stopped.’
Over the Rhine to Germany it is, then. But
not before we sample the Veyron roofless, when aural entertainment reaches
magnificent new dimensions. The thresh and thrum of mechanicals is now overlaid
by the sound of air being inhaled at the rate of up to 47,000 litres per
minute, and the four turbocharger wastegates exhaling in tandem. The whole
marvellous boiling sounds like the fire brigade trying to put out a very large
dragon possessed of a bad cold. Addictive.
The
thresh and thrum of mechanicals is now overlaid by the sound of air being
inhaled at the rate of up to 47,000 litres per minute, and the four
turbocharger wastegates exhaling in tandem.
Roof replaced and en route to the autobahn,
there’s time to review the two key engineering achievements which abet the W16
and its 12 radiators in making a 254mph top speed achievable: aerodynamics and
tyres.
Roof
replaced and en route to the autobahn, there’s time to review the two key
engineering achievements which abet the W16 and its 12 radiators in making a
254mph top speed achievable: aerodynamics and tyres.
Drag increases as a square of speed, which
means that, whilst air is a breeze at loomph, it’s a brick wall at double that
velocity. So the Veyron must effect two significant aerodynamic metamorphoses
on the way to 254mph. At ii2mph, the car automatically mutates into handling’
mode. Ride height lowered and rear wing deployed, the bodywork generates
downforce of 125kg at the front and an elephantine 400kg to the rear, and the
car is now good for 233mph.
The hard part, however, is in carving
through solid air in search of the scant 2imph more required to reach maximum
speed: downforce must be dialled right out again and drag minimised. This
requires pulling over to insert the ‘speed key’ in the floor, which further
lowers the ride height whilst taking all but three degrees of drag-inducing
rear wing off and closing the diffuser flaps behind the titanium front grilles
(in the event of a 250mph bird strike the engineers want the victim to impact
something important as French fries rather than whole).
The
hard part, however, is in carving through solid air in search of the scant 2imph
more required to reach maximum speed: downforce must be dialled right out again
and drag minimised.
