It’s not every day that you’re handed the key to the fastest car in the world and told to “have fun”.
Yet here I am, in southern Spain, key to said car in hand.
There’s a full tank of super unleaded and miles of empty, perfect highway at my disposal and, with a gulp and a quick prayer, I mentally prepare myself for the ultimate version of the ultimate performance car.
Yet here I am, in southern Spain, key to said car in hand.
There’s a full tank of super unleaded and miles of empty, perfect highway at my disposal and, with a gulp and a quick prayer, I mentally prepare myself for the ultimate version of the ultimate performance car.
The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport is the final hurrah for what many thought would be an impossible car to design and build.
The original brief was very simple: it must be able to do more than 250mph, crack 60mph in under three seconds, look as sleek as the designer’s sketch and be as easy to drive as a VW Polo. The original Veyron, against all the odds, emerged mission accomplished.
Unbelievably, some owners started grumbling about how they wanted even more power and a less civilised experience behind the wheel. The Super Sport is for them and, with a price tag of around £1.7million, it had better be astonishing.
Orders have already been placed for 26 of these things; proof that not everyone is feeling the recession’s pinch. For the money they get a motoring legend – full stop.
Everything in a Veyron is built to be as close as possible to engineering perfection and the Super Sport takes that a step further – it’s a comprehensively re-engineered car.
In July 2010, a Super Sport set the world speed record for a production car at 268mph but customer cars are limited to 258mph because the tyres just can’t cope with that speed for any length of time without exploding. Not that you could do it for long – at full pelt a Veyron will go through its 25 gallon tank in ten minutes. That’s 2mpg…
Power in the Super Sport is up by another 200bhp to 1200, which is basically like bolting on the engine from a Golf GTI. That you only get another 6mph out of it shows just how extreme the limits are in which this car operates – at these speeds the air acts like a brick wall. And, with this in mind, I drop into third gear and put my foot down.
The road, that was so long and straight that it disappeared into infinity, is destroyed in just a few seconds. The acceleration is so brutal that all my innards are trying to escape out back and there’s a furious roar from the 16-cylinder engine inches behind my head. Sounds like Darth Vader is back there too, sucking in cooling air and spitting it out when I lift off the throttle.
I keep the power on and, in the blink of an eye the Super Sport is doing 200mph so I back off the power and hit the brakes hard; my body coursing with adrenaline.
As the big stoppers bite, I feel everything inside my skeletal frame seeking a way out through my chest and a second or two later the Super Sport is at a legal speed once again. This entire exercise is over almost as soon as it began – like a white-knuckle fairground ride.
Yet, as impressive as the sheer speed is, what hits me between the eyes is that the Veyron remains totally, utterly composed. No lift, no stray, it just stays true to the course its driver inputs. It’s mind bending stuff.
It is, without a doubt, the world’s greatest, most exciting car. If your numbers come up on Saturday night you’d better be quick because there’s just a handful of build slots left before production ceases and the motoring world becomes a duller place. A towering achievement.
By Kevin Hackett
The original brief was very simple: it must be able to do more than 250mph, crack 60mph in under three seconds, look as sleek as the designer’s sketch and be as easy to drive as a VW Polo. The original Veyron, against all the odds, emerged mission accomplished.
Unbelievably, some owners started grumbling about how they wanted even more power and a less civilised experience behind the wheel. The Super Sport is for them and, with a price tag of around £1.7million, it had better be astonishing.
Orders have already been placed for 26 of these things; proof that not everyone is feeling the recession’s pinch. For the money they get a motoring legend – full stop.
Everything in a Veyron is built to be as close as possible to engineering perfection and the Super Sport takes that a step further – it’s a comprehensively re-engineered car.
In July 2010, a Super Sport set the world speed record for a production car at 268mph but customer cars are limited to 258mph because the tyres just can’t cope with that speed for any length of time without exploding. Not that you could do it for long – at full pelt a Veyron will go through its 25 gallon tank in ten minutes. That’s 2mpg…
Power in the Super Sport is up by another 200bhp to 1200, which is basically like bolting on the engine from a Golf GTI. That you only get another 6mph out of it shows just how extreme the limits are in which this car operates – at these speeds the air acts like a brick wall. And, with this in mind, I drop into third gear and put my foot down.
The road, that was so long and straight that it disappeared into infinity, is destroyed in just a few seconds. The acceleration is so brutal that all my innards are trying to escape out back and there’s a furious roar from the 16-cylinder engine inches behind my head. Sounds like Darth Vader is back there too, sucking in cooling air and spitting it out when I lift off the throttle.
I keep the power on and, in the blink of an eye the Super Sport is doing 200mph so I back off the power and hit the brakes hard; my body coursing with adrenaline.
As the big stoppers bite, I feel everything inside my skeletal frame seeking a way out through my chest and a second or two later the Super Sport is at a legal speed once again. This entire exercise is over almost as soon as it began – like a white-knuckle fairground ride.
Yet, as impressive as the sheer speed is, what hits me between the eyes is that the Veyron remains totally, utterly composed. No lift, no stray, it just stays true to the course its driver inputs. It’s mind bending stuff.
It is, without a doubt, the world’s greatest, most exciting car. If your numbers come up on Saturday night you’d better be quick because there’s just a handful of build slots left before production ceases and the motoring world becomes a duller place. A towering achievement.
By Kevin Hackett
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