Bugatti Grand Sport: Topless at 200+
Suppose that you miraculously managed to predict the global economic meltdown. You called your broker and dumped all of your Lehman stock the day before they failed. I bet you feel pretty smart. Special even. Well if you are one of the rarified few that managed to escape this meltdown relatively unscathed, I’ll be the first to say that you deserve a reward. You want to set yourself apart. You want the world to know just how special you really are. Well friend, let me introduce you to the equally as amazing Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport.
The Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport (that’s convertible for you peasant folk) is made up entirely of ridiculous numbers. Before I even get to the truly insane “minor” details here are the ones that you really need to know. It costs, are you ready… $2.2 million. Yup, that is not a typo. Let me put that price into a little perspective for you. That same kinda coin could buy seven Ferrari 599s or every single 2009 model Mercedes. Heck, you could pick up a top-shelf Maybach and employ a chauffeur until well past the end of days for the same sum. It’s not a particularly elegant car. Some refer to it as resembling a squashed jellybean. I see it as a perfect example of form following function.
Now that bank-busting sum doesn’t just buy you a million dollar carbon fiber and magnesium sculpture to park in your living room. No. This thing really moves. Here are some more numbers for you. Zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds, zero to 100 in an eye watering 5.5 seconds and wrinkles the skid pad with an even 1.00g. This petrol-powered rocket will continue to rearrange your guts all the way to a truly terrifying 253 mph.
Now, I’m not saying terrifying is bad. No, terrifying is most definitely good. People who inhabit such terrifying speeds are often assumed to be some of the most courageous people alive. Fighter pilots and astronauts come to mind. Imagine the scene in Top Gun where the F-14’s get catapulted off the carrier deck and I think you can get pretty close to the violence of a full throttle start. The truly scary realization comes only when you imagine your local gazzillionaire aiming this 2-ton cruise missile down your local freeway.
Now, turning the coupe version into a road going convertible is not as easy as taking a hacksaw to the top. In a car that will still hit 217 with the roof off and not fold in on itself at velocities north of 250 mph takes some serious engineering trickery. To accomplish this feat the entire chassis was reinforced via a further strengthened transmission tunnel in addition to dumping the aluminum doors to fit even stronger carbon fiber versions. Even the “fake” roll bars, which house the huge inlets feeding the engine, are actually functional in the Grand Sport. The result of this reinforcing is a car that boasts the strongest chassis of ANY production convertible.
The engine that catapults this magnesium and titanium missile to V-MAX is as much a technological marvel as anything on the car. It’s an 8.0-liter W16 quad turbo tower of power that produces a mighty 1001bhp and a road rippling 922 pound feet of torque. Such figures are seemingly more at home on a seagoing vessel much less a hyper car such as the Grand Sport. When the novelty of punching a hole in time and space begins to get dull there is still more technology designed to reign in the warp speed. The front brake rotors measure 15. 75 inches in diameter and are disciplined by eight-piston calipers with four pads a piece.
In back, things are slightly less insane with “only” 15-inch rotors with six-piston calipers with two pads assigned to each caliper. These massive brakes will haul you and your plaything down from 70 in a scant 158 feet. For those truly insane speeds where even brakes the size of trash bin lids can’t reign in the terror the Veyron also comes with an airbrake that doubles as the rear wing and automatically adjusts to the speed and what size crease you would like to make in the road. Honestly I think the only way the Grand Sport would be able to stop quicker is if you happened to drop an anchor or rear-end an aircraft carrier.
Now all of this slobbering over its tremendous speed doesn’t mean that this car is without fault. Lets start with the Grad Sport moniker. The “convertible” really isn’t a convertible at all. It’s really more of a targa style top that must be removed by two people and cannot be stored anywhere on the car. For those mega-rich who haven’t yet been able to bribe God for a perfectly clear day the Grand Sport does come with an umbrella. I’m not kidding. Your $2.2 million dollar plaything has an emergency roof modeled after an umbrella. Bugatti claims that this fully watertight piece fabric is good only up to 80 mph so you really should have a mouse operate the loud pedal. Anything more would instantly rip the flimsy roof off. There are other little niggles as well. The $30,000 Puccini audio system is completely useless once the W-16 monster starts to breathe, and the turn signal and wiper stalks, made of magnesium and aluminum, cost north of $6,000 dollars each. Do. Not. Break. Them.
But let me get to the really insane part of the car. Maintenance. Yes, a car that can routinely hit 253mph is going to have some pretty exacting standards to live up to. And yes, the service intervals necessarily need to be once every 2.2 miles or so but let me tell you how much all of this pampering is going to cost to keep your very own cruise missile in tip top shape. For starters the car has 12 radiators, and carries a combined 26 gallons of fluid aside from the gas in the tank. Its 8.o liter engine is hand built by only two men, the tires (Veyron specific Michelin PAX tires) have so little tread life that they must be replaced every 10,000 miles to a tune of $17,000. The wheels must be replaced every 30,000 miles and the combined total for the wheels and tires carries a price tag of $73,000.
Think that is crazy? Just wait till I get to the really good stuff. The 7 speed gearbox costs $173,000. Only one piece of glass out of 30 is deemed “worthy” for a Veyron, the others are stored for future restorations. The front grill is made from titanium to prevent any unfortunate fowl from fouling up the driving experience. The bolts on the car are made from titanium as well and must be replaced if they have been tightened or removed. The cost? Eighty-five bucks a pop. Oh and the very best part is the “comprehensive” 60K service. At such mileage the entire car must be split in half and worked on by Santa’s elves I suppose, for it is such a magical piece of engineering. This service can only be performed at five places in the entire world. Or if you desire Bugatti will fly out a service station to your house. They don’t even list how much that’ll set you back…
The Grand Sport is the ultimate expression of how mega rich your latest Ponzi scheme is making you. It is guaranteed to get you the best parking spot at any restaurant in the world and it might just be the worlds most powerful hairdryer, provided it doesn’t rip your hair right off. It’s biblically fast, relatively comfortable and has presence like no other. Are there better ways of spending your 2.2 million? Sure, but for those who have positively everything else the Veyron Grand Sport is unequivocally the greatest road car ever developed. From power to price we will likely never see such an automobile again.
*Please note all pictures and performance figures came from the following sources.
http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_veyron_convertible
Tags: autos, Blogs, Bugatti, Cars, Danny, Drive Time, Grand Sport, Tony
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