It’s once in a blue moon that someone dealing with automobiles day in and day out experiences that true frisson of excitement after a first drive. Aspi Bhathena experienced just that when he drove the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport in the sylvan surroundings of French countryside and on motorways recently
Story & Images: Aspi Bhathena
This is it. There are cars and there is Bugatti. Like there are Formula 1 world champions and there is Tazio Nuvolrai, an all-time legend. Not an insignificant coincidence that Tazio Nuvolari raced the Bugatti cars in the 1930s. I also had a vivid recollection that my father, who was also my mentor, always used to say that Bugatti was one of the best cars ever made in the world.
The Bugatti brand ceased production after World War II. When the brand was being revived, Bugatti decided to make a car nobody had attempted to make so far or would attempt in the future. For example, when Ferdinand Piech said that the Bugatti would produce 1,001 PS of power and 1,250 Nm of torque, that kind of power and torque were unheard of in a road car.
The Veyron Grand Sport has the horse-shoe Bugatti grille that dominates the front of the car and this sets it apart from all the other super cars. The unique rounded shape gives this car a great road presence, making heads turn wherever it goes.
The Grand Sport is probably the only car in the world in whose case the cost does not matter. They have used material such as titanium, carbon fibre, magnesium and aluminium. Each and every component is made of material with the lowest weight and the highest level of functionality. The carbon fibre monocoque is suspended from an aluminium frame at the front and a carbon fibre stainless steel one at the rear.
The W16 engine requires extremely high precision and accuracy in machining tolerances. The two staggered banks of eight cylinders each, each cylinder having four valves (64 valves in all), are force-fed by four turbo chargers. The engine is a veritable piece of engineering marvel! This W16 is mated to a seven-gear, dual-clutch gearbox with shift times of less then 150 milliseconds. The 1,001 PS of power and 1,250 Nm of torque are put down on the road through all the four wheels.
