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Posts Tagged ‘Cars’

When you build one of the fastest, most expensive cars in the world, there are really only two things you can do to improve it: make it faster, or take the top off.

In the case of the 253 mph Bugatti Veyron 16.4, the latter was deemed the appropriate choice. At first blush, it seems like the path of most resistance to achieving a new round of buzz for the 4-year-old supercar.

Ever since pretenders to the production car top speed throne started showing up on the scene, like the SSC Ultimate

Bugatti

Aero and Koenigsegg CCXR , car enthusiasts have waited anxiously for Bugatti to put the upstarts back in line by adding a couple of horses to the Veyron’s stable of 1,001 hp. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with this vehicle, that is not a typo. But just so you’re sure, I’ll spell it out like on a check: One Thousand and One.)

Surely, a small boost in output couldn’t be that difficult to achieve?

No, it wouldn’t, but for Bugatti to do so in answer to a challenge would be uncouth, and explicit recognition that any other vehicle on the planet deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the Veyron.

Consider for a moment what we are discussing: the Veyron has a 16-cylinder engine measuring 8 liters in displacement that is boosted by four turbochargers and directs its power through a twin-clutch 7-speed transmission to an all-wheel drive system. What Bugatti has created is nothing less than the ultimate expression of the pure, gasoline-fueled internal combustion era. Will there be faster, more complex vehicles created in the years to come? Certainly. But they will be hybridized and hydrogenated on some new technological plateau and, very likely, a few of them will carry the name Bugatti as well. Read the rest of this entry »