The Bugatti Veyron may be out of production, but it isn’t going away. Bugatti needs to keep interest in its superlative supercar up until a successor arrives, and it seems likely the public will oblige.
Because how could you forget a car with 1,000 horsepower, a $1 million price tag, and a record-holding top speed?
At the Nürburgring 24-hour race this past weekend, Bugatti with its two record-holding Veyrons: the Veyron Super Sport that holds the Guinness World Record for fastest production car, and the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse that holds the record for fastest open-top production car.
Decked out in their trademark black-and-orange livery, both cars took a parade lap of the Nürburgring Nordschliefe course before the start of the race. Not a bad way to kick things off.
Both the Super Sport and Vitesse models feature similar modifications compared to the “standard” Veyron coupe and Grand Sport roadster, including a 1,200-hp version of the 8.0-liter, quad-turbocharged W16 Bugatti engine, and aerodynamic tweaks designed to make them even slipperier.
The Veyron Super Sport was built to one-up the SSC Ultimate Aero, which knocked the original Veyron off the world’s fastest pedestal. It won the title back for Bugatti in 2010, clocking 268 mph at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessein test track.
However, the Super Sport was temporarily stripped of its title in 2013, when Guinness decided that removing the speed limiter (cars sold to customers were limited to 258 mph) constituted a modification, something it doesn’t allow for production-car records.
Guinness quickly reversed itself, though, the Veyron Super Sport has been the official champ ever since. The Hennessey Venom GT actually went faster – hitting 270 mph – but Guinness doesn’t consider that speed legitimate because it was only recorded on one run, rather than as an average of runs in opposite directions.
The Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, meanwhile, hit 254 mph at the VW Ehra-Lessein track in 2013 with the roof off. Presumably, the driver wasn’t wearing a baseball cap.
Bugatti delivered the last of its 450 Veyrons earlier this year, and now all eyes are on its successor.
The next Bugatti will likely be another supercar, possibly named Chiron. It’s rumored to be even more powerful than the Veyron, and faster too. Whatever it turns out to be like, though, the Chiron will have big tire tracks to fill.
