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| Pic from Google Maps |
The thing is, it's a long trip: about six or seven hours on the speed limit, and of course a nice drive deserves a nice car. What if you had a faster car and, you know, maybe didn't worry so much about the speed limit? Just think how those towering ruddy redwoods would look from the driver's seat of a Bugatti Veyron, whizzing past at hundreds of miles per hour.
You should get a Bugatti.
Currently available from the racing giant: the Grand Sport Vitesse, vitesse being French for velocity.
The boy in blue knows what's up. He never really gets more than three inches from the car. For a short time, he even seems to vanish into the car itself. This video was taken by a humble admirer in Geneva, 2014.
But buying a Bugatti isn't like buying a Ford, Mercedes, or even a Rolls. If you scan Bugatti's list of 'authorized' dealers--which are themselves few and far between--not manyy stock the brand. Los Gatos Luxury Cars can demo Rolls Royce and Bentley for days, but not a ghost of a Bugatti can be found in the inventory. Same, ironically, with Bugatti Scottsdale. Miami, at least, has a Veyron 16.4, though they are vague on the details of the model.
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| I googled around this block several times and couldn't find any dealer Bugatti. Pic from Google Street View. |
Well, we don't have to stand for this. Let's say we gas up the jet and boogie on over to Qatar. The Middle East isn't an obvious destination, but is a reputable one. The gas barons' Al Wajba Motors were able to order up a golden Bentley, so they ought to give us a Bugatti Veyron.
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| Damn that Doha traffic. You can hardly see the road for all those preppy Lamborghini. Photo credit: Action Global Communications |
If Al Wajba lets us down, we'll have to content ourselves with some old masters from the local art galleries and just order the darn car for delivery to our estate back home.
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| You could have a look around for this while you're in the neighborhood. It should be floating around Qatar somewhere. Photo credit Mieks. |
Wired.com gives a good idea of how Bugattis are shipped. Your record-breaking baby, assembled in France, will be swathed in protective packing for its trip across the pond. Upon arrival in the States, your dealer will unpack the beast and examine it thoroughly before sending it your way. The car will be carried to you in a dedicated box truck, with only a little left to unwrap.
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| A San Diego dealer unloads a newly-arrived Bugatti. Photo credit: Wired |
Now you have a Bugatti! Currently, the factory is shipping Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse. The car's special power is its speed, and you can expect 254 mph from this model. Sixteen cylinders, 1200 hp, and 1106 foot-pounds of torque star in that speedy show.
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| Vitesse World Record Edition, a peek inside the hood. Photo credit: Luxurious Automotive |
Let's put some of those numbers into context. The Vitesse does zero to sixty in two and half seconds. For those couple seconds, the car will press you into the seat very similar to the way a jet does during takeoff.
But if the Vitesse hits the freeway like a jet hits the sky, it is mainly due to its 1200 horsepower with the sustained torque to match it. In comparison, the Mustang has about 300 hp, and it is no slouch. My old Mercedes C240 has 168. Focus: 160, Camry: 180 or 270, depending on package.
While it is easy to compare horsepower across models, there is more to a fast car than that number alone. Horsepower is calculated from specific values of torque and rpm, so as your engine rpm rises and falls, horsepower fluctuates. In reporting a single number for horsepower, manufacturers mask this variance, which may be significant.
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| Graph of F-350 engine output: horsepower and torque on y-axis, rpm on x-axis. Green and blue show horsepower variation, while red and purple chart torque. We can see that horsepower and torque change dramatically as rpm increases. Source |
Not so with Bugatti. In addition to a 0-60 mph acceleration surpassing Earth's gravitational pull, the Bugatti serves you well at higher speeds, supplying a consistent eleven hundred foot-pounds of torque for a range of rpm two thousand wide.
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| Gray is torque, red is horsepower (hp), and the x-axis is rpm. Note the consistent plateau of torque between rpm 2200 and 5500. It is this that keeps the horsepower rising so consistently. Source |
However, in the words of Spiderman's uncle, with great power comes great responsibility. In this case, that means a fat wallet. The car will probably cost about $2.5 million, plus $40k for shipping. Your top speed is limited to 233 until you release it with a special key, but unleashing the hurricane will slurp down a full 26 gallon tank in just twelve minutes.
At speed, that amounts to a really cool twelve minutes and forty miles. The key, of course, is not intended to impose sensible driving or limit your fuel consumption, which is 15 mpg at best. No, the key is necessary because at such tremendous speed a spoiler will deploy, smashing the car to the ground with 770 pounds of force. The key is present to remind you put on better tires, because if the spoiler deploys without them, the tires could explode, thus cutting short an otherwise lovely outing.
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| Spoiler alert. Source |
After a speedy jaunt like that, you have to do a couple of things. First you have to change the tires, so keep the 'ole checkbook handy for that $40k expense. Good luck refueling, as the supercar's required 93 to 100 octane is a bit difficult to find. Fortunately, your tank of gas shouldn't top $200, but you might also need new wheels, mandatory every 10k miles or after really hitting the gas. Don't forget the yearly maintenance checkup, and of course you can't forget insurance. All told, annual Bugatti upkeep can run $300k, according to the Examiner.
With that kind of money, you could buy a garden of Lotus, a pair of Aston Martin, or even a Rolls Royce AND a Lotus. But then, none of those cars can touch the Bugatti for speed (although their tires probably last longer). If you want to cruise around like the Queen of England and visit the wineries in a Bentley, that's fine, but if you want to go so fast that the wind is literally punching your car in the face, feebly attempting to hinder your very own four-wheeled lighting strike, then the Vitesse has all the finesse you need.
Bug Out to these links for more info!
- Beverly Hills Luxury Car Sales
- Motor Trend: 2013 Bugatti Vitesse Speed Run
- Los Gatos Luxury Cars
- Examiner: Cost to Own a Bugatti
- GTSpirit.com: Gold Bentley Mulsanne Delivered
- Wired: This is How You Have to Ship Bugatti
- Jalopnik: Guiness Revokes Fastest Car Record
- Car and Driver: Build a Bugatti
- Roush Performance: Meaning of HP and Torque
