Enter the Bugatti Veyron 16.4. The fastest production car in the world. With a top speed of 253mph you will be able to out-run anybody and anything. That top speed is faster then a formula 1 car! But keep in mind, the Veyron also comes equipped with AC, radio and all the luxury items you would expect from a high end auto manufacture. No formula 1 can make that claim. The Veyron is the concord of the auto world. It has taken all claims of the impossible and laid them to rest. The Veyron boasts a 16 cylinder engine with 4 turbo chargers to drive it to the 1001hp mark. All necessary to hit 253mph. But with all that power comes a lot of heat. and to control the onslaught of power the Veyron has 10 radiators. Yes 10.
One of the amazing things about this machine is that in order to take it to the max speed, in true def-con launching a nuke style, you need to insert a special key, into a special slot and hit a special button while parked. This lowers the rear spoiler, brings up a rear wing and brings the car to a quarter inch off the ground, providing better stability. Once the Veyron reaches it's top speeds it's powerful engine sucks more air in one minute than we breath in 4 days. And it's massive 16 inch Bugatti disc caliper brakes bring you from 253mph to 0 in 10 seconds.
Click on to the jump for article continuation and a video about the birth of a Bugatti Veyron.
But where did the design for this amazing car come from? From Achim Anscheidt, the son of a German world champion motorcycle racer. This 45 year old mastermind behind the Bugatti design has grown up around speed. He spent his 20's as a motorcycle stuntman but soon decided that was not the life for him. He begun studying automobile design during winters in Stuttgart, and Porsche, impressed by his promise, sponsored him to attend the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. His inspirations included the impressionistic car illustrations of Dexter Brown, Steve McQueen in Le Mans, and the inspiring ink drawings of Ken Adam, the production designer for the classic Bond films.
In 2005, after working at Porsche for a small time, Anscheidt begun working at the Volkswagen design studio in Potsdam, outside of Berlin. It was here he was asked to begin working with the recently purchased Bugatti line. And that leads us up to the wonderfully sculptured machine we have today. We can only hope a Veyron graces the silver screen of an up and coming Bond film. With only 70 built a year, the Bugatti Veyron is not a car we'll see driving down the freeway anytime soon, but it's this exclusivity or elusiveness coupled with it's magnificent design that makes it an SAS favorite.
