Bugatti Veyron: Classic Drive

Although it was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2001, it took another 4 years of fine-tuning before the profound Bugatti Veyron 16.4 was deemed “ready for public consumption.” We revisit this automotive marvel on a sunset drive in the Winelands.

NOTE: Special thanks to The Archive for making this drive possible.

If you dig deep into the Bugatti Veyron’s history, it becomes evident that the genesis of this car can be traced all the way to shortly after World War II. In his book Faster, Higher, Farther, Jack Ewing’s in-depth writing covers the inside story of Volkswagen’s “Dieselgate” scandal.

Naturally, throughout the book, the late Dr Ferdinand Piëch is mentioned, also casting a light on his early life as a child. Piëch, of course, is regarded as the “father” of the Veyron…

Already in 1942, during World War II (at the age of 5), Piëch walked around in the Volkswagen factory, where he immersed himself in the environment and reportedly shifted the gears of the (unsynchronized) gearboxes of the cars of that era. Even before he was in school (in the early ’40s), he reportedly told his mother that he would like to be hands-on and work in a factory with various automotive machines.

That force of will remained throughout his career. Under his guidance, the Bugatti Veyron was destined to become the pinnacle of the motoring world. First, the VW Group decided to revive Bugatti and then incorporated the French brand as a wholly-owned subsidiary in 2000. Piëch, who studied engineering, was ultimately responsible for some of the most significant road and race cars in automotive history.

As Ewing states, when the Veyron first saw the light of day in 2005, it was “in the spirit of Ettore Bugatti, fabulously expensive and ridiculously overpowered.” For a petrolhead, the latter statement is debatable.

The idea of the Veyron came about, as some brilliant ideas do, through a rough drawing on a piece of paper. It is said that during 1997, Piëch and Volkswagen’s head of powertrain development Karl-Heiz Neumann were travelling on the “Shinkansen” bullet train between Tokyo and Nagoya. Piëch had this idea of an 18-cylinder engine and drew it on that now historic slip of foolscap. It would eventually take 4 concept models, but in 2001, Bugatti announced that the Veyron would go into series production.

The Bugatti Veyron’s long gestatation

I happened to attend the 2001 Frankfurt Motor Show and remember seeing the Veyron on the stand; the hypercar’s muscular drivetrain had a display of its own! It was massive. There were numerous challenges along the way. Keeping the car as compact as possible, as stable as possible at high speed and as light as possible were just some of the problems, not to mention the complex all-wheel drive system.

Of course, the Chiron has come along and has upped the ante to new levels in many ways. But whether they can or can’t afford it, many enthusiasts still prefer the Veyron – it will always be the “OG” hypercar.

This particular Bugatti Veyron stands out from the crowd like few other cars, particularly because of its traditional – and typically Bugatti – paint scheme. And, at the time of writing, there were only 3 Veyrons in the Republic of South Africa and most of them are usually tucked away and rarely seen on the road.

Franschhoek is in the heart of the Winelands and offers some of the best driving roads in the world. These roads are known not only for their high-quality surfaces but also for their visual majesty.

One of them is the Franschhoek Mountain Pass, a twisting piece of tarmac that snakes up a mountain in true Alpine fashion, followed by a sweeping stretch of flat road when you leave the mountain behind. Interestingly, during its development phase, the Bugatti Veyron was sent to South Africa for testing.

The VW Group has a massive, relatively secretive, test facility out in the Northern Cape, so it stands to reason that it would fine-tune one of its high-speed vehicles there.

Specifications

Model: Bugatti Veyron 16.4
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo W16, petrol
Power: 736 kW at 6 000 rpm
Torque: 1 250 Nm at 2 200-5 500 rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch automatic, AWD
Weight: 1 888 kg
0-100 kph: 2.5 sec (claimed)
Top speed: 407 kph (claimed)

The sinuous sheet metal of the Bugatti Veyron

Before the late afternoon light fades, we harness nature’s golden illumination to capture the Veyron’s striking lines on camera. Then, the Veyron’s key is handed to me. As expected, the car looks hunkered down. I keep thinking, as I walk to the car and also later during the afternoon, about the car’s smooth, “unfussy” design. Modern hypercars are plastered with numerous winglets, aero inlets and -outlets, as well as myriad other body addenda – but not the Bugatti Veyron, even its rear wing is elegantly stowed.

There is, of course, the iconic horseshoe grille in the front, a large cut-out into the bodywork behind the front wheels and the intakes behind the doors. Both the latter items are optically hidden thanks to the black paintwork. However, at the rear of the hypercar things do get interesting. When travelling at, or braking from high speeds, the Bugatti Veyron will automatically deploy its massive dual-plane rear wing.

However, it is still a very sinuous design. The Veyron presents one of the purest rear 3-quarter views of any hypercar – or any car, period. When parked, the wing can still be deployed and left in that position.

That configuration presents an ideal opportunity to look at what’s hidden beneath it – you can see part of the exhaust system and the rear end of that W16, which can catapult the car from 0-100 kph in 2.5 sec.

The brushed-silver air intakes above the engine (they peek out ever so slightly above the roofline) flow elegantly with the car’s design and are beautifully integrated into the body. Even the side mirrors don’t extend outward past the car’s body (as on other cars) – it’s yet another bit of clever aerodynamic design.

But the absolute highlight is seeing the “open” engine nestled between the pair of ascending air intakes. I peer in a little deeper and can’t help but wonder how the engineers were able to fit this drivetrain into a vehicle with such a relatively small footprint – to call it a triumph of engineering is an understatement!

The Bugatti Veyron’s sumptuous cabin

I pull the polished metal door handle and when I sink into the low seating position a few things catch my eye. Firstly, I’m struck by just how luxurious but, at the same time, homogenous and elegant the cabin is.

The duo-tone navy blue and cream interior creates a clean, relaxing ambience, which seems incongruous with the visceral driving experience this hypercar is said to offer! There is no big infotainment screen, just the controls for the climate control, a leather-wrapped transmission lever and 2 steering column stalks.

And how refreshing is it to experience a steering wheel devoid of a multitude of buttons? Suffice it to say, the Veyron’s cabin is pleasantly simple and quite “elemental” compared with those of modern exotics.

There is nothing to draw your attention away from the driving experience. Behind the steering wheel is a large analogue rev counter, to the right the smaller speedometer (with an even smaller digital display) and a few other displays for interesting bits of info (such as the power indicator on the left, with a needle that swings around the clock to 1 000, if you’re brave enough to press the accelerator pedal to the floor).

Behind the ‘wheel of the Bugatti Veyron

I twist the key, then press the starter button behind the transmission lever. The starter motor whirrs a few times and then the W16 catches. At first, I’m surprised by how quiet it is, although it emits a deep rumble.

However, later on I would realise that the deep bassy exhaust note is more audible to those listening from outside. The Veyron’s driver’s seat is comfortable, but certainly more firm and supportive than plush and cossetting. That said, you should be able to spend a good few hours in it without feeling any discomfort.

I push the transmission lever to the right to select Drive and pull away. Within a few metres, I realise how planted the car Veyron feels and how stiff its suspension is. It’s no surprise: this is a 1 900 kg (official figure is 1 888 kg) car that must be able to handle a plethora of forces up to 400 kph. This is no cushy GT, it is a focused hypercar – especially if you consider what it represented almost 2 decades ago.

The tiniest throttle inputs remind you that there are no fewer than 4 turbochargers bolted to the 8.0-litre W16. There is some whistling from them, but less so than in a modern Pagani Huayra. The powertrain still offers a very high level of sophistication – the idea was to not allow too much noise to enter the cabin.

You sit as near as dammit to the floor pan of the car, which means you are very close to the road. Still, I have a perfect view over the first part of the black bonnet, while I can see the blue fenders as well. As the nose of the Bugatti Veyron is quite stubby, you know the front wheels are close to your feet, which makes it easy to place the car through corners. This is anything but a bulky and cumbersome machine.

As the Veyron had been driven before the shoot, all its vital fluids were already warmed up. Having fully steeled myself to experience the 16.4’s prodigious performance, I decide to push the transmission lever again to activate Sport mode and utilise the paddle shifters on the ‘wheel to change gears myself. This gives you more control over the engine, allowing you to get a better feel for its herculean performance.

The Bugatti Veyron’s steering is light, but precise and as I dive through a few corners, the lightness of the steering system allows me to focus on other aspects of the car. I thought the 16.4’s weight would be very noticeable, but that is not the case. Even when pressing the brake pedal, the massive discs (400 mm up front, clamped by 8-piston calipers) not only give “good pedal feel”, but scrub off speed adroitly.

At 2 000 rpm in 5th gear, I lean on the hypercar’s accelerator pedal and feel a storm building deep down behind me. What follows, virtually instantaneously, is a seemingly relentless surge of glorious torque. I shift down a couple of gears and press the long pedal down further. Within a split second, the previously burbling hypercar reacts with a guttural roar as its 16-cylinder engine rollicks inexorably to the red line.

The red line is just after 6 000 rpm, but that number is nearly irrelevant, because throughout the 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16’s rev range, there is always a copious torque (1 250 Nm from 2 200 to 5 500 rpm) on offer. When you engage the next gear, the surge continues unabatedly, but even if the Veyron’s huge engine isn’t as rev-happy as smaller capacity, non-turbocharged motors (such as the 3.9-litre V12 in the GMA T.50) you’re likely to reach the end of most straight stretches before you reach the red line again!

When I find myself with a clear stretch of straight(ish) asphalt in front of me, I’m deep into 3-figure kph speeds within seconds. As impressive as the acceleration is, it’s the utter stability of the Veyron 16.4 at such speeds that impresses me most. Several other modern high-performance cars shimmy about ever so slightly as they approach their limits, but the elder statesman Veyron remains planted to terra firma.

As you are always aware of how fast it can go, the Bugatti Veyron does entice you to eke as much out of it as you can during straight-road blasts. But it’s not a one-trick pony. It might be on the heavy side, but it’s fitted with incredibly wide tyres (265 at the front, 365 at the rear), as well as a clever electronically controlled all-wheel-drive system; the “French” hypercar has huge grip and traction to aid cornering.

You rarely have to look in the rear-view mirror, but when you do, it would be to appreciate anew the view (over the metal covers) of the masterpiece that is the 725-kW 8.0-litre, 16-cylinder quad-turbo engine.

For a moment I think about the Bugatti Veyron’s heft. In the mid-2000s, a sportscar with a kerb weight of 1 888 kg was considered rather portly. Oh, how times have changed. Today, a BMW M3 Sedan tips the scales at 1 840 kg. In that sense, as in several other ways, history has been kind to Piëch’s brainchild.

I squeeze the accelerator pedal a few more times and start giggling at the “otherworldly” performance. Even today, but especially 2 decades ago, this car represents engineering on another level, and keeping such a special car on the road is likely to cost the same as a small boat. Indeed, another owner (and several online resources) confirm that you have to have deep pockets to keep a Veyron in the stable…

Summary

Before I exit the Veyron, I adjust the driver’s seat back to the position it was before I drove the car with a mechanical lever underneath the seat. That might seem trivial, but it illustrates that Bugatti still wanted to keep the weight as low as possible for obvious reasons. The same is the case for the level of luxury in the car. It is luxurious, but if you want the most luxurious car on the planet you will need to look elsewhere.

However, if you want to experience one of the pinnacles of automotive performance – in road-car terms – and an all-round engineering marvel that had many highly gifted engineers scratching their heads for quite a few years, the Bugatti Veyron must be at the top of your list. Just don’t ask how much it costs.

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