Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse is World’s Fastest Roadster—Is Anyone Surprised?

Open-top motoring is about taking in the scenery more than about speed, but it's good to have the capability to do both. This line of thinking has been taken to an extreme at Volkswagen's ultra-luxury subsidiary Bugatti, which produces the open-top Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse. Powered by a 1200-hp, quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W-16, it is the world's fastest production roadster, and this claim has just been cemented at Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien, Germany, test track, where one of these monsters achieved 254.04 mph. The Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse can be bested by few, one of them being the fixed-top Veyron Super Sport. Bugatti's record run eclipses the original target for the open-top Veyron, which was set at 233 mph. The Grand Sport Vitesse is equipped with a "racing chassis" and reinforced anti-roll bars; the windbreaker and roof spoiler have been modified to cope with the extreme aerodynamic forces near the vehicle's top speed. Chinese businessman and racing driver Anthony Liu, who drove the car during its record run, eloquently gets to the heart of the major advantage of the roadster: "With an open top, you can really experience the sound of the engine." Celebrating the record is the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse WRC edition, which will set customers back by a cool €1.99 million, or $2.6 million. Just eight units will be built, the first of which will debut at the Shanghai auto show. The record run proves that Bugatti is as vibrant and alive as ever; the company's engineers are busy working on the next-generation Veyron, as well as the Galibier four-door supercar. Based on what the Grand Sport Vitesse has delivered, they should be every bit as spectacular as we've come to expect from Bugatti. from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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