Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sports creates Land Speed Record
There are certain things in life, which
when even thought about for a split-second, demand superlatives. And
when it comes to the world of speed, there are quite a lot of things
(and humans) which do that. Starting from Ayrton Senna and Michael
Schumacher (greatest F1 racers ever) to the TGV and Concorde (the
fastest train and jet), the list is quite formidable. And, if there is
one car which has its name etched into this list, it would undoubtedly
be the Bugatti Veyron.
Stung
with criticism from all angles, Volkswagen, the owner of the Bugatti
brand took it upon itself to deliver what it promised in the form of
Veyron, even if it involved losing money on every number produced. In
the process of doing so, terms like W16 engine configuration, 1001 bhp
and quad turbochargers became known to the general public. Finally, when
the Bugatti Veyron was launched as the World’s most powerful car at
that time, the world was in awe of one of the ultimate cars that had
ever been produced. Though the car’s design was not liked by everyone,
the specifications and power output more than made up for it.
And
now, when the Veyron is about to become history with the last few
numbers to be manufactured, Bugatti decided to celebrate with the most
fitting title to it’s super car – “Guiness Land Speed Record for a
Production Car”. On July-04-2010, in Volkswagen group’s proving grounds
at Ehra-Lessien near Wolfsburg, Germany, in the presence of German
Technical Inspection Agency (TUV) and Guiness Book of Records
representative, Bugatti sent it’s official test driver Pierre Henri
Raphanel to drive the first of the Super Sports in the oval in both the
directions. With speeds of 427.93 & 434.21 kph and an average speed
of 431.072 kph (268 mph), the Veyron Super Sports easily set a new world
speed record for a production car.
