Bugatti Veyron: Driven

South African motoring had the chance to drive the Bugatti Veyron at the Monte Bianco in Italy.

I'm at a toll gate at the foot of Mont Blanc - or Monte Bianco, this being the Italian side - about to leave the autostrada and depart up the heart-stoppingly beautiful and twisty San Berdardino Pass. Ahhhh: here's a policeman in hi-vis vest, about to make a pull.

I crawl past at walking speed. He looks at the Bugatti Veyron, the fastest and by far the most powerful and expensive car ever sold. And at me inside. I look back. He doesn't raise his arm to stop me

Well, his colleagues obviously aren't being particularly vigilant today, because just a couple of minutes earlier I had been coming up his motorway at the far side of 300km/h

Reckless? Insane? This astonishing car argues otherwise. It's actually capable of 400km/h: making 300 is a cinch.

This is a bright, glassy-clear morning. Traffic is light. So here's how it happened. I looked ahead. A clear straight, unbroken barrier on both sides, no vehicles in either lane. I flexed my right foot.

The colossal engine behind me drew breath - a sigh of intake air, a turbo whistle. The mechanical and exhaust noise spooled up like someone was opening the soundproofed door of a giant industrial plant.

Simultaneously the automated transmission was slipping down a couple of gears. That lot took up maybe half a second, the car flexing its muscles, the veins on its forehead popping out. And now it was really charging.

Lear jet on take-off? Doesn't begin to describe the feeling. This was kick-in-the-back acceleration, even at 160km/h. Now 190, 230, 260, 300.

GermanCarBlog, Bugatti Veyron

Source: Motoring

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