TRAVELLED TO FRANCE TO DRIVE A STRATOSPHERIC HYPERCAR

ebruary 22, 2006 is a date etched in my memory: a jam-packed day trip to Molsheim in France, home to supercar manufacturer Bugatti. My mission? First and foremost to talk to engineers about the Bugatti Veyron’s engine, an eight-litre W16, quad-turbocharged 987HP and 1,250Nm behemoth.

Back then, the Bugatti Veyron was the fastest production car in the world, and our readers wanted to know all about that engine. We’d already covered the car’s ‘difficult’ development – delayed, over budget and complications in testing – so we were hoping for a more positive angle on the much-hyped hypercar.

At the time, I was working for a relatively small publisher who didn’t have the sway of the people behind some of the more popular weekly or monthly publications. We had to punch upwards, work on the ‘Don’t ask, don’t get’ principle, and really sell ourselves to make things happen. So when I signed off an email with a cheeky PS along the lines of ‘If there’s a Veyron around when I’m there, I’d love to have a go,’ I wasn’t really expecting a prompt reply stating (and I can remember this word for word): “A Veyron has been reserved for you at 14:00hrs on the 22nd February”. Life goals and all that.

IT’S REALLY HAPPENING…

In truth, I still didn’t actually expect to get behind the wheel until I was literally in the driver’s seat. After doing my ‘proper’ work, I was taken out by one of Bugatti’s test drivers – at 14:00hrs exactly – who talked me through the car and his background. Nice fella, but I think I only heard half of what he said as I was in a combined state of excitement, fear, shock and disbelief that I had got myself into this position!

After a while, my driver pulled into a lay-by and I realised IT was happening. Settling into the driver’s seat – which was very comforting and supporting for a car with that much performance – I was naturally a bit cautious. It’s often easier to get a feel for a car’s attributes at lower speeds, so after giving the engine a bit of a rev, just to hear it growl, I gingerly made my way along the country roads.

My confidence in the car soon grew, helped by the fact that the Veyron was surprisingly easy to drive. Maybe it was the Volkswagen engineering at the heart of the beast, but it wasn’t intimidating and didn’t really possess the rawness of other supercars (and this one’s a hyper- not a supercar really). The levels of luxury and refinement were befitting of its €1m price tag.

What did alarm me was when I veered a bit too close to the edge of the French road where the tarmac stopped and there was a sheer drop into a drainage trough. “A little over to the left,” my companion subtly advised, before hinting: “Each Veyron wheel costs the same as a top-of-the-range Polo, so we like to look after them!”. He also added that the transmission – a sevenspeed, dual-clutch automatic that had been developed by Ricardo in the UK – was the same price as a top-spec Phaeton (c.£80k at the time). Those financial revelations helped to focus the mind a little.

FULL-THROTTLE TEST DRIVE

Leaving those worries – and roads –behind, we ventured into the French countryside, with smoother roads, great visibility and not much traffic. It was time to really open the Veyron up. I couldn’t tell you exactly where it was in relation to the Molsheim HQ, but I remember fields surrounding us on a long straight.

I brought the Veyron to a complete stop, took a breath and floored the throttle. The overwhelming sensation was being thrown back in my seat to the point where I couldn’t move any part of my body for a few moments and not wanting to move, such was the impact of the acceleration. It was like nothing I’d experienced before – or have ever experienced since.

In reality, I didn’t get anywhere near the car’s top speed of a whopping 253mph, but I had no doubt it would get there, such was its rapidness when you properly pressed on the throttle. The Bugatti Veyron very much lived up to the hype. After all, this was a car that won Top Gear ’s ‘Car of the Decade’ for the 2000s.

The performance was insanely impressive for that time but, ultimately, unusable the majority of the time. So much of my drive in the Veyron was more sedate, but I still found opportunities in the almost deserted French countryside to experience a lot of those near-1,000 horses. Delivered with such speed, but with an awesome soundtrack generated by the W16 sat behind us. It was exhilarating.

All told, the Veyron was a very accomplished package – steering, chassis and brakes all excelled – and I felt it had been engineered to perfection. This was a car bought by enthusiasts. I remember the Bugatti guys telling me they had turned down rappers, football players and film stars who wanted one, instead favouring real advocates of the brand, with previous models in their garage.

One story stood out, that of a customer who signed the papers for three cars while he was in hospital recovering from surgery. He’d purchased one for him, one as an investment and one for his neighbour!

A Day To Remember

Towards the end of my drive, it was school chucking-out time and I spotted a group of schoolboys being stopped in their tracks as they spotted the oncoming Bugatti. They eventually regained movement, but only to start bowing down in a Wayne’s World “We’re not worthy!” way.

If you’ve had a journey that has changed your life or made a lasting impression, email james.scoltock@ thinkpublishing.co.uk to feature in our next edition

Such was the smooth progress being made and muted engine note at the lower speeds we were doing through the town, for a split second I forgot I was in a millioneuro hypercar and was confused as to what they were doing. Remembering, I gave them a blip of the throttle as I approached them and then sped off into the distance as the speed limit lifted. Briefly looking in the rear-view mirror, I could just about make out their open mouths. Job done.

That day remains one of the most memorable and rewarding days of my career. Just to spend any time in the company of an automotive legend such as that was an honour. Those days don’t come around very often.

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