Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Roadster, 2015
Bugatti EB Veyron 16.4
Bugatti EB Veyron 16.4•
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Chassis No.: VF9SV2C21FM795074
Auction: Monterey 2018
Auction date: August 25, 2018
Lot No.: S100
$2,000,000 | High bid
- Exterior: Silver
- Interior: Taupe
- Body: Roadster
- Previously owned by Arnold Schwarzenegger
- No. 74 of 150 produced
- 1,526 miles
- Quad turbocharged 8.0L W-16 engine
- 1,200 HP and a top speed of 254 MPH
- 7-speed dual clutch DSG transmission
- All wheel drive
- Independent double wishbone suspension
- 4-wheel disc brakes
- Improved brake cooling ducts
- Finished in Silver with Taupe leather interior
- Carbon fiber door panel and console trim
- 20 inch chrome wheels
- Michelin Pilot Sport tires
Bugatti broke a great many conventions on the way to finally producing the Veyron, teasing public interest for several years with a string of concept vehicles culminating in the first production series in 2005. The Veyron was the creation of Ferdinand Piech, the soft-spoken German industrial dynamo who fathered the Porsche 917 and the Audi Quattro. After assuming the chairmanship of the Volkswagen Group, Piech purchased the Bugatti brand for pennies on the dollar to unleash his vision of the ultimate automobile on a world that did not even know it was waiting for one. In realizing that dream, Piech did what he’d done all his professional life: drive ahead relentlessly.
He had experienced the demands of engineering such an earthbound conveyance in developing the outrageously powerful Porsche 917/30 Panzerwagens that so dominated the Can Am series that they ultimately rendered moot the entire enterprise. With that kind of record, you don’t accept “no” for an answer from even your most experienced engineers; you send them back to work until they realize they can actually meet your demands. Piech refused to budge in the face of seemingly insurmountable problems, insisting on his design and engineering parameters with unflinching determination.
In the end, the 8.0L quad-turbocharged 1,001 HP W-16-powered Bugatti Veyron vindicated Piech’s resolve with scorching speed and extraordinary elegance worthy of its namesakes, Ettore Bugatti and his multitalented driver, Le Mans-winner Pierre Veyron. It established the all-time speed record for a production road car at 254 MPH, ending the constant jostling between various other manufacturers for the title, just as the Porsche 917/30 had the final say in the Can Am.
More than that, the Veyron established another standard for future supercars: it was tractable, even docile under what most drivers call normal conditions, devoid of the harsh ride and compromises on passenger comfort that had come to be accepted as features rather than bugs in other contenders. And amazingly, it felt pretty much the same at the upper reaches of its performance, despite the volcanic fury roiling just inches behind the passengers. There was only one thing to do in the wake of the Veyron’s earth-shaking success: improve on it. The next step was the logical one.
In 2009, Bugatti produced a Targa version, the Grand Sport, adding the sky above us to the Veyron’s list of conquered realms. In 2010, Bugatti debuted the 1,200 HP Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, the top speed of which was electronically limited to 258 MPH. That’s right: electronically limited, keeping the tires from disintegrating at the Super Sport’s unfettered top speed of 267.856 MPH—a thought worthy of a moment’s meditation. Having climbed that next rung on the ladder to automotive Nirvana, in 2012, Bugatti unveiled the second-generation Veyron roadster, the Grand Sport Vitesse.
Essentially a topless version of the Super Sport, it incorporates the same 7-speed dual-clutch DSG transmission, all-wheel-drive, computer-controlled all-independent wishbone suspension, active aerodynamics and aircraft-grade 4-wheel disc brakes. It also features the same improved cooling employed in the Super Sport to handle the W-16’s impressive thermal output. Bugatti produced a scant 150 bespoke copies of the Grand Sport Vitesse, including this magnificent 2015 example finished in a gleaming shade of silver that perfectly enhances the Veyron’s smoothly rounded contours.
Riding on 20-inch chromed alloy wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport tires, its exquisite handcrafted interior offers rich taupe leather upholstery (with the exclusive Vitesse stitching pattern inspired by the Veyron’s ascending speed curve), a jewel-like engine-turned center panel and carbon-fiber door-panel and console trim. If the Bugatti Veyron is the ultimate grand-touring automobile, this Grand Sport Vitesse is arguably the grandest of them all.
https://www.mecum.com/lots/336692/2015-bugatti-veyron-grand-sport-vitesse-roadster/
