Bugatti auto news

Video: Bugatti Veyron, Lexus LFA, McLaren MP4-12C and Lambo Aventador in 1/4-mile shootout... who wins?

Automobile Magazine scribe Jason Cammisa was sent into the desert to referee four carbon-fiber-bodied wild animals fighting it out over the quarter mile: the V8 McLaren MP4-12C, the V10 Lexus LFA, the V12 Lamborghini Aventador and the W16 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport. It's a tough job, innit?

The Head 2 Head race was run elimination style, with the winner of each two-up challenge facing the next devil up the totem pole. Although you might not have any doubts about the eventual victor, how each of these supercars fared is good watching. See all the screaming for yourself in the video below.

Continue reading Bugatti Veyron, Lexus LFA, McLaren MP4-12C and Lambo Aventador in 1/4-mile shootout... who wins?

Report: Bentley/Bugatti chief Durheimer moving to Audi in management shake-up

Running a high-end automobile manufacturer like Bentley or Bugatti has got to be a dream job for most any business executive. And Wolfgang Dürheimer gets to run them both - but not for much longer, according to the latest reports coming in from trade publication Automotive News Europe.

According to ANE, the former Porsche development chief is set to move to Audi in a broad management restructure aimed at reducing the average age of Ingolstadt's seven-member management board. In his new capacity, Dürheimer (53) is tipped to replace Audi's current development chief, Michael Dick (60), who is expected to retire later this year.

Along with Dürheimer, Volkswagen marketing director Luca de Meo (44, formerly of Fiat) is expected to replace Audi sales chief Peter Schwartzenbauer (60), while Volkswagen purchasing manager Bernd Martens replaces his Audi counterpart Ulf Berkenhagen, who will take up the same role at the group's commercial vehicles division. Audi production chief Frank Dreves is also expected to leave his post, though no replacement was named in the report.

Of course with any game of musical chairs - or "Reise nach Jerusalem" as they call it in German for some reason - replacements will need to be found for the positions being left vacant. We'll be watching who is named head of Bentley and Bugatti, both roles that Dürheimer assumed from Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen (pictured above at right), who last we heard was still in the group organizing its classic vehicles division.

Video: How to make a giant paper Bugatti Veyron

Chances are, we'll never be able to park a Bugatti Veyron in our own personal garage. It's sad, we know. Fortunately for us, the crew at Visual Spicer have worked up a little something special to ease the pain: Behold a 2.5-foot long papercraft Veyron. The project soaks up 44 pages of 8.5x11-inch printer paper and encompasses a whopping 159 parts. Needless to say, sticking this thing together is going to take some time. And ink.

The good news is, the templates are entirely free, which means we'll be commandeering the dining room table for construction purposes in sweet little time. You can scroll down below to check out a time-lapse construction video for yourself or download the template over at Visual Spicer. We're sure they wouldn't mind a donation or two, either.

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Video: New Bugatti 16C Galibier teaser video is over-the-top absurdity

Looks like Bugatti is finally getting a handle on this YouTube phenomenon. The French supercar firm has uploaded a trio of videos showing off its current and future cars; namely, the Veyron coupe and the 16C Galibier.

What Bugatti has clearly not figured out, on the other hand, is the definition of a teaser. While the slowly drawn out shots showing the upcoming super sedan from just about every angle are pretty impressive, aren't teasers just supposed to whet the appetite? And if we're honest, the narrative that goes with it is a bit... disarming. Finally, while most teaser videos are done and over with in a minute or less, this one is more than four times that length.

Oh well... nobody ever accused Bugatti of being subtle.

You can see the new Galibier teaser video by scrolling down below, and if that's not enough, we've also included two new videos showcasing the Bugatti Veyron and its most impressive bits and pieces.

Continue reading New Bugatti 16C Galibier teaser video is over-the-top absurdity

Official: Bugatti unveils one-off porcelain-trimmed Veyron Grand Sport Wei Long edition in Beijing

It takes a lot to grow jaded at the thought of a one-of-a-kind, seven-figure, record-breaking supercar, but that's what's happened after this many years of special edition Bugattis. The latest: a unique version of the Grand Sport roadster created for the Beijing Motor Show and one lucky (read: obscenely wealthy) customer.

Called the Wei Long edition, this one-off Veyron celebrates the Year of the Dragon. It was born out of the same collaboration with Königliche Porzellan Manufaktur that gave us the previous blue-and-white marbled Grand Sport L'Or Blanc edition. Only this one is white with red trim.

Like what you see? It can be yours for €1.58 million - chump change over two million greenbacks. Scope it out in the high-res image gallery and the press release below.

Continue reading Bugatti unveils one-off porcelain-trimmed Veyron Grand Sport Wei Long edition in Beijing

Video: Jeremy Clarkson narrates Bugatti Veyron presentation for Forza 4

We may have gotten used to it by now, but the bottom line is that the Bugatti Veyron is an astonishing feat of engineering. The task of summing it all up, then, would fall to one Jeremy Clarkson.

In addition to hosting BBC's celebrated Top Gear and penning columns in an array of magazines and newspapers, Jezza was tapped by the people behind the Xbox driving sim Forza 4 to voice-over the video clips showcasing some of the exciting cars in the game's virtual stable, including the Veyron.

You may have already seen it while playing the game, but evidently pleased with the job Clarkson and Turn 10 Studios did, Bugatti itself released the video for your viewing pleasure. Follow the jump to watch the brief clip.

Continue reading Jeremy Clarkson narrates Bugatti Veyron presentation for Forza 4

Video: Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse makes YouTube debut

In the automotive realm, there's nothing quite like the Bugatti Veyron, which, in convertible form, is known as the Grand Sport. With more than a thousand horsepower from its sixteen-cylinder engine and a top speed of well over 200 miles per hour, the Veyron Grand Sport is the fastest and most powerful open-top production road car in the world.

Well... it was the fastest, most powerful open-top production car in the world, until Bugatti went and created the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse. This is the topless version of the Veyron that's been fitted with the 1,200-horsepower engine from the automaker's Super Sport model. That means it can hit the ludicrous speed of 255 miles per hour - critically beating the regular Veyron by two mph - with nothing over your head but the open sky.

Bugatti has seen fit to honor its Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse with a new video, and we invite you to watch it by scrolling down below. We've also embedded three more new videos from Bugatti for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

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Official: 1938 Bugatti Type 57, 1962 Ferrari 330 LM take top honors at Amelia Island

The Amelia Island Concours may not be as old or have quite the prestige of Pebble Beach, but it still marks an important place on the automotive calendar every spring. For 2012, an incredible selection of cars gathered in the northeast end of Florida for the 17th annual show, with the event celebrating 50 years of the Shelby Cobra, the legendary Ferrari 250 GTO, custom coachwork Cadillacs, experimental Corvettes as well as cars that won the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring.

As with Pebble Beach, the Amelia Island Concours gives out awards to the most outstanding vehicles, but unlike the West Coast show there are two main trophies up for grabs instead of just one. This year a 1938 Bugatti Type 57, one of just three like it in the world, was awarded the Concours d'Elegance award, while a 1962 Ferrari 330 LM, essentially a 4.0-liter version of the 250 GTO, claimed the Concours de Sport award.

You can read more about this year's Amelia Island Concours and the two best of show winners in the press release below.

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Official: Bugatti opens up about Veyron Vitesse with more details, images

Fastest roadster ever. That's one heck of a claim, but if anyone can assert it, it's Bugatti. And the Alsatian automaker has brought 1,200 horsepower to back it up.

What we're talking about, of course, is the Vitesse - the "best of both worlds" version of the famed Veyron. First announced in February and officially unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show last week, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse (as it's known in full) has just had its full details released along with a fresh batch of rather fetching high-resolution images, which we've included in our gallery for your viewing pleasure.

So what are we looking at here, exactly? In short, a Grand Sport (that's the targa-topped model) with the engine from the Super Sport (the record-holding top-speed model). That means a quad-turbo W-16 engine with 1,200 horsepower, good for a 255 mph top speed with the wind in your hair.

That, for comparison's sake, is incrementally faster than the 253 mph top end of the "base" Veyron, yet slower than the 267 mph of the Super Sport with the same engine and a fixed roof. Crucially, however, it's faster than the 229 mph top end of the 1,001hp Veyron Grand Sport roadster. Want to know more? There's plenty to digest in the full press release and spec sheet after the jump.

Continue reading Bugatti opens up about Veyron Vitesse with more details, images

Geneva: Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse is where top speed goes topless

You have to applaud an automaker like Bugatti. Not content with being second place in the production car top speed category, the automaker created the monstrous Veyron Super Sport which, with a top tested speed of 267.81 miles per hour, holds the record for the world's fastest production coupe. Now, here at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, Bugatti has officially debuted the next chapter of its top speed world domination story, because why settle for just having the world's fastest coupe when you can have the world's fastest convertible, too?

Meet the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse. It's a pretty simple (yet technically astounding) package: Take the 1,200-horsepower, 8.0-liter, quad-turbocharged W16 from the Veyron Super Sport and fit it under the hood of the roofless Grand Sport. Vitesse nomenclature aside (that's French for 'speed', by the way), just think of this as a Super Grand Sport.

Bugatti states that the Grand Sport Vitesse is the most powerful production roadster of all time, and once this thing hits the street, it'll surely be the fastest, too. "Once again our engineers worked hard to demonstrate that Bugatti is able to constantly redefine the boundaries of what is technically feasible," states the automaker's President, Wolfgang Dürheimer.

Scroll through our attached image gallery to see the Grand Sport Vitesse live from the Geneva show floor and check out the official press release after the jump.

Continue reading Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse is where top speed goes topless