2012 Bugatti Veyron on 2040-cars

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Bugatti surprises with Vitesse 1 of 1 edition

Bugatti had plenty to showcase at Pebble Beach this year, unveiling not only the final Legend edition but also bringing the entire series together for one big happy family reunion at the same location where, one year ago, it presented the first such special edition. But those weren't the only special edition Veyrons on hand in Monterey this week.
When we first saw this yellow and black Veyron driving around Alsace last month and figured at the time that it must have been the final Legend edition in tribute to Elisabeth Junek. It turned out to be neither when the series closed out with the Ettore Bugatti edition with a decidedly different color scheme, which left us scratching our heads as to what the Bumblebee treatment was all about, but now we know.
In addition to the Ettore Bugatti edition, the most exotic French automaker also arrived at Pebble Beach this year with the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse 1 of 1 edition. Commissioned by a customer in Singapore, this one-of-a-kind Vitesse roadster revives a favorite color scheme of the Bugatti family that adorned many of its vehicles from the company's heyday, including a Type 41 Royale, a Type 55 and a Type 44 like the one beside which it was presented, furnished for the occasion by the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, CA.

Out with the clay, in with the VR: Bugatti's design studio is all digital

Bugatti recently unveiled three limited-edition, multi-million-dollar Chiron derivatives in less than a year, a Herculean task for such a small company. Achim Anscheidt, the head of the firm's design department, told Autoblog maintaining this pace wouldn't have been possible without the use of virtual reality technology. "We have the feeling we don't need clay anymore. With VR, we can do everything on the spot. We can sit next to each other and talk about the car, we can change the wheels, change the color, and sometimes make modifications on the spot," he explained. In comparison, using clay has several disadvantages. It's more difficult to tell how sunlight reflects off the body, for example. It's also more expensive and far more time consuming. "It's only through [VR] that we had the chance to develop the Divo, the La Voiture Noire and the Centodieci in such a rapid amount of time," he affirmed. The team in charge of designing the EB110-inspired Centodieci notably began the project about six months before the car made its public debut at the 2019 edition of the ritzy, champagne-soaked Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance held on California's picturesque Pacific coast. While VR isn't new, the technology wasn't advanced enough to replace clay in a styling studio until about 2016. Anscheidt hasn't looked back; going all-digital reduced the amount of time it takes to design a car by about 40%. This isn't a case of robots replacing humans, either. Bugatti still needs talented designers, and the number of people it assigns to each project hasn't drastically changed, but they now work differently than in the past. View 40 Photos And, the widespread use of VR in Bugatti's design department doesn't mean its cars are no longer drawn by hand. Anscheidt explained every project still starts with a series of sketches that allow designers to explore different directions and identify the one they want to take the car-to-be in. Here again, digitalization plays a substantial role. Early sketches are sometimes done on a tablet rather than on a piece of paper. "Of course, when [deputy design director] Frank Heyl and I go to lunch, we still sketch on napkins," he said with a smile. Knowing how to use 3D-modeling and VR is only one of the skills Anscheidt looks for when hiring new designers.

Bugatti Veyron Super Sport on 'Ring for record attempt?

The December 2005 issue of Australian motoring mag Wheels said the Bugatti Veyron lapped the Nürbugring in 7:40 in traffic. In the intervening years, depending on which list you consult, that particular time would leave the Veyron behind as few as 11 or as many as 38 other cars. Bugatti was quiet about it, but the company is quiet about almost everything that doesn't involve a new special edition or straight-line speed.
Among the other things Bugatti has neglected to publicize is the presence of a factory-plated Veyron Super Sport caught doing recon laps at the 'Ring. This might or might not lead to any publicly declared lap time, but even if it does, none of us should expect a miracle. A five-percent improvement would be colossal, and colossally unlikely - there are just as many curves at the 'Ring now as there were in 2005, and the massive Veyron SS still isn't made to take them. But say the Alsatian supercoupe did cleave 23 seconds off the lap, that would still leave it at 7:17, two seconds behind the Donkervoort D8 RS, one second ahead of the Porsche GT2 RS.
So now that the pressure's off, let's just say we'll be happy with any time the Veyron SS turns in so long as we get some in-car video to take the virtual ride. Scroll down for some video of the supercar on the track. Sounds beastly.