Movers, Moving Company on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport World Record Edition visits the Mullin Museum

The last time we visited the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, CA, it was to see the 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, which was the world's most expensive car at the time with an estimated purchase price of $30-$40 million. Nearly two years later we found ourselves back in the museum, this time to view the world's fastest car - the 2011 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport World Record Edition.
Bugatti will build 300 of the Veyron 16.4 supercars by the time they are finished with production. Of those, 46 will be of the Super Sport variant boasting an incredible 1,200 horsepower, and of those just five will be World Record Editions that celebrate the car's record-breaking 268-mph top-speed run. The car you see here is one of those select few and is on loan to the museum for a short period of time. It features the same two-tone paint scheme featured on the car used to set the top speed at Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessian high-speed oval.
The Veyron 16.4 Super Sport WRE is one of many modern Bugattis currently on display in the museum, joining a Veyron 16.4 Super Sport prototype and show cars from the late 1990s including the 18.3 Chiron Concept, EB118 Concept and EB218 Concept. A rare Bugatti EB110 SS is also on display.

Coming Bugatti reportedly gets NA V16 PHEV powertrain making 1,800 horsepower

With Bugatti having shown the Chiron successor to select clientele, a growing number of unconfirmed reports from reputable sources are filling in blanks with fascinating details. Let's start with the already confirmed fact that the new engine unit nestled at the back of the new carbon monocoque would trade the Chiron's quad-turbocharged W16 for a 90-degree V16. The best source for more intel is Bugatti-Rimac CEO Mate Rimac, who joined Ineos Automotive CEO Lynn Calder as one of the guest speakers at the Financial Times' Future of the Car summit in London. Autocar reports he told his audience the engine by itself is 39.4 inches long (one meter), making it 15.8 inches longer than the W16. Germany's Auto, Moto, und Sport writes that when including the hybrid element, the power unit is nearly two meters long, almost 78.7 inches. Rimac had to win boardroom battles to get that engine approved. Some background: Years ago, when Stephan Winkelmann ran Bugatti, he not only hinted repeatedly at some kind of electric SUV, but when asked about a "three-door, ultra-premium crossover SUV" in 2019, he replied, "The design is done. Some potential customers have seen it, and they liked it." At the London summit, Mate Rimac confirmed such a vehicle had been in development, and that it was planned to use battery-electric power on a Rimac chassis. But Mate managed to convince Volkswagen Group bosses that a full EV wasn't the way to go at a time when most company chiefs believed EVs had almost finished starving internal combustion of its fossil fuels. He's been proved more right than anyone expected or wanted; he said Rimac Automobili still hasn't sold out its 150 Nevera build slots.  There are no turbos involved in this PHEV — this is a free-breathing V16, just like the last V16 to reach the marketplace, the 6.0-liter unit in the Cizeta V16T. AMS claims Bugatti's engine has been developed with Cosworth's help, is bored out to 8.3 liters, revs to 9,000 rpm, and makes about 1,000 metric horsepower on its own (986 U.S. horsepower). That's close to double the power from the Cizeta's V16, which made 540 hp and 400 pound-feet of torque. The mill has been on the dyno since at least the end of 2022. Instead of turbos from Molsheim, a hybrid element is thought to add another 800 hp in final configuration. If that's the case, the new car will go beyond the W16's 1,587-hp swan song in the Mistral roadster. What is that hybrid element?

Topiary Joe sculpts the ultimate in green cars

Efficient cars are all the rage these days, but Joe Kyte has made a business of crafting some of the coolest green cars around – literally. Kyte is better known by his nickname Topiary Joe, and in addition to being a talented artist, he is also a real gearhead. Kyte has been creating topiaries for the last 20 years. It began when he was marketing greenhouse products to Walt Disney World and saw their plant sculptures. He realized that he could do that and since then, has done around 3,400 pieces. His most intriguing creations are the rolling sculptures that move and turn. Prices for those start at about $18,000 and can be as high as $30,000. While, the wheels are machine-bent, Kyte said all the other parts are done with a table vice and a Lincoln Electric arc welder. Topiary Joe is taking the Porsche (pictured above) to Palm Beach later this year to sell or says he may donate it to Porsche North America. If you really want it, the sculpture is currently on Craigslist for sale for $24,000. Topiary Joe has also had a life-long love of cars. "I was driving my first MG Midget before I was 14," he told Autoblog. He grew up in Oak Ridge, TN, where the Manhattan Project was partially developed. He says the town was full of recent college grads driving Mercedes, and he caught the bug. His automotive mentor was a nuclear physicist who taught him to repair and restore the Mercs. Kyte has completed commissions for Sandals Resort, Dreamworks, Absolut, and many more. Among his favorite creations is the Ferrari that he created at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that is now exhibited at the airport each year before the race. Check out his website for a wider look at his work.