From NY Times










The ludicrously fast 1001-horsepower Bugatti Veyron 16.4 has become even faster.

Here is the new Veyron Super Sport with its four enlarged turbochargers and super-size intercoolers pushing the output of the 8-liter W-16 engine to stupefying 1,200-horsepower. And it’s already broken a speed record for a production car, with a two-way average speed of 267.86 miles per hour.

The record run, certified by the German government and the Guinness Book of World Records, took place a couple of weeks ago at the Volkswagen Group’s giant Ehra-Lessein proving grounds in Germany. VW owns the Bugatti brand.

The new speed record is a bit more than 14 miles an hour better than what the regular Veyron 16.4 ran under similarly strict circumstances at Ehra-Lessein in 2005. More importantly to Bugatti, 267.86 m.p.h. exceeds the previous Guinness-certified two-way average run of 256.18 m.p.h. made on a closed stretch of Highway 221 in rural Washington State by the 1,183-horsepower Shelby SuperCars Ultimate Aero in 2007.

It’s the other Shelby — Jerod Shelby — who runs tiny Shelby SuperCars out of his hometown of Tri-Cities, Wash. He doesn’t have access to a high-speed circuit like Ehra-Lessein that has a perfectly flat surface and a long 5.6-mile straight.

The Veyron Super Sport is apparently intended to be the Veyron’s swan song. Since its introduction in 2005, Bugatti has sold 260 regular-specification Veyron coupes and 35 Veyron Grand Sports with a removable roof panel. With a price rumored to start at $2.5 million, the Super Sport will make those 295 previous Veyrons seem ordinary; commuter cars for Paris Hilton or the assorted Kardashians.

While it’s the bigger turbos and intercoolers that make the additional power, the visually distinctive elements of the Super Sport are a revised front end with larger air intakes and the elimination of the rear, high-mounted air intake scoops that have been replaced by low-profile NACA ducts. The tail has been reconfigured around a new air diffuser and a centered exhaust bundle. It’s just the sort of subtle differences that the elite won’t notice and that are guaranteed to crush the egos of those poor near-billionaires stuck driving their now passé regular Veyrons.

The Super Sport’s suspension has also been fortified and stiffened to handle the additional power. The body has also been strengthened and will be available unpainted for those who like the menacing King of the Underworld look of clear-coated raw carbon-fiber.

The Veyron Super Sport will make its public debut in mid-August at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance in California. The first five Super Sports will be finished as replicas of the record setter and be labeled as “World Record Edition” models.

There is, however, one piece of bad news for anyone thinking of taking their new Veyron Super Sport out and resetting the top speed record. Bugatti will be electronically limiting the production cars to a top speed of 257.9 mph in order to, the maker says, “protect the tires.”