Returning to Bonmont Golf and Country Club in Cheserex, Switzerland, Bonhams Auctioneers will be offering a rare ‘matching’ pair of Bugatti Veyrons. The auction, which will be held on the 20th September, will be held in the stylish former 12th century abbey chapel with Lake Geneva providing a striking background.
The 2012 16.4 Super Sport Coupé and 2013 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse convertible variants of the French supercar, which set the benchmark for the category when it was launched will offer the potential buyers a choice of summer or winter driving – or possibly both for the ardent Bugatti collector.
Both motor cars have covered fewer than 700 kms from new and are both offered with an estimate of CHF 1,600,000 – 2,100,000 (€1,485,000 – 1,950,000).
Bugatti 16.4 Super Sport Coupé
In Bugatti’s quest for perfection, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport was born. The Super Sport is a sportier and more extreme Veyron. It has a power rating of 1200 horsepower and about 1500 Newton metres of torque which launches it to a limited top speed of 415 km/hr (258mph). This is not the highest attainable top speed of the vehicle as it had to be limited to conserve the ultra-soft tires.
The Super Sport comes with some performance upgrades like a seven-speed twin-clutch gearbox and improved performance in bends, improved stability when braking and accelerating, four larger turbochargers and bigger intercoolers have greatly improved the power.
Also, the chassis has been redesigned to be safe at extremely high speeds through the use of a slightly raised main-spring travel, stronger stabilizers and new shock absorbers while adapting a race car design into the car.
Improvements have been made on the car’s aerodynamics such that the vehicle easily maintains a perfect balance in all situations. The exterior is also made entirely of carbon fibre composites, and at the same time, the chassis is made entirely of carbon-fibre making it possible to request the car in a hundred percent clear lacquered exposed carbon.
On the 4th of July 2010, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport was tested for its limits at the Ehra-Lessien track in Wolfsburg. It was driven from South to North and back to the terminal average top speed. It achieved a top speed of 427.933 km per hour on the Northward journey and 434.211 km per hour on its way Southward, achieving an average of 431.072 kilometre-per-hour (268 more power). By doing this Bugatti broke and set a new world speed record the highest at the time and was awarded a Guinness World Record for the fastest street-legal production car in the world.
Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse
With its 8 litre quad-turbo W-16 engine, the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse rose up to the meaning of its name and set a record as the fastest production roadster in the world. Vitesse is a french word for Speed and it is an absolutely perfect name for the Roadster.
Up until the production of the grand sport Vitesse, hypercars were rarely produced in the roadster version. This is because most manufacturers found it challenging coupling incredible speed and dynamism, with extreme safety and comfort while having the roof opens. However, the engineers at Bugatti aced it all in the production of the grand sport Vitesse proving beyond all reasonable doubt that it is possible.
The Grand Sport Vitesse was inspired by the Super Sport, although a lot of changes were made to the front and rear of the vehicle. The Vitesse has larger air vents on the front of the vehicle than the Super Sport though the rear double diffuser and the centre-placed dual exhaust was carried over from the Super Sport.
And, unlike the Super Sport, the entirety of the Vitesse’s exterior is made completely of carbon fibre and it can be obtained in clear-coated visible carbon fibre.
The thrill of driving a Grand Sport Vitesse is that “open-top driving experience”. The unfiltered noise of the engine and the turbos is music to the ears, making the drive more than just thrilling, into an emotional and unique driving experience.
The engine of the Vitesse is the same as in other Veyrons, however, it produces 1200 horsepowers and 1500 Nms of torque. It comes with a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox and a top speed of 410 km/hr. This drivetrain setup enables it to go from standstill to 100km/hr in 2.6 secs, and 200km/hr in 7.1 seconds, and 0-300 km/hr in just 16 seconds.
The interior has a beautiful mix of aluminium, high-quality leather and a lot of carbon fibre. Everything just speaks ‘luxury’.
In 2013, the Grand Sport Vitesse achieved a record top speed of 408.84 km/hr making in the fastest production roadster in the world.
The most luxurious detail of the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse is its scarcity. A total of just 92 units were made, all of which were snapped up before the release date.
More information regarding these two Bugattis can be found at Bonhams.
