A Great Sport

A lot of legend has built up around the Bugatti Veyron during its reign of terror as supercar colossus. We know the Top Gear track times wall isn't always the greatest measure of a supercar's status - after all, the fact that the German oddity Gumpert managed to be one of the quickest ever objects on four wheels tells its own story about aesthetics and velocity occasionally being mutually exclusive. The Veyron was indeed overtaken by a good few of its peers on this particular test - but there's no dent in the mystique. This year, there came a new addition to the grandest of grand tourers' portfolio - The Grand Sport, essentially a Veyron convertible - and gaining headlines because of the small matter of a price tag of $2.1 million. Bugatti announced the production in this style at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in California in August last year with production starting in spring 2009. So what else is different from the original beast? Well, there are small tweaks to the windscreen and running lights, two removable tops and a temporary roof fashioned on an umbrella. With the hardtop in place, the Grand Sport can reach 408 km, the same as the coupe version. With no roof, you can only go 367 km/h. No matter. If your average nondescript billionaire demands that the biggest profile supercar in the world go topless, people tend to listen. So it was time for the Volkswagen-owned ultra-luxury automaker to saunter back into the engine room and break the laws of physics again. There's no need to mention what an engineering marvel the original Veyron was. When you're in the business of creating machines designed to crush one's cortex with the weight of concentrated awesomeness, you probably have to do something that defies science a little bit. The roof was reinforced to deal with the wrath of Odin (and the more familiar stresses of acceleration and horsepower) and it took the considerable nous of Volkswagen to bring it to us. The Grand Sport pushes even further, bolstered with carbon fibre, structural supports and everything needed to control the savagery of 1001 bhp from the 8 litre, 16 cyclinder engine complete with four massive turbochargers. Ferrari Enzo The Veyron Grand Sport tends to be beyond comparison, but it's worth taking a look at how the Enzo stacks up as a one-time Power Lap trend setter. The Enzo's V12 engine is the first of a new generation for Ferrari and was based on the architecture of the V8 found in sister-company Maserati's Quattroporte. The result from the 6 litre engine is 0-60 in 3.3 seconds., reaching 100mph in 6.6 seconds. The Enzo was initially announced with a limited production run of 349 units and priced at $643,330, and all were sold before production began. Later, after numerous requests, Ferrari decided to build 50 more Enzos, bringing the total to 399. The Enzo Ferrari typically trades above $1,000,000.

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