Bugatti Veyron

O jornalista e apresentador do Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson, avaliou o carro mais poderoso e rápido do mundo, o Bugatti Veyron, na coluna dele no Sunday Times

O símbolo da insanidade ainda reinante na indústria automobilística, o Volkswagen de 1 milhão de Euros, aparentemente conseguiu transmitir os mil cavalos para o asfalto.

Clarkson descreve com as dificuldades de criar um carro que chegue a 400 km/h...

At 200mph you can feel the front of the car getting light as it starts to lift. As a result you start to lose your steering, so you arenà€™t even able to steer round whatever it is you canà€™t see because of the vibrations. Make no mistake, 200mph is at the limit of what man can do right now. Which is why the new Bugatti Veyron is worthy of some industrial strength genuflection. Because it can do 252mph. And thatà€™s just mad à€” 252mph means that in straight and level flight this car is as near as makes no difference as fast as a Hawker Hurricane.

... e explica as soluções encontradas pelos engenheiros para fazer o carro cumprir o desafio imposto pelo chefão da Volks.

Até o formato dos espelhos laterais geram downforce para evitar que o carrro decole.

The extra speed had to come from changing small things on the body. They started by fitting smaller door mirrors, which upped the top speed a bit but at too high a price. It turned out that the bigger ones had been keeping the nose of the car on the ground. Without them the stability was gone.

In other words, the door mirrors were generating downforce. That gives you an idea of how much of a bastard the air can be at this speed.

O jornalista que já dirigiu todos os supercarros dos últimos 20 anos diz que o Veyron faz a Ferrari Enzo e o Porsche Carrera GT parecerem lentos e sem sentido...

Other cars are small guesthouses on the front at Brighton and the Bugatti is the Burj Al Arab. It makes even the Enzo and the Porsche Carrera GT feel slow and pointless. It is a triumph for lunacy over common sense, a triumph for man over nature and a triumph for Volkswagen over absolutely every other car maker in the world.

Ainda nesta temporada do Top Gear vai rolar uma corrida entre o Veyron e um teco-teco entre Alba, no norte da Itália e Londres. Veja www.topgear.com.

Bugatti Veyron vs plane
We love a good pan-European car versus public transport challenge on Top Gear. So far we've pitted an Aston DB9 against the fast train to Monte Carlo (victory: Clarkson, Team Car).

We've run a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti against a jet aircraft to Verbier (victory: Clarkson, Team Car). And we put a Mercedes SLR McLaren against a boat to Oslo (victory: Clarks... etc, etc).

Now comes our greatest race ever. The route is from the northern Italian town of Alba to the southern British town of London.

Jeremy takes the incredible (and incredibly delayed) 987bhp Bugatti Veyron, while Richard and James are once again going by air. But this time there's a twist, because your pilot for this TG Airlines flight is Captain May of the King's Own Still Having Flying Lessons Corps.

Clarkson will be punched straight through Europe by the mighty fist of the world's most powerful car. The other two will be taking a not quite as-the-crow-flies route because James can't fly over the Alps. Apparently he hasn't done that bit of the course yet.

Nonetheless, Clarkson could be in trouble this time, unless, of course, James flies as slowly as he drives.