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Automotive

Bugatti to unveil world’s most powerful roadster in Geneva

By Darren Quick
February 22, 2012
Bugatti to unveil world’s most powerful roadster in Geneva
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse boasts 1,200 hp and a maximum torque of 1,500 Nm
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse boasts 1,200 hp and a maximum torque of 1,500 Nm
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The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse boasts 1,200 hp and a maximum torque of 1,500 Nm
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The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse boasts 1,200 hp and a maximum torque of 1,500 Nm
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse set to debut in Geneva
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The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse set to debut in Geneva

The world's automakers continue to provide a glimpse of what to expect at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show in March. The latest teaser comes from Bugatti, which will unveil its Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, calling it the world's most powerful roadster - time to invest in some super-strength adhesive for that toupee.

The Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse is essentially an open-top version of the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, which currently holds the world speed record for a production car at 268.8 mph (431 km/h).

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse set to debut in Geneva
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse set to debut in Geneva

For the new roadster, Bugatti's engineers have upped the power of the current open-top Grand Sport, which boasts 1,001-horsepower and torque of 1,250 Nm, to 1,200-horsepower and a maximum torque of 1,500 Nm for the Vitesse. The power increase of the vehicle's 16-cylinder engine comes courtesy of four enlarged turbochargers and intercoolers, with the chassis modified to support the power increase.

Bugatti hasn't revealed pricing for the new car, but don't go expecting much change from US$2 million.

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AutomotiveRoadsterBugattiBugatti VeyronConvertibleWorld's Most PowerfulGeneva Motor Show 2012
22 comments
Darren Quick
Darren Quick
Darren's love of technology started in primary school with a Nintendo Game & Watch Donkey Kong (still functioning) and a Commodore VIC 20 computer (not still functioning). In high school he upgraded to a 286 PC, and he's been following Moore's law ever since. This love of technology continues as Managing Editor of New Atlas.

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22 comments
Ross Mcewen-Page
But why? Whats the point in producing more and more powerful cars for the road. Unless they fly I cant see the point other than to prove they can.... Let me guess ...either next year or the following they will unveil ....wait for it, ...the worlds most powerful roadster! ...What a waste of time and resources.
jimbo92107
Why not just pour twenty gallons of gasoline on the ground, then light it on fire? If you want, go vroom-vroom. What a boring waste of technology.
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@Ross
Actually they are doing it to prove that they can, because it takes about 2 or 3 times more money to make a veyron, it\'s not a profit for Bugatti, they\'re just pushing the limit.
Todd Dunning
Ross just stay under the bed where it\'s safer and you don\'t have to be threatened by others who strive for more.
VoiceofReason
I wish I had the money to buy one, just so I could pay another company to build something to blow the doors off of it. Something powered by a huge diesel engine.
Gale Banks has a Duramax diesel truck engine that makes 1200+ hp and 1200+ ft-lbs of torque which is about 1626nm. Plus it will get better mileage.
hyperspaced
Outdated way of thinking + internal combustion technology engines.
@Todd: The automotive industry has limited resources, disproportional to what needed to make people\'s life easier. Wasting [limited] resources in order to make a car go from 431Km/h to 440Km/h is NOT a top priority.
Why don\'t they strive for fuel efficiency? Or maybe a car that could fly?
Short Fuse
Looks nice, but as a couple of commentators noticed above, HP is complete nonsense. There\'s no doubt it could be done. Good work, engineers! But I dare to say, increasing the HP is among all challenges engineers face when designing such car one of the less in not the least complex one. There is lots of other parameters, that make a great car, but are much more dfficult to perfect and ultimately make a good driving experience. But what do I know, never had a chance to sit in a car like that, so I wouldn\'t mind Veyron despite being a four wheeled nonsense, I guess... ;)
But anyway, if they talk about pushing the limit, where money is clearly no object, why not change that piston engine for a jet turbine combined with generator and two or four electric motors? That would make it stand out even more. It\'s a gas guzzler anyway...
brianuk04
You have to realise that these people are sooooo rich, that this is their way of having fun.They dont give a tinkers cuss about the rest of the world, just view Piers Morgan\'s programme on Marbella.
Rt1583
@jimbo: Technology for automobiles should stagnate then? How about racing technology? Do you think that what they learn on cars like this just stays within the sphere of that one car or group of cars?
@Short Fuse: There\'s no doubt that that much HP could be produced. The challenge was building a vehicle that could safely be driven on public roads with that much HP. Before, all vehicles with that much HP or more were strictly track run or salt flat run. It was never a question of wether or not they could make the HP.
As for the rest crying about the fuel consumption factor: 1. There aren\'t that many of these cars on the road so the overall impact on world wide fuel consumption by these vehicle is negligible.
2. Come up with a viable alternative. And don\'t fall back on the green communities baby, the electric car. If petrol (gasoline and diesel) burning vehicles are replaced with electric, where is all of the extra, necessary, electric power going to come from? Burning of more fossil fuels of course. And you can\'t discount the fuel needed for the equipment to mine and transport these fossil fuels either.
Fossil fuels are a part of our lives that will not go away unless someone, somewhere, somehow comes up with a workable, mass scale fusion power plant or develops a perpetual motion device as wind is not consistant enough to replace fossil fuels and to redirect enough water into enough water driven power plants would be detrimental to the environment as would installing enough tide driven power generators to replace fossil fuels.
Mel Tisdale
As dinosaurs go, it is quite pretty. What a shame the Bugatti company doesn\'t care about the environment and has not realised just what is going to happen when peak oil really kicks in.
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