June 29, 2006 One of the measures of sporting performance that’s rarely used but highly relevant when measuring extreme automotive performance is the zero to 100mph and back to zero time. It incorporates both acceleration to a suitably ridiculous speed and braking from that speed to the safety of standstill again and it’s more of a guide to sporting prowess than simple standing start quarter mile times. Each year in the U.K., the world’s oldest motoring magazine runs the fastest cars against each other using this test and this year there has been a new entrant which has wiped the floor with all others. Not surprisingly, given that it has a 987bhp 16-cylinder engine and a top speed of 400 kmh, the UKP 880,000 Bugatti Veyron has blitzed everything else on four wheels by a massive margin – what is surprising is that it has also blitzed a credible representative of the fastest of the two wheel brigade as well, managing to beat a Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike by nearly a full second. Read on for the complete list of the times by 25 of the world’s fastest cars, from the 14th placed UKP79,995 Aston Martin V8 Vantage to the second-placed UKP34,995 Ariel Atom.
The Veyron wasn’t necessarily the favourite to win as “a low weight tends to be the key to a good 0-100-0mph car," said Autocar’s road test editor Adam Towler. "Cars like the Ariel Atom and Caterham Superlight historically dominate this contest." See the 2004 times here and the 2005 video here.
But the 1890kg £880,000 Bugatti ripped through the gears to hit 60mph in 2.8sec and 100mph in an astonishing 5.5sec. It then stopped in just 3.4sec, giving a 0-100-0mph time of 9.9sec.
Not only is the Bugatti faster than the Suzuki, it creates more g-force at maximum acceleration than you’d experience in an F-16 jet fighter at take off or when skydiving.
But the lightweights still turned in an impressive performance, from the relatively unknown £32k Brooke Double R in fourth place to the £35k Ariel Atom 300 in second.
"Although the Veyron is undoubtedly the quickest road car ever, you can still have nearly as much fun for much less money," said Adam Towler. "It’s good to see British sports cars doing so well against such an impressive machine as the Bugatti."
Autocar also brought along an A1 GP car, driven by Brit Robbie Kerr, to see how a purpose-built race car would compare with road-going machinery. The 550bhp single seater weighs just 695kg, and proved to be the fastest vehicle on the day with a 0-100-0mph time of 8.4sec.
Competing Cars 0-100-0 Time (seconds)
A1 GP 8.40Bugatti Veyron9.90Suzuki GSX-R100010.70Ariel Atom S'Charged11.00Ariel Atom 45011.05Atom Private Owned11.05Caterham CSR26011.95Brooke Double R12.50Porsche 911 Turbo12.50Ford Focus WRC13.57Lambo Gallardo13.65Ascari KZ113.80Corvette Z0613.80Alpina B614.80BMW M614.95TVR Tuscan 215.00BMW M515.20Audi RS415.80Aston V8 Vantage15.81BMW Z4M Roadster15.95Porsche Cayman S16.46Lotus Exige S16.60Nissan 350Z18.80Vauxhall Astra Sprint18.85Vauxhall Astra VXR19.05Renault Megane F120.55Mazda 6MPS21.00Ford Focus ST21.35Vauxhall Vectra VXR22.35Vauxhall Astra Thurlby22.65
