Auto Review: Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse

I’d barely cranked the engine of the blue and black Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse when, out on the street, a guy in a truck slowed down and grinned. “Nice car!” he shouted. “Can I take a picture?” The 1,200-horsepower, all-wheel-drive supercar seems to have that effect on people, and understandably so. Sleekly designed like a piece of art—the design came first, before the mechanics—the Grand Sport Vitesse is also the fastest open-top production sports car in the world. With 16 cylinders and four turbochargers, a seven-speed transmission, and a top speed of 255 mph, the Bugatti catapults from 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds, yanking your stomach back and down hard against the hand-crafted, two-tone leather seats. The snug cockpit, all carbon fibre and aluminum and magnesium, is as gorgeous as the exterior, whose subtly woven fiber patterns are seamlessly aligned. Introduced in 2012 and priced at a whopping $2.5 million, the Grand Sport obviously is an elite buy, typically made by the likes of Dallas real estate investor/developer Brett Landes. The owner of a number of exotic rides including a Bugatti, Landes says it is “so technologically advanced, it’s mind-numbing. It’s become an iconic car that people recognize all over the world. People just gravitate to it.” As I found out, before I could even leave the parking lot.