BUGATTI VEYRON News

As sure as night follows day, Bugatti will continue to march out special editions of the Veyron Grand Sport until it reaches its 150-unit planned production run.The latest example -- the Meo Costantini edition -- gets an official unveiling at the Dubai motor show this week. The Costantini edition pays tribute to its legendary Bugatti race driver namesake, and is the latest of six Les Légendes de Bugatti models commemorating the brand’s history.We’ve already seen the Jean-Pierre Wimille edition at Pebble Beach this year, the Jean Bugatti edition at Frankfurt, and the Rembrandt Bugatti edition expected soon, but the Costantini edition is in honour of the race driver that won the Targa Florio twice in the Bugatti Type 35 before managing the French brand’s factory team. Like the other Les Légendes models, the Costantini edition is based on the 408.84km/h open-roof record-holding Grand Sport Vitesse, with an 895kW/1500Nm 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 engine and 0-100km/h capability of 2.6 seconds.Specific to the Costantini-edition is its French Racing Blue carbon fibre bodywork, offset by clear-coated polished aluminium, with the Targa Florio route emblazoned on the rear wing’s underside and between the seats inside.Costantini’s signature features on the fuel cap and seat headrests, among cognac and dark blue leather interior trim with silhouettes of the Type 35 racer laser-etched into the door trims. If this combination tickles your fancy, you’ll be one of three owners to take home a Costantini edition, and be willing to part with €2.09 million ($2.96 million) for the privilege.This reporter is on Twitter @Mal_Flynn 

Hyundai has given a look at the first of its show cars headed for SEMA in November: a loudly blue Genesis Coupe modified by Bisimoto Engineering.Based on a Hyundai Genesis 3.8 R-Spec, the concept added two turbochargers to the donor car's naturally aspirated V6, which also gained a raft of other changes, including forged pistons, a bigger fuel pump to feed the unit and the aggressive exposed radiator look of an intercooler to cool it -- resulting in a power output of 745kW.Yes, 745kW -- 200kW more than a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. In fact, it also trumps the Bugatti Veyron's 736kW. The Bisimoto Genesis Coupe sports an eye-gouging blue paint job set off by carbon fibre and black panels, and rides low-slung on 20-inch Incurve aluminum wheels.The cabin gets track-ready kit, including a roll cage, racing seats and harnesses --fitting with Hyundai's statement the Bisimoto Genesis aims to blend "the reliability of a street car but with the outrageous power of a no-holds-barred racer." Hyundai and other carmakers will be revealing other outrageous concepts ahead of SEMA's opening in Las Vegas on November 5.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Afzal Kahn has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds building up one of Britain’s most impressive private plate collections.  And the most desirable of the registrations is his beloved 'F1', which currently sits on the front of his Bugatti Veyron supercar.The entrepreneur caused a stir when, in 2008, he paid a staggering £440,000 ($765,300) for the cherished plate -- a British record. But it’s proven to be a savvy investment with the plate’s value increasing by more than ten times after one ultra-rich individual offered £6million for it.Drivers in the United Arab Emirates are even more fanatical about personal registrations. The single digit ‘1’ sold in February 2008, for £7.25 million ($12.61m) , reportedly to Abu Dhabi businessman Saeed Khouri, then 25.Personal plates can be a good investment, if you make the right choice. VIP 1, which originally belonged to Pope John Paul II’s Popemobile, was bought for £62,000 ($107,840) in 2004 – two years later Roman Abramovich bought it for £285,000 ($495,730).However, Mr Kahn, who runs A Kahn Design in Bradford, rejected the offer believing it is worth considerably more. Indeed, he has no pressing need for new cars, with our pictures also showing him posing with the plate attached to his Mercedes SLR McLaren. Mr Khan's refusal to sell the plate means that he still likely holds the record for spending the most money on a UK registration plate.A spokesman for Mr Khan's company said: 'We have received a significant multi-million pound offer for the F1 plate which we rejected out of hand. Mr Kahn has no interest in selling F1, which is his favourite plate. Cherished number plates, unlike property or other investments tend not to fluctuate in value, they only go up. It really shouldn’t be a shock to people that the number plate is worth millions of pounds.'The 109-year-old registration was on a modest Volvo S80 when Kahn bought the plate in 2008. It was used by the chairman of Essex County Council with the local authority using the funds from the sale to raise money for a charity which aimed to raise the standards for young drivers. 'F1' now makes up part of Mr Kahn’s impressive plate collection which includes the registrations ‘4HRH’ and ‘NO1’.  

When it comes to used dream cars, the Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III takes the cake.

The fastest car ever produced...watch it in action at the 2010 Paris Motor Show.

1. Benz PatentwagenKarl Benz did a brilliant job for the 1880s but his three-wheeler re-created by Mercedes-Benz apprentices _ was missing even the basics of modern motoring. We had to push it up a slight rise and it was scarifying on a downhill run, with almost zero braking and steering vaguely controlled by a tiller feeding directions through a solid rubber tyre that would have been more use on a pram. Memorable, but . 2. 1911 Rolls-Royce.So many classic cars look fantastic but drive like old, slow . . . trucks. The Roller was one of those, with piddling acceleration, no cornering grip and a body which invited air in through all sorts of gaping holes. But the worst thing was the brake _ a single rear drum operated by a wild west wagon-style lever beside the driver's seat. It was incapable of stopping the car but did a great job of throwing it sideways at 80km/h.3. 1955 Ford Fairlane convertibleThis was supposed to have been a Route 66-style run to a 1950s-vintage petrol station in the suburbs of Los Angeles. I can remember the giant folding metal roof and the gorgeous body, but my real memory is a car with brakes the size of bootpolish cans. When the traffic pulled up for one unexpected red light I had to take to the sidewalk to avoid them.4. Lada SamaraPeter Brock did some strange things in his life, but putting his name to the evil little Russian hatchback is right up there. Quality was lousy, performance was missing and one journalist crashed at the first corner _ with Brock egging him on. If it's not the worst car I have driven, it's only because the other experience was so bad it's been erased from my memory.5. Bugatti VeyronNow I can tell the truth about the Veyron. Beyond its shattering performance, I can see zero reason to pay more than $1.5 million for a car which is ugly, devours petrol and does not even have electric seat adjustments. But does it go. It felt quicker around Sandown than a V8 Supercar.

Seeing the photos of the Bugatti Veyron Bleu Centenaire from Geneva Motor Show was a reminder of the Chiron concept that seeded this magnificent car. So we thought it was time for a quick trawl through the Veyron’s history and family album. Yes, just because we love them.History The bloodline for the Bugatti Veyron starts in 1999 with the Bugatti 18/3 Chiron concept, the chassis of which was used to build the EB 18/4 concept car.In 2000, parent company Volkwagen announced the Veyron would be put into production, and would be the fastest and most powerful – and also the priciest – car in history.In 2001, Bugatti announced that the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 would go into production in 2003, and a year later a silver and black pre-production Veyron was showcased at the 2004 Paris Motor Show.Since going on sale, there have been several special editions.The 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show featured the Pur Sang, which stripped the car’s body finishes back to carbon fibre and aluminium.The 2008 Geneva Motor Show had a Veyron finished by French fashion and leathergoods house, Hermes. Called the Fbg par Hermes, it was trimmed in the house’s leather and included bespoke luggage, eight-spoke wheels and an H-pattern grille.The Sang Noir — a tribute to the original 1930s Bugatti Atlantique 57S – also showed a heavy use of carbon fibre in its mainly all-black colour scheme, which included blacked-out headlights.The 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d-Elegance previewed the Grand Sport slated for production in 2009, with two removable tops – one of them a temporary roof based on an umbrella and paying homage to photos of classic Bugatti racers with umbrellas in hand.The 2009 Geneva Motor Show saw the unveiling of the Bleu Centenaire – designed to mark Bugatti’s centenary.Drivetrain and performanceThe Veyron features a W16 engine — 16 cylinders in two banks of eight cylinders, making a `W’, mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch DSG transmission.The engine is conservatively claimed to develop 736kW and 1250Nm, with the car’s weight of 2034.8kg giving it a power-to-weight ratio of 2kg/0.7kW (4.5lb/1bhp in Imperial)The car's wheelbase is 2710mm, and has an overall length of 4462mm, width is 1998mm and height is 1204mm.It is acknowledged as the fastest production car made, getting to 100km/h in just 2.45 seconds (200km/h in 7.0 and 300km/h in 16.2) and while the official top speed is listed as 375km/h, it has been verified at over 407km/h. It was initially meant to be 420km/h but test cars proved to be too unstable so the aerodynamics were revised.It has a drag coefficient of 0.36, but uses a whopping 40L/100km of fuel in city driving, and 24L/100km in a combined cycle. At full bore it reportedly burns 115L/100km and could drain its 100L tank in about 12 minutes.None have been sold to Australia so far, but the asking price would be over $2 million with current exchange rates. 

No.. but we are closer than we have ever been.Even more than architecture, fashion and aircraft, cars are the most visually represented statement of our possible future. From Rust Heinz’ 1938 Phantom Corsair to Syd Mead's Spinner in Blade Runner, the car has been central to our dreams and the imaginations for our potential.The 1950's saw the emergence of a style of design exemplified by Nuccio Bertone, Virgil Exner and Harley Earl, that while it may be considered visually naive now still has profound influence on our perception of future possibilities. GMs Motorama of 1956 was the major showcase for this style of design that lasted into the early seventies, the over-riding feature being the human interpretation of function as driven by form.. The last truly great examples of this period; the Coke bottle Corvette of 67-73, the Ferrari Dino, Lamborghini Muira and E-Type Jag are now revered as works of art by car cognoscenti and their prices reflect their stature in the motoring world.. All of these cars display a human’s perception of the flow of air over metal; the mind as a virtual wind tunnel. Post these cars we saw a period of design that was quite - well...., square.The second coming of car design emerged around ten years ago and has been going from strength to strength. While the Futuristic period of the 50's set the visual benchmarks and boundaries for current designers, the designers of the period did not have the shackles of the oil, financial or environmental crisis to deal with. They also did not have the technology available that allowed them to add the function to the form efficiently. At the very heart of the current design period is the evolution of human possibilities that advancing technology and social dreams and responsibilities allow and dictate.. What we are seeing is art meeting and merging with technology to create form with function. If the 50’s were the golden era of car design we have now reached platinum. The Veyron, the 599, the DBS, 997, Murcielago and yes, still the Corvette – all are incredibly beautiful and also capable of 200 mph in relative safety.As exciting as car design presently is the Futurama period is hard to let go of, hence the number of Retro-future cars we continue to see. From the Mini to the Mustang good design should be celebrated, honored and mimicked. The re-interpretation of a classic design when made relevant to the current situation is not something to scorn as it just adds another variety, another choice - and there is nothing wrong with that.For a lot of current designers the benchmark for futuristic design was set in the 70's by Syd Mead  ...Visually we are there. Technologically we are close.We are at the dawn of the alternate propulsion era. We have broken through the political and financial barriers of the oil era. In many ways we can thank the current financial crisis for that. Electric is on the way, which will be an enthusiasts dream with its full size slot car performance and environmental friendliness.Let’s just not get to the point we ban petrol cars from our roads, let them naturally evolve out.With the future - we are almost there, but our past is continuing to remain with us longer. - Thankfully.The last turn of a V12 on a public road should be put off for as long as possible.Rod Halligan

It tips in at $2.7million Australian dollars, tops out at 407km/h, and is guaranteed to draw a huge crowd of gawping motor show admirers three whole years after its international launch.

You've gotta love a supercar, even if you can hope to own only the scale model, not least because they're such an affront to the pedestrian types who run self-appointed safety councils.