by Wallace A. Wyss
Wallace Alfred Wyss is a historian recently turned to depicting exotic cars on canvas. A sample can be obtained via email by contacting him at Photojournalistpro@hotmail.com
Allright, already. The Bugatti Veyron was already an over-the-top car; what with more than 1,000 horses, no less than 16 cylinders, four turbos, all-wheel drive, 12 radiators and a wing that would not look out of place on a small airplane. Plus did we mention it goes over 250 mph?
Well, apparently Bugatti has been feeling of late that they aren’t getting enough attention. So first they did an edition with Hermes, a well known French luxury leather goods design house and manufacturer, with various trimmings for the cockpit, doors and steering wheel, then they did a polished body version, the Pur Sang edition. The question then becomes “What do you do for an encore?
This question was answered at Pebble Beach when they unveiled a model called the Grand Sport, an open roof version. It was necessary to go targa style because being mid-engined, there is precious little room to fold a convertible top down into.
Bugatti claims that they got the idea from an old picture of a 1925-26 Type 35 that pictured showed two gentlemen in the car with a third man holding an umbrella over their heads.
So they created a modern, open air version but instead of an umbrella, they designed a removable fabric roof that is really little more than a square umbrella. That’s for low street speeds, but if you plan to drive fast, the model comes with a removable
polycarbonate roof panel that owners can leave at home on a special stand in the garage (a stand that will cost as much as a base model Boxster).
When the Grand Sport is driven sans roof, the top speed is limited to a mere 224 mph. Any speed above that was judged too windy. Once the roof panel is locked in place, it can reach its standard top end of 253 mph.
The Grand Sport also has, like its relative, Audi, LED daytime-running lights, a slightly taller windscreen and diamond-cut alloy wheels. Of course when the top is removed from a car originally designed as a coupe, the car loses a little structural rigidity, so it had to be reinforced here and there with carbon fiber elements to make up for the loss .
The first Grand Sport was auctioned off on the Monterey weekend by the Gooding Co. for charity for a high bid of $3.19 million dollars after commission. For those who missed the auction, they will soon be available at Bugatti showrooms everywhere for around 2 million dollars each.