The Bugatti Veyron has wiped the floor with the opposition in Autocars annual 0-100-0mph contest, featured in the current issue of the magazine, even managing to beat a Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike!
Featuring 25 of the worlds fastest cars, from the 14th placed £79,995 Aston Martin V8 Vantage to the second-placed £34,995 Ariel Atom, the shoot-out pitches the cars against each other in a straight fight to see which is the fastest to 100mph. Theres more to it than just outright speed though slowing from 100mph to a dead halt is just as important.
The Veyron, with its 987bhp 16-cylinder engine, wasnt necessarily the favourite to win. "A low weight tends to be the key to a good 0-100-0mph car," said Autocars road test editor Adam Towler. "Cars like the Ariel Atom and Caterham Superlight historically dominate this contest."
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.
(It's worth pointing out that the overall world record is still held by the Ultima GTR, which can do the same sprint in 9.4 seconds).
Not only is the Bugatti faster than the Suzuki, it creates more g-force at maximum acceleration than youd 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. "Its 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.
