Bugatti Veyron Driver Majorly Fails at Turning and Braking

A 208 mph blast ends with driver slamming into water-filled barriers.

The Bugatti Veyron is often lauded for its record-setting top speed or horsepower levels, but we rarely hear about the world’s fastest car performing well on a track with turns. This video from the LK HORIZON YouTube channel via Road & Track offers a quick look at why that might be the case.

Veyron High Speed Run

The video begins with an on-board look from the passenger seat as this Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse makes a high speed run. The Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse is powered by an 8.0-liter, quad-turbocharged W16 engine that delivers 1,200 horsepower and 1,100 lb-ft of torque, allowing the 4,400-pound hypercar to hit an electronically limited top speed of 233 miles per hour.

The young man filming the run is unclear as to how long the track in the video is, but it seems to be at least a hundred feet too short for this Bugatti driver. After what appears to be a nice, smooth run up to 208 miles per hour, the driver begins slowing down as the passenger signs his praises of the car. As the driver appears to turn-off area, the options are to turn right and head down the normal return road or to go straight ahead into the emergency shutdown area, but he splits the difference and slams into the water-filled plastic barriers lining the return road.

Kaboom!

After we ride along as the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse hits 208 miles per hour and then hits the safety barriers at the end of the track, the young man riding shotgun for the run explains what happens.

Evidently, this Veyron driver had been giving people high speed rides all day long and after the previous run, a friend of the host of the YouTube channel points out that the driver got very close to the safety barriers at the end of the track. Not thinking anything of it, the YouTuber climbed on board the 1,200-horsepower machine for what would sure to be a thrilling ride – and then some.

The host explains that the driver simply didn’t slow down enough as he made the right turn towards the return road, but at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, the 4,400-pound hypercar wouldn’t turn sharply enough. The Veyron understeered severely, sending the multimillion dollar hypercar into the plastic hydro barriers lining the return road entrance.

Fortunately, the driver and passenger were both completely unharmed, but pretty much the entire face of the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse was damaged on the run – ending the race day and likely leading to a very expensive trip to the body shop.

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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