For all the questions people might have about the Bugatti Veyron hitting 268 mph -- "Why?" is common -- the one we really want to ask is this: What does driving that fast feel like?
We thought the answer would be "godlike," but no. It is, according to the man who drove the world's fastest production car to that insane velocity, exciting, stressful and a wee bit frightening. More than that, though, it is a state of mind, one where you accept the very real possibility it could end badly. Very, very badly.
"It’s basically a mental exercise," Bugatti test driver Pierre Henri Raphanel told 0-60 Magazine. "Physically, you have to do nothing more than to keep your right foot flat out. But at that speed, if anything happens, you can be sure that you won’t be coming back to the pits to tell what was the problem. And that is what is making the pressure, the excitement."
The stress of moving more than 4.5 miles a minute is so great, Raphanel said, he had trouble sleeping the night before the June 24 run in a Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. And the adrenaline of having pushed a 1,200-horsepower car to its absolute limit made it tough to sleep for two days afterward.
Things happen very quickly at 393 feet a second, and you aren't entirely in control of the car. It begins to take on a mind of its own north of 250 mph, Raphanel said.
"When you start to go 260, 265, 270 the car is a little bit following where the tarmac is telling to the car to go," he says. "And it’s a strange feeling because you are not really in control as a driver. You don’t know where it’s going to end up."
And at that moment, we'd bet, you never feel more alive.
Lots more great stuff in the interview over at 0-60. Definitely worth your time.
Photo: Bugatti
