Man Builds His Own Bugatti Veyron

[Old Moparz]

WOW!   

And I was feeling sorry for myself for having such a difficult time getting a damn sandblaster to stop spraying mud on my parts, this guy builds a cool supercar.   

Looks cool. 

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/man-builds-own-million-dollar-bugatti-supercar-hand-211223675.html


The Bugatti Veyron is a modern automotive legend. The sleek speedster from Volkswagen boasts a top speed of over 260mph, making it the fastest road-legal car in the world, and it has a stunningly large $1.5 million price tag to match. Because of this astronomical cost of entry, only a few hundred of the vehicles have ever been built, meaning your chances of owning one are rather slim. That is, unless you're Mike Duff, an ambitious 25-year-old from Florida who decided to build his very own Bugatti with his bare hands.

Starting with a complete 2002 Mercury Cougar coupe, Duff set to work transforming the vehicle's entire exterior into that of a world-class supercar. He used fiberglass and composite material to create the Veyron's iconic lines, and laid it all over a tubular steel frame. After a professional paint job and plenty of buffing, the car was ready for the showroom, but Duff wasn't done yet. He then took to the Cougar's interior, covering everything from the seats to the dashboard in genuine leather. When we spoke with him, he said the project took him a full 9 months from start to finish.

The detailed doppelgänger even sports usable back seats, which is something the real million-dollar ride completely lacks. Speaking of price, that's another area where this fantastic fake beats out its original counterpart. Duff currently has the vehicle up for sale with a price of $89,000 — less than 1/10th the price of a genuine Veyron.

Unfortunately, while that price will buy you the looks of a barely-legal race car, it doesn't buy you the performance. Under its gorgeous exterior, the "Cougatti" is still distinctly pedestrian, and remains equipped with its original 2.5-liter V6 engine that produces roughly 170 horsepower. This is in stark contrast to the 8-liter 16-cylinder powerplant of the real car, which produces a neck-snapping 1,000 horses.

Still, for the price of a Porsche, there's not much you can complain about when the car is a nearly indistinguishable replica of the fastest road car in the world. Not to mention the fact that some other Bugatti tributes can cost an order of magnitude more, and are never meant to leave your office.

[G-man]

Thanks for the Link.

Shame he didnt purchase the W16 engine for it so its a replica so to speak.

Good work. Thats what I plan to do,get a GT40 for 1 1/0th of the price of an original one. It makes sense if its the look and performance ur after and dont care about whether  the company built it it or not.

[Mike DC]

It's a show-only replica.  

But then again, the real Veyron is basically a poser anyway.  Exotic 2-seater supercars that are designed for actual driving don't weight 2 tons.  

[sixty8charger]

they sure are fast though... http://www.streetfire.net/video/top-gear-new-bugatti-veyron-super-sport-top-speed-testmp4_2042072.htm

[64dartgt]

He should have spent some money on the engine.  $90K for something that looks great but has pathetic performance...I could buy two new Challenger SRT8's for that!

[BananaDan]

He should hope he never gets into an accident.  The insurance adjuster may have a hard time to believe the car they need to cover losses on is an 02 Cougar.  I assume he keeps it registered and insured as a Cougar?  It's VIN is still a Cougar VIN I assume.

[sixty8charger]

that would suck for whoever purchased it..  wreks it, and then the insurrance only settles for $4K after spending 89... 

[Silver R/T]

Whoever purchases it would probably use it for show only, it's going to be someone's trailer queen.

[Richard Cranium]

It's on fleabay...............

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Bugatti-replica-Fiberglass-Kit-car-Ferrari-red-/290585353641?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item43a83c9da9#v4-32&clk_rvr_id=248181064594

[bull]

WTF? --->>> "he said the project took him a full 9 months from start to finish." A FULL nine months? Holy crap, how did he manage to carve that much time out of his life to build a project car?

This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about here: http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,82888.0.html

[John_Kunkel]

Yeah, the nine month time frame is the only "wow" for me.

Of course, it only took nine months to make me....another work of art. 

[TK73]

But then again, the real Veyron is basically a poser anyway. 

Isn't the real one a 250+ mph car?

[Mike DC]

 

Yeah the real one can go 250 mph.  


Its got a powerful motor but I still call it a poser.  I question whether a Veyron could beat a good new Corvette on a road course.  IMHO they didn't build that car to drive well, they built it to post high numbers in the press and post a high price on the sticker.

[TK73]

Looking around there is nothing that compares between the 2.  the Veyron is a much faster/more powerful/better car in every category I find. It should at 15-20x the cost of a 'Vette.  I seriously doubt that they forgot to consider turning when they developed that suspension.

Hands down the Veyron would kick a C6's a$$... repeatedly.


Might have a "realistic" discussion based on similarities if you compare a 'Vette to a Viper.   

[Mike DC]

     
A top fuel rail dragster can hit 300+ mph and blow the Veyron out of the water at any stage of acceleration getting there.   But all that straight line ability doesn't make it a good overall car for a road course.   

The Bugatti only makes good lateral & braking numbers with the help of massive aero downforce.  That only works at high speed.  The whole car has huge capabilities but you need much smoother & straighter roads than you find in the real world (or even on virtually any closed road course).  At lower speeds the car's weight disadvantage (incurred for the sake of all that top-end ability) makes it a slower car than the typical stuff it might be lined up against.   

It's the same reason that a 5hp go-kart would kick the crap out of any normal car if you were racing around an enclosed parking garage.  The normal full sized car is "faster" than the go-kart but only in the sense that it's designed for a radically bigger track.  And in the case of the Veyron, the necessary "bigger tracks" don't exist on this planet.  The Veyron's designers compromised the car's real world capabilities for the sake of theoretical abilities that it will never use. 

[Troy]

Really? Does anyone actually drive their Veyron? Even if you can afford it there's no guarantee you could buy one of the few that left the factory. I'd love to have one of these! I wouldn't pay that kind of cash for one but I bet the insurance is waaaaaaaaaay cheaper than the real thing (it may not cover the car completely though). I don't think there are too many engine swap options for a Cougar but maybe a supercharger or something would help. People build Lamborghini replicas all the time using stock Fieros and I seldom hear anyone question the performance. Of course, you can squeeze a 700 hp small block Chevy into one if you choose...

Kudos to the guy for actually following through and building what he wanted.

Troy

[200MPH]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_vqnAqi2T0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgPNtyVS8zs&feature=related

Handbuilt aluminum  drooooooooollllllll!!!!!!!!!!

[bordin34]

From what I found the Veyron has done Nurburgring in 7:40, Corvette ZR-1 7:26, Murcielago LP640 7:40.

[Old Moparz]

Having the stock motor from the Cougar seems lame, but the car looks great. I don't know anything about the Cougars for that year either, but it would seem logical that you could at least get some kind of HP version of whatever motor it has, or upgrade by doing an engine swap.   

[Blakcharger440]

From what I found the Veyron has done Nurburgring in 7:40, Corvette ZR-1 7:26, Murcielago LP640 7:40.

I thought a Viper ACR held the crown at one time with the best time for Nurburgring.

[G-man]

Troy

THis guy here did drive his veyron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaHi7WSc_po

I LOL! at that.


Look at topgear... The Veyron was pretty quick, slower than much weaker cars though, the only reason it had a decent track time was all that Horsepower and all that braking which tries to compensate for the stupid weight. Any other supercar with Veyron power would have the same top end speed and would lap the veyron around a track a few times.

[Darkman]

The Veyron was never meant to be a car to be reproduced (in whatever numbers). It was based on a group of engineers seeing if it could be possible. It was never meant to be anything more than a concept

[aussiemuscle]

From what I found the Veyron has done Nurburgring in 7:40, Corvette ZR-1 7:26, Murcielago LP640 7:40.

I thought a Viper ACR held the crown at one time with the best time for Nurburgring.

i think the viper owned it for about a week.....

[nh_mopar_fan]

I'll say it.

That thing is fugly.

[Old Moparz]

I'll say it.

That thing is fugly.

Must be the Edsel grille.

[Mike DC]

From what I found the Veyron has done Nurburgring in 7:40, Corvette ZR-1 7:26, Murcielago LP640 7:40.

Look at topgear... The Veyron was pretty quick, slower than much weaker cars though, the only reason it had a decent track time was all that Horsepower and all that braking which tries to compensate for the stupid weight. Any other supercar with Veyron power would have the same top end speed and would lap the veyron around a track a few times.

This is what I was getting at.  The Veyron is unbeatable on paper and very beatable in the real world. 


As a design experiment it's an interesting achievement.  But as a fully upholstered & air conditioned production car costing 1-2 million dollars . . . it has about as much purpose as a woman's luxury $15,000 handbag.

[DC_1]

From what I found the Veyron has done Nurburgring in 7:40, Corvette ZR-1 7:26, Murcielago LP640 7:40.

Viper did it in 7:22


http://jalopnik.com/5042855/2009-dodge-viper-acr-steals-nurburgring-record-from-corvette-zr1-laps-in-722

[Ponch ®]

As a design experiment it's an interesting achievement.  But as a fully upholstered & air conditioned production car costing 1-2 million dollars . . . it has about as much purpose as a woman's luxury $15,000 handbag.

Exactly. It stands to reason that a guy that buys a Veyron is probably married to a broad that buys those handbags.

[KS71owner]

The Veyron is sick fast, but also burns fuel at a ridiculous rate. At top speed you'll run out of gas in 12 minutes.

[Ponch ®]

The Veyron is sick fast, but also burns fuel at a ridiculous rate. At top speed you'll run out of gas in 12 minutes.

more fun Veyron factoids:

    * According to Bugatti, the average Veyron Grand Sport owner already owns about 30 cars.
    * The engine is hand-assembled by two technicians in Germany and makes a minimum of 987 horsepower, even at high altitude or in high temperatures. In perfect conditions its output is closer to 1050 horses.
    * With 12 radiators required to cool that monstrous engine and the other systems, the Veyron carries 26 gallons in fluids, excluding fuel.
    * The Veyron might do 253 mph, but it can't cover 253 miles in an hour because at that speed its 26-gallon tank will run dry after about 50 miles.
    * The tires need to be replaced every 16,000 kms and the wheels every 48,000 kms. That costs around $73,000 USD.- The seven-speed twin-clutch gearbox costs $172,000 USD should you need to replace it.
    * The front grilles are made of titanium to withstand bird strikes at 253 mph.
    * The ultra-lightweight titanium bolts used to secure major components cost $85 each, and are thrown away if they are tightened or have to be removed for any reason.
    * For its 60,000-mile service, the Veyron must be split in half. The work can be carried out in just five locations, or a mobile workshop can be flown to your car. No Veyron has yet done more than about 30,000 miles.

[bull]

  Bugatti? Booooo! It's a friggin' VW! If you've got money to burn and you want to go really, really fast, I say buy American. Real men break speed records with American V8s.

Saleen or SSC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saleen_S7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_SuperCars