If you watch Top Gear there is one presenter who does the nerdy bits while the other 2 enjoy themselves with the speed. But for some reason they decided to give James May (Captain Slow) the job of testinga Bugatti Veyron, to prove it really can do 407 killometres per hour. To do this he needed to go to the VW tesing track in Germany where they have an impressive 5 mile straight. James preceded to take the car into the straight at 200kph and then dramatically take this wonderful car up to over 400kph.
It was a fantastic peice, even compared to the previous test of racing a light airplane over Europe in the Bugatti, becuase even though they did not mention it at the time, they needed to stick to tthe speed limits.
So the answer is, yes the car really can do 407kph, ven if it is for 12 minutes only as you may run out of fuel and the tyres can only last 50 minutes or so also.
It seems that the Frankfurt auto show is smaller than 3 years ago and the amount of cars is also down by 30%, but what is not down is the amount of new exhibits, showing the trend that the motor industry thinks that innivation is the key to future success. Of course cheaper and greener fuels are a stroing point with car buyers now, so battery power is a consideration on many new models. But of course batteries in themselves are not the most green product, so there is still a way to go, to make battery power replace petrol as we know it. There are others who belive batteries are already old hat with compressed CO2 being the favourite to go the next step and Honda are doing it in a big way in California. As far as the Frankfurt car sho is concerned though, something new keeps the business alive. It may not be bigger, but there still should be something there for everyone.
In a world where soft top convertibles have been overshadowed by the new hard roofed coupe cabriolets it still comes as a surprise to see that BMW are considering a version for their sucessful mini range. Up to now the new mini has been based on the traditional classic one, including the mini clubman even though the car is much bigger with larger engines to suit the times. But at the Frankfurt motor show this year a concept mini coupe cabrioletis on show to show how the car would look should it be made.
The first impressions is from the back and it looks a bit too chucky of a traditional mini, and with its roof down it doesn’t really look that much different from a soft top mini, except the folding roof means it can only have 2 seats. This also means the boot section extends over where the rear seats were. It is difficult to decide if this car looks any better than a soft top mini, but with the usual UK winter there will be benefits.
When the roof is up, the coupe shape looks unusual on a mini, as it has never been seen before and would guess it would take time to get used or to like. This car is likely to be compared to marmite, you either like it or you don’t. The price should it be made will probably define its success.
The motor industry has had its problems over recent years but when you see the line up of cars at the latest auto show in frankfurt you would wonder where the money will come from. With the latest Ferrari, Lambourghini and electric powered Audi that resembles the Audi R8, you can clearly see there is still a market for expensive cars, or maybe it didn’t leave us in the first place.
With some motor shows cancelled throughout the world because they felt the market was too depressed and was not worth the investment, here we see the opposite a motor show quiet prepared to see what we would like to buy if we could. this video footage is from Edmunds and gives a good idea of what we have missed if we didn’t make it to Germany.