Jan. 14th, 2006
We wants one. We wants our precious.
Jan. 14th, 2006 08:15 pm
The Volkswagen Veryon - 1001 Horsepower, 400+ kph top speed.
The car's everyday top speed of 234 m.p.h. is enough to make it a king of the road. To be the performance emperor, though, the driver must resort to a second ignition key to the left of his seat.
The key functions only when the vehicle is at a stop. A checklist then establishes whether the car - and its driver - are ready to go for the maximum speed beyond 250 m.p.h. If all systems are go, the rear spoiler retracts, the front air diffusers close and the ground clearance, normally 4.9 inches, drops to 2.6 inches.
To appreciate the Veyron's performance extremes, ride along with Pierre-Henri Raphanel, a former professional racer who demonstrates the car to potential buyers.
Mr. Raphanel looks relaxed as he blasts the Veyron to almost 180 m.p.h. Other traffic and roadside objects appear and vanish in a blurred, real-life re-enactment of a computer game before he eases off.
When the freeway empties, Mr. Raphanel demonstrates the Veyron's brakes. The car's speed simply vanishes - braking to a stop from 250 m.p.h. takes less than 10 seconds, he said - but for the passenger, there is an equally astonishing experience: the driver is holding both hands in the air and wearing a big grin. The car has stopped in a straight line with no corrections at the steering wheel. If anything, the giant carbon-ceramic brakes and the rear air brake are more impressive than the acceleration.
Everything about the Veyron is shaped by superlatives, but even [Thomas Bscher, president of Bugatti Automobiles] acknowledges, "Nobody needs a car like this."
The fuel economy - if that is the right word - is 9 miles per gallon in the city and 18 highway, according to preliminary E.P.A. estimates. Don't even think about mileage during more spirited driving: at maximum speed, the car would theoretically run out of fuel in 12 minutes, Mr. Raphanel said.
With four turbochargers, the Veyron's mighty 8-liter, 16-cylinder power plant produces 1,001 horsepower and enough torque (922 pound-feet) to uproot a redwood. The engine drives all four wheels via a seven-speed automated manual gearbox.
The price, for those indiscreet enough to ask, is $1.2 million in the United States, before taxes.
(no subject)
Jan. 14th, 2006 08:46 pm"Shame", by Pam Noles
An essay on race "relations"[1] in fantasy and science fiction, such as they are.
And no, she's not talking elves and orcs and aliens. She's talking about how there are no non-white humans.
An essay on race "relations"[1] in fantasy and science fiction, such as they are.
And no, she's not talking elves and orcs and aliens. She's talking about how there are no non-white humans.