But now it's time to drive, so you push the little silver button and hear the gargantuan 16-cylinder motor stir with a deep-chested growl. The Veyron is fitted with a seven-speed semi-automatic DSG gearbox but, for now, we'll just nudge the lever into D and gently, slowly try to find out what this car's about.
The first thing you discover is that, apart from the intimidation of its sheer size on narrow roads, the Veyron is no more difficult to drive than a luxury limousine. The engine doesn't attack you if you do more than brush the throttle; it is entirely progressive, docile and predictable. The steering lock is predictably poor, but the helm is beautifully weighted and precise, while the carbon ceramic brakes work perfectly and silently from rest, even when stone cold.
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| Rear aerofoil can also act as an airbrake at high speeds |
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So much for going slowly. This is Sicily on a Sunday morning, the autostradas are deserted and the local police are in what can best be described as an understanding mood. Just before I flattened the throttle for the first time, I felt something I usually only ever feel when competing on a race track: a small but discernible twang of fear, deep in my gut. I decide to start the show in third gear.
When I finally stopped accelerating I had to slow down and do it all over again, just to make sure I hadn't been dreaming. Whatever your definition of fast, be it defined by Porsche 911, Ferrari F430 or Mercedes SLR McLaren, the Veyron will take it and, in one instant, burn it before your eyes. Time and distance fuse into one unintelligible fog in your head. In the public road environment, there has never been anything like this.
The gearbox adds to the relentlessness. Other cars that, until now, vied to be the fastest in the world at least gave you the briefest of rests between gears: the Veyron doesn't. With the twin-clutch DSG gearbox, changes are so fast the human brain cannot actually discern any pause at all between shifts. It is also seamlessly smooth, so the effect, particularly if you don't bother with the paddles at all and let the electronics change up at peak power for you, is that the engine has no gearbox, but a limitless flood of power, hurling you at the horizon, an inexorable, untameable force of nature for which your mind has no data, no reference point at all.
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| Electronically limited top speed because of the tyres |
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I still don't know when it would have stopped had the instinct for self-preservation not taken over: I drove it faster than I've ever driven any car on the public road and, at that speed, it was still accelerating like most conventionally quick cars do in their middle gears. What I do know is that its top speed of 407km/h (253mph) is electronically limited because of the tyres. Nobody really knows how fast it will go completely unrestricted.
