Posted on 01/20/2010 11:39:21 AM PST by envisio
This clearly falls into the, “If you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it,” category.
That is one nice-looking car.
Well, face it, most Veyrons sit in a garage like a jewel or a trophy.
Not all of them! This guy drives his everywhere... even to the lake.
Except for one guy in Galveston who prefers to keep his in a lake...
Best place for them.
Hey, if you’re gonna pay 2.1 million for a car....
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2010/01/19/does-owning-a-bugatti-veyron-cost-as-much-as-a-private-jet/
....what’s 38 grand for tires??
Oh. and that website says you change tires every 2,500 miles.
Sheesh!
“””rear tires....365/710/540””””
According to my calculations, this tire is 365mm = 14.89 inches wide
>>>>14.89 inches wide<<<<
365 is the same width you would see on a super-single like a cement truck or super-single trailer rigs. Thats a wide dang tire.
May have been for Charlie Crist’s pal Scott Rothstein of $1.2 billion ponzi scheme fame. He had one.
Top Gear had the funny James May driving one at VW’s test track with a 5 mile + straightaway. VW owns Bugatti. May got it up over 250 mph. At that speed it would run out of gas in 15 minutes and the tires would probably burn up too. 4 turbos on a V-12 or something. I think it puts out 1,000 bhp.
Texan who swamped Bugatti buys another
Posted on January 20, 2010 at 8:44 AM
http://www.khou.com/news/Texan-who-swamped-Bugatti-buys-another—82157512.html
Keep in mind also that, although those tires are capable of 250+ mph, they can only handle that for a few minutes, and then they degrade and have to be replaced, so a few laps around the Nurburgring (or 6 hours at a local track day, should you be so bourgeoise), or two or three top-speed blasts means a new set of tires.
Top Gear also did an episode with Jeremy in the Veyron, racing across Europe against James and Richard - who were in a single-engine plane.
Relatively speaking putting a $38000 set of tires on a million dollar car is similar to putting a $600 set on a $20,000 car.
The technology allows them to hold up to the centrifugal forces, but they can’t stand the heat.
Every time a car goes down the road, the tires heat up. They cool back down when parked. These hot-cold cycles cures the rubber a little more everytime. over thousands of miles the tire gets harder and harder. Thats why an old tire that still has tread loses grip.
At these extreme speeds, the technology is not far enough along to make the tires stay soft. They are over-soft to start with and harden very quickly at those extreme heat levels. A drawback to the softness is treadlife. They would rather the tread wear off that for the tire to harden, lose structural integrity and fail at 200mph.
They had their entire inventory in doors. Most of their inventory of cars were pre-owned. Some of the cars had 100 miles or less on them. I ask, why so low and was told these guys that buy them bring them home, take them out once and are scared to death of the cars. They turn around and sell them back.
The other 99% of population settle for Douglas Trac II.
:)
I see that all the time in the motorcycle business.
$40,000 choppers that are 2 years old with less than 500 miles. Those are impulse buys by rich mid-life-crisis people.
Tell me you don’t ride around on those......
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.