In one performance test carried out by Bugatti, a McLaren F1 was driven past a static Veyron at 160km, at which point the F1 accelerated full bore and the Veyron set off in hot pursuit. The Bugatti caught and passed the McLaren before the latter had reached 300km/h, roughly three quarters of the top speed of either of these ultra supercars! The Veyron takes 7.3 seconds to reach 200km/h, 16.7 seconds to reach 300km/h, and tops out at 407km/h.

With inertia overcome, the speed gathering capabilities of the Veyron are equally awesome, and more than adequate to humble the Ferrari Enzo, Porsche Carrera GT or any other major league player you care to name.

Thanks to 4WD and its fabulously smooth and lightning-fast DSG paddle-shift gearbox, the Veyron’s stellar performance is repeatable time and again by mere mortals who do not have the launch and gear-shifting skills of a professional racing driver.

More than just raw horsepower, moving a car weighing as much as a six-cylinder Mercedes S-Class from rest to 62 mph in 2.5 seconds requires both awesome torque and tenacious mechanical grip.

With 1,001 horsepower and 925 lb-ft of torque from its hand-built, 7,993-cc, W16-cylinder, quad-turbo motor, and four-wheel-drive, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 has all three.

Because of its significant kerb weight, it was the hard launch of the Veyron that left me short of both words and breath when Bugatti test driver, Olivier Thevenin, suggested that I stop the car, do a full bore standing start to around 120km/h and then hit the brakes as hard as I could.
 
With my left foot firmly on the brake pedal, I increased engine revs progressively until I felt the car bursting to be uncaged. Just before my left foot came off the brake pedal and I planted the throttle to the carpet, I heard Olivier say that I would feel my stomach wrench under the g-force when I let the Bugatti go.

His words were drowned out by a mighty roar from the big motor and the screech of four tortured rubber contact patches, each desperately trying to transmit 250 newly unbridled horses. In those scant few seconds, I discovered that the Veyron does exactly what it says on the tin.

With its Launch Control active, and the Haldex differential and rear limited slip differential all playing their own significant roles in the proceedings, it certainly felt like we passed 62 mph in the claimed 2.5 seconds. I have never encountered such explosive acceleration this side of an F1 racing car.

As the needle arced into the red-segment of the rev counter, I flipped the right paddle-shifter and the Veyron’s warp-speed charge continued seamlessly, the speed needle arcing round the dial like it was powered by its own turbos. Then I hit the brakes as hard as I could.

Bugatti claim that the Veyron will stop from 62 mph in 2.3 seconds. I told Olivier that while my stomach was just fine, I felt my eyeballs first being bounced off the back of my skull and then popping out on organ stops!