#7: 2006 Bugatti Veyron
As expected, the 2006 Bugatti Veyron easily holds rank in the top 10 on our list. Everything about this round, flowing roadster is larger than life, including its 2.5-second zero-to-60 time. Perhaps ironically (but really, as an engineering feat), the Veyron eschews the ideas of ultralight spaceframes and minimalist designs. No, the Veyron is an ultra-luxury hypercar that’s big and bold – and it makes some of the highest power numbers on our list to get the job done even still.
See, the Veyron doesn’t use a V12 pulled from a Lamborghini, nor does it slap some big blowers on a high-displacement V8. Instead, the Veyron comes out of the ring throwing knockouts with a W16 (yes, sixteen-cylinder) engine housing 8 liters of displacement. Four turbochargers are slapped to the beast to make a grand total of 1,001 horses and 922 torques in the base model (the Super Sport makes 1,184 horses). These ridiculous figures are quite necessary given the Veyron smashes the scales at 4,387 pounds.
2006 Bugatti Veyron
All this performance allows the Veyron base to reach 253 MPH, an impressive and at once record-smashing top speed record until just recently. The Super Sport quickly superseded by hitting 276 MPH. A motor this size with so much forced induction produces massive amounts of heat, so the Veyron manages to keep cool with 10 radiators – 3 for the motor and 3 for the turbos’ intercoolers.
Heat manages to battle elsewhere, so the transmission, differential, and oil pan each get their own coolers, too. To get an idea of how explosive the Veyron quite literally is, you could ask any of its engineers: During high-speed dyno testing, they say, the motor got so hot that it nearly set the building on fire. The exhaust had to be re-worked with titanium because the original flow tubes produced 6-foot flames out of the Veyron’s rear.
