v_therussian

Correction: it IS the best looking car

kane1111

I agree!!!!!

swajames

A wonderful car which is aging gracefully and profitably. But... At getting on for 20 years old, it comes from a time when designers simply did not have the constraints placed on them that exist today. For me, given the exponentially greater constraints and regulation placed on manufacturers today , the Veyron is the better technical achievement. The goals that Piech set for the Veyron were harder to meet than those that the F1 design team aimed for. As good as Gordon Murray may be, I think the Veyron engineers had the more challenging job. Much respect to the F1, it was a car ahead of its time and its performance is still stunning today - but I believe that the VW/Bugatti engineers were thrown more of a curve ball and had the harder targets to meet.

pjinca

Very true on all points Steven, although I think it wasn't that much easier for the F1 design team, 20+ years ago when the design was being conceived there was far less technology and digital modelling that could be done to prove design concepts. Today designs are done and modeled in a computer long before one is ever built, and the performance is pretty well known by the time one hits the road. The F1 was a car truly ahead of it's time and beautiful and elegant for it's day. I agree that the Veyron's technological achievements are going to take a long time to be exceeded.

pinguhk

both car are the best design in it time.
make it simple F1 design with very little computer work and still can go over 200+
Veyron design all on the computer.
I think every 1 agrees that there will not be a other car like Veyron not that it the top speed is even higher.

DD_545i

One aspect that was a lot easier for the McLaren team was in the engine department. As I heard it, they just put out an open request for anyone who could deliver them an engine with around 650bhp and the guys at M delivered them what they ultimately went with. The Bugatti team were much more under pressure and had to build the engine themselves and had a very specific goal of at least 1000bhp. They also had the mighty McLaren F1 as a really big target to have to beat convincingly. Plus, the resulting car was meant to be a grand tourer, so it couldn't just fall over after a few hours of usage and need rebuilding all the time. How many other cars have 1000bhp and can comfortably cruise country to country day after day and behave like a regular touring GT car. Piech was a monster with his specs - just as much so with the Phaeton which apparently had a requirement that you could rest a coin on it's edge on the engine cover and it would remain there at 6,000 rpm (or something very similar to that).