I've gone for a ride in the world record car when it was here last spring. Jarod and I did a short run and it was a wild ride for sure. Since then cars have always been in a state of build so nothing's been available. That being said, they are two very different animals that can achieve the same thing- go extremely fast yet still be well mannered enough to run around town. Both will do that extremely well. The UA is VERY wide which is why it has such a nice ride.

Here is why the record is so challenging. You can't take these cars on the salt flats and achieve the same thing because to go that fast on salt you'd need special tires and the rules are these cars must be production street cars, right down to tires. Just making the tires hold up is a big challenge. Because the tires must run at such high speeds, they need to be specially built, yet still work on roads. A set of tires on a Veyron at top speed are good for about 20 minutes. Considering they cost $20k a set, that's a $1,000 a minute for that ride. It better be worth it.

The other consideration is how the car acts at very high speed. I don't know if you watched the TT Gallardo running the Texas Mile and how squirrely it got at speed. Wow! I know I'd need new seats after that. This is why areo-brakes become so important in these cars. I always thought it was for show. Nope, they matter.

The UA gives you lots of feedback in the cabin yet the ride is extremely smooth. It's smoother than my SV which already has a nice ride. You feel a greater sense of mass than you do in something like a Porsche or Murcielago. It's more like a 612 now that I think about it. Actually when you compare a Murcielago to both the Veyron and the UA, the Murcielago looks very small. You also sit very low in the Veyron and it's hard to see over the corners while the UA is a little more typical for its shape. It's those peaks in the two fenders that sort of blocks your view in the Veyron.

As for the Veyron I drove, it was the Grand Sport version with the top off. It's a very unusual ride because the motor itself is rather quiet with a deep rumble. What you do hear is the sound of the air intakes, turbos and wastegates. The sounds remind me of the Octopus ride at the state fair.

The feedback given to the driver in the Veyron is on a need to know basis so it's not like any car I've been in before. You get very limited feedback in the corners, but I didn't drive it that hard given the price tag and desire to remain off the evening news or end up in the urban dictionary. You're going around a corner and you're noticing how smooth it feels, but that's about it so when something does finally go wrong, I doubt if there is much warning. If you were to die in it, you'd be the last to know so no worries there. It doesn't at all give you the feedback you'd get in your car. It's definitely not a track car. When it comes to driver feedback, if I had to guess, it would be like throwing a 7 Series into a corner only a lot more expensive. I'd personally hate the hard top version of the Veyron as I tend to want to hear what's going on around me.

A friend who owns a Veyron along with a lot of other cars said it this way - that he loves driving the Veyron because it is such a technological marvel, but doesn't feel a sense of true excitement driving it below 160. He has other cars for days in the twisties.

There is almost a million dollar difference between the two cars and if you took the UA and added a Rolls Phantom, it's about what you'd get for that difference. There is elegance to the Veyron that the UA doesn't have, but the UA has feedback experience you'd never get in the Veyron. Both are incredible cars but they approach design solutions from two different ends. SSC is about numbers first, elegance second. The fit and finish on the last UA was really terrific as they keep refining their product. The Veyron is just the opposite approach to problem solving- as if they said, let's make the best possible cabin and ride experience, and then make it fast. I have huge respect for both.

I don't know if you watched the National Geographic Extreme Factories edition about the Veyron where the guy is bringing the pistons and cranks to the build in a padded Anvil case. When you write your check for the Veyron, you're paying for that show.

Cars like ours tend to give us way more feedback than we need and we filter out what is and isn't important. The Veyron for that $1.8 million puts all of that on a strictly need to know basis.

If I had to summarize, the UA is built for times when you want excitement at 200 MPH and the Veyron is built for those times when you don't.

As for the new car, it's nothing like the existing UA. This is a clean sheet design, repackaging what SSC has learned from the first generation car. SSC's approach has always been results first, packaging second which is why they didn't do things like custom headlights on the world record car. All of that came after they set the world record. They have reached a point in their evolution where it's time to change the design to meet the criteria for the next speed challenge. SSC didn't want to make claims about performance they couldn't actually achieve so everything was about getting the numbers first.

I hope you're able to make it to the event.

 

That was a very insightful read, thanks for posting Tommy!

 

I'm booked on that day

Would have loved to do this.

 

Great explanation... truly.
I will not be at the event as I am using all of my hall passes right now on track days...
My wife has no interest in this stuff... what she is interested in is me giving her a break from our 2.5 year old and 8 month old... so extra cirrucular non track car events have fallen off the radar for a while.

I will be looking for pics though

 

Most of the photos will be of us outside as they are not allowing cameras inside.

 

we can kidnap you like in the movie Old School so you can come

 

I meant in general... not specifically of this event...

 

that would be funny!

 

Hi everyone,
We are going to have to postpone the SSC Ultimate Aero event at the Boeing Museum of Flight due to some unveiling security concerns. The new date will be sometime in September. Everyone who paid will be refunded their money and can again buy tickets once the new date is set. Sorry for the hassle, but we just couldn't make it work on the 8th.

Meanwhile, the original world record car will be at Exotics at RTC on Saturday, August 7 for those of you who missed it last time I came out to play. This is a historic car worthy of a trip out to see it.

 

Bummer. Hopefully my wedding shoot on the 7th is not too early and I can make it out.