Ron Dennis attacks the Bugatti Veyron (and Top Gear credibility)

[Jimi Hendrix]

Looks like he had some axes to grind...

Ron Dennis brands $2m Bugatti Veyron ?piece of junk?

The executive chairman of McLaren Automotive, Ron Dennis, has slammed the Bugatti Veyron - the world?s fastest and most expensive roadcar - dismissing it as ?a complete piece of junk?.

Dennis, whose company recently unveiled the MP4-12C supercar ? a car he says will be the best sports car in the world ? told Arabian Business: ?The Bugatti Veyron is a complete piece of junk. I think it is. I believe I can look at a range of women and I can see beauty in most of them, but I can look at a Bugatti and I think it is pig ugly.

?The Veyron doesn?t do anything for me. I?ve been looking at it for years, and I don?t see one single thing that makes me feel good.?

His criticism extended beyond aesthetics. He said a recent televised road race organised by the BBC in Abu Dhabi between the Veyron and the McLaren F1 roadcar ? the fastest roadcar in the world from its launch in 1992 until the Veyron was produced in 2005 ? had to be rigged to make the Veyron look quicker than it was.

?I know that they have to cut the car open to take the engine out. To make an engine in that configuration, you know, it doesn?t go around corners. When we did the race in Abu Dhabi, we beat it off the line so many times that the film crew was getting frustrated because the outcome was supposed to be for the Bugatti to win.

?So we had to do that whole thing about ten times before it managed to get off the line cleanly and catch us up. Because every time they dropped the clutch it bogged down and we were gone.?

The McLaren F1, which sold for close to $1m until production ceased in 1998, has a recorded top speed of 243mph. The Veyron, which sells for close to $2m, has a top speed of 253mph.

The MP4-12C, which will be sold for close to $250,000 next year, is believed to boast a top speed in excess of 200mph.

Dennis said the production of the MP4-12C was costing in the region of $1.2bn, adding that 1,000 would be produced over the next twelve months, a figure that could then rise to 4,000 per year should demand prove sufficient.

?We are either going to lose an awful lot of money or we are going to make an awful lot of money, but there is nothing in between,? he said.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/585091-ron-dennis-brands-2m-bugatti-veyron-piece-of-junk

 

[Gingertom]

"The Veyron doesn?t do anything for me."

This.

I much prefer the F1, the Veyron seems souless.

 

[HatePersonified]

So in the real world, the McLaren is still faster. Good to know.

 

[Shentar]

The MP4-12C, which will be sold for close to $250,000 next year, is believed to boast a top speed in excess of 200mph.

What supercar doesn't have a top speed in excess of 200 these days?

The F1 was much better. They didn't design it for top speed.. they just wanted it to be the best they could build. The Veyron was built just to do 250mph. Doesn't handle and is excessive in every way.

 

[Asad]

I wish to rep Ron Dennis.

 

[Polly]

Bla Bla Bla.


Actions > Words. Go and built something better stronger and faster with todays standards and holdbacks, Ron Dennis. I guess there's a reason McLaren built a supercar rather than a hypercar.

 

[Shentar]

I wish to rep Ron Dennis.

I accept all rep for Ron Dennis on his behalf j/k

 

[ahpadt]

Bla Bla Bla.


Actions > Words. Go and built something better stronger and faster with todays standards and holdbacks, Ron Dennis. I guess there's a reason McLaren built a supercar rather than a hypercar.

There's a hypercar in the pipeline. Wait and see.

 

[LeVeL]

I've been saying the same thing since the Veyron came out. Its way too heavy and way too complicated. A 15-or-so year old McLaren would hand the Veyron its ass around a track without breaking a sweat. VW themselves admit that they only reason the Veyron exists is to put Bugatti back on the map.

 

[GRtak]

The Veyron as a car, IMHO, is ok. It is not ugly, it is not pretty/sexy. It is fast as hell and the most powerfull car ever produced to be street legal, and as such is a technical acheivement. But it does not move me in any way.

 

[thevictor390]

I think that's the point of the Veyron. It's excessive. It's not the most nimble or the lightest but it's absurdly powerful yet still luxurious. More of a hypercruiser than a hypercar.

 

[the Interceptor]

I hate Ron Dennis, but he is right on this one: the McLaren F1 is the better car overall. I love the Veyron for what it is, and it certainly did what VAG wanted it to do, but still, the F1 was the car that did it all, so much earlier, so much better.

As for the race in Abu Dhabi, it was clear even in the aired footage that the Veyron was not as superior as the numbers suggest. Given that Ron Dennis is speaking the truth, I wonder why the Veyron did so badly. It sure lost some power due to the extreme heat, but it shouldn't have been that much.

 

[Shentar]

I hate Ron Dennis, but he is right on this one: the McLaren F1 is the better car overall. I love the Veyron for what it is, and it certainly did what VAG wanted it to do, but still, the F1 was the car that did it all, so much earlier, so much better.

As for the race in Ab Dhabi, it was clear even in the aired footage that the Veyron was not as superior as the numbers suggest. Given that Ron Dennis is speaking the truth, I wonder why the Veyron did so badly. It sure lost some power due to the extreme heat, but it shouldn't have been that much.

Don't you mean the F1? He was saying the footage was made to make the Veyron look faster than the F1.

 

[Evel]

I think that's the point of the Veyron. It's excessive. It's not the most nimble or the lightest but it's absurdly powerful yet still luxurious. More of a hypercruiser than a hypercar.

I agree with you. I think comparing it to the F1 is absurd, it's a driver's car which just happened to be the fastest car in the world at the time, while the Veyron is a luxury cruiser which just happened to be the fastest car in the world at the time. Sure, they both had that "World's fastest car" goal in mind, but they still had two different objectives: one's a performance car, the other is a grand tourer.

As for the Top Gear segment, we may never know who's telling the truth, but I'd be quite surprised to see the F1 win in a straight line.

 

[Interrobang]

As for the race in Ab Dhabi, it was clear even in the aired footage that the Veyron was not as superior as the numbers suggest.[...]

It had Hammond at the wheel ... he prob messed up

But that aside, the dear man seems to be talking out of his Arse a bit when it comes to design and styling. The man represents a company that in the last 18 years, has only put out 1 road car ... wich looked like a mercedes SL ... made uglier (and faster - wich was the point - but the SL IMO is still better looking than the SLR) ... and are NOW bringing us a Supercar that looks as generic (I didn?t say "bad"- please remember that) as a Supercar can. Stick a Ferrari, Noble, Koeniggsegg or Lotus badge on that MP4-12C, and nobody would wonder and go "Isn?t that a McLaren?". And he?s moaning about how the veyron?s style does nothing for him? Think of the veyron?s design what you want ... but when I see one, I?ll recognize it. McLaren current and future roadcars always have you take 2 or 3 good looks if it?s not something else ... and hat?s not what you?d call "good Design".

and on second thought:

?So we had to do that whole thing about ten times before it managed to get off the line cleanly and catch us up. Because every time they dropped the clutch it bogged down and we were gone.?

The veyron has a flappy paddel gearbox (DKG) ... there is no clutch for anyone to "drop" ... does he even know what Car he?s talking about?

 

[the Interceptor]

Don't you mean the F1? He was saying the footage was made to make the Veyron look faster than the F1.

Isn't that what I said? What I meant was that the raw figures suggest that the Veyron should have won the race clearly from the start. In what we saw on Top Gear, it "only" managed to pull ahead during the race. Now, Ron Dennis says that it didn't actually out-accelerate the McLaren. But it should have. The question is: why didn't it?

 

[Karoug]

As for the race in Abu Dhabi, it was clear even in the aired footage that the Veyron was not as superior as the numbers suggest. Given that Ron Dennis is speaking the truth, I wonder why the Veyron did so badly. It sure lost some power due to the extreme heat, but it shouldn't have been that much.

Come on, it's top gear. They knew that the f1 would be slapped silly, so they made it lose with dignity because it's brittish.

 

[the Interceptor]

Come on, it's top gear. They knew that the f1 would be slapped silly, so they made it lose with dignity because it's brittish.

But apparently, the F1 didn't actually lose at all. There must be a technical reason for that.

 

[Karoug]

But apparently, the F1 didn't actually lose at all. There must be a technical reason for that.

Unless TG releases a vid of that i'm saying Dennis is BS'ing... Or there was a problem with the Veyron...

 

[Interrobang]

Isn't that what I said?

... actually the "had to be rigged" is not one of his quotes, if you read carefully and watch out for the "". He only said that they had to start 10 times because the veyron messed up it?s start. He doesn?t say anything about the veyron not beating the F1 or the film to be manipulated in that way. But that it took 10 starts to propperly get the veyron going so that it would do as it should ...