UPDATE: We have video of the Bugatti Veyron crashing into the lake. As well as a response from the driver!

UPDATE: Here's the full post-Lake Crash Bugatti Veyron mega gallery showing the aftermath.

UPDATE: From the Galveston Daily News:

The two-seater, with 16 cylinders and four turbo chargers, can reach speeds of more than 250 mph. New models sell for about $2 million.

The man, who refused to give his name, was looking at real estate in Galveston.

About 3 p.m. a low-flying pelican distracted him as he traveled north on Interstate 45 just south of the hurricane levee near Omega Bay.

The man jerked the wheel, dropped his cell phone, and the car's front tire left the frontage road and entered a muddy patch, which foiled his attempt to maneuver away from the lagoon.

The Veyron's powerful engine gurgled like an outboard motor for about 15 minutes before it died.

The first glance is barely cursory. Engine blocks, after all, are fairly common elements of a certain school of interior design. This one is standing on its end behind a plate of glass on a residential street in downtown Budapest. It’s rather tall, so definitely not a Chevy small block, most likely some sort of straight six from a truck.

Except it’s not. So I double back. And realize a few things in rapid sequence:

1. The block is almost waist-high and I’m 6'2"
2. The block has eight cylinder bores in a W pattern
3. Make that sixteen: there’s another bank of cylinder bores at a 90° angle
4. Is that really a Bugatti logo stamped in the metal?

So I rock back and forth on the sidewalk, trying in vain to bridge the vast chasm between what I see and what I know. Empirically speaking, the object cannot be anything other than a Bugatti Veyron engine: no other car has ever been manufactured with a W16 and engine blocks generally don’t carry the stamped initials of Ettore Bugatti in their metal.

On the other hand, we’re talking about a ludicrously expensive car with perhaps 200 examples in existence. What are the chances of running into the dismembered engine of one in a shop window in Budapest?

I might as well enter the store to find out. The space behind the plate of glass is the headquarters of Geppetto, a Hungarian design studio founded by the Elek brothers in 1996. A man descends the well-designed staircase.

“Is that what I think it is?” I ask, cutting a glance at the engine block.
“It indeed is,” comes the answer.

Wordless shuffling commences. We then strike up a conversation. The guy turns out to be Peter Kucsera, one of the designers employed by Geppetto and creator of the Seeyou Project, a rather beautiful horizontal gravestone made of concrete.

But how does one end up with a Veyron engine?

“We were approached by Bugatti to make something out of their engines which didn’t pass QA,” Peter explains. “So they shipped us a W16 and we came up with some interior design ideas and sent them our proposals. The ball is in their court at the moment.”

We are standing in the middle of Geppetto’s generous studio space, flanking an inconspicuous metal crate which looks like a downsized shipping container. With a mischievous flick, Peter removes an Ikea carpet from the crate’s top. Under a glass cover, the crate is filled with the rest of the engine’s parts. Headers, camshafts, cylinder heads, a single piston, a lone turbo and the giant crankshaft which handles the 1001 HP the engine makes. The surreality of it all never quite fades away.

“The block would make a perfect family crypt for people who prefer cremation,” Peter says, revealing a continued fascination with unusual burial, “although with a big family, the 16 holes would fill up fast.”

I suggest using only one cylinder bore per generation, reserving it for the most deserving member of that generation, thereby stretching the block’s life into the centuries. The block could then remain put, its great heft planting it into the very earth, while the city surrounding it would evolve, the Geppetto office fading away to become a butcher shop, only for that to turn into yet another place of business.

It would certainly make for a killer time lapse video.

“We’ve yet to find the best use for it. For the moment, we’ve decided to install it in the shop window to serve as a conversation piece,” Peter says, adding that it does attract a strange assortment of passersby.

I wave goodbye and return to the November gloom. Should you visit Budapest these days, you’ll find the block at this address. It really is quite a sight.

Photo Credit: THOMAS LOHNES/AFP/Getty Images

After placing his deposit of $427,935 on the $1.55 million vehicle, he paid in full last December. A few days later he was sent an email by the selling agent in Troy, Michigan he would not be receiving his 2009 Bugatti Veyron in Italian red, ever, they weren't making any more. To add insult to injury, Bugatti offered a 2008 model in place of his ordered 2009. At this point Zekelman decided he'd had enough and demanded his money back, and has gone on demanding for eight months with no satisfaction. He's had to file a lawsuit naming Bugatti, who's kept his cash in their coffers for the entire time, and is seeking a complete refund and all court and lawyer fees. This isn't the kind of thing you ever expect to hear about the buying process of the most exclusive supercar in the world. [Courthourse News (PDF) via TopSpeed]

As we mentioned back in March, details are slim if not downright non-existent, but the rumors have been flying recklessly regarding what niche market the next Bugatti model will fall under. Having already accomplished their goal of creating the world's fastest, highest powered super car, it would only make sense for the VW-owned company to venture out into the ultra luxury market. The competition is becoming fierce, with an ever growing range of Rolls Royce Phantom models and with Bentley dropping their new 'Grand Bentley' upon the world in August at the Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance, it seems like a likely guess that this is the route Bugatti will follow. Will Bugatti lean on Bentley, borrowing resources from the new 'Grand Bentley' or will they produce their own bespoke chassis?

Turning our attention to the dark, scanned teaser above, we see what appears to be the rear view of the new Bugatti showing off high-tech LED tail lamps and a vertically mounted LED CHMSL. The height of the CHMSL makes us believe our initial thoughts are correct; that this is indeed a sedan and we wonder whether it will be an evolution of the 1999 EB218 concept in design.

As September draws closer, so will the teasers and details and we'll be following along closely. Stay tuned. (Hat Tip To Wanda!)

A lack of supplemental information about the ticket other than it was received on the California State Route 73 toll road leaves us in question, but if it is indeed a true speeding ticket and not some ill-conceived joke, it may be the most epic display of supercar hoonage ever caught by the California Highway Patrol. And for those of you playing at home, here's what the California law for speeding above 100 MPH is:

"every person convicted of an infraction for a violation described in subdivision (b) of Section 22348 shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500)."

So, no jail time as far as we can see, but a fairly hefty fine. (Hat tip to Less Lincoln!) [via Flickr]

So which wins — the 1001 HP Bugatti Veyron with all the techie bells and whistles? Or the 627 HP McLaren F1 thanks to a 1,500 lb lower weight? Warning to any of you kids who've Tivo'ed or in other ways haven't yet seen the full episode — there be spoilers ahead. So watch at your own risk.

The incident occurred after fancy car-owning neighbors called the cops on Paris Hilton's little shin dig at 4am with noise complaints. Allegedly Hilton or guests then keyed and egged six cars, including two Maseratis and a Veyron. Police have already interviewed the heiress, but speculation indicates that she's likely way too lazy to have done the deed herself. [via LA Times]

The crew was spotted at Alain Airport on a police-closed road doing their Top Gear thing. It's assumed the team will be comparing the latest crop of super-supercars against the thoroughbred McLaren F1, which is inarguably a high-water mark of the craft. Considering the closed road they're on is almost two miles long, we can assume some fairly high speed runs way out there in the desert sun. This promises to be a good one. [Youtube via WCF]

The fraternal quadruplets are decked out in the colors of some of Bugatti's most successful racers, who drove the legendary Type 35 to well over 2,000 wins during its decade of operation. The white one matches the car driven by Hermann zu Leiningen, blue for Jean-Pierre Wimille, Malcolm Campbell in green and Achille Varzi in red. No word on whether these examples will be for sale, but considering the ready market in the United Arab Emirates, we'd be shocked if they sat in the Bugatti headquarters for long.

[via Autoblog]

These colorful cars apparently commemorate the racing careers of Grand Prix drivers Jean-Pierre Wimille, Achille Varzi, Malcolm Campbell and Hermann Zu Leiningen, and mimic the livery of each respective driver's car. These Centeniares will bow at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, likely to the sound of their owners hands clapping. We're thinking the Veyron is beginning to seriously jump the shark with all these special editions. Something is wrong when news about one of the worlds most powerful and exclusive cars is tiresome and boring. [MotorPasion via Carscoop]

The gold Veryon is pretty high on the list of other ridiculous Veyrons, including the Blue Centenaire, carbon fiber Veyron, and par Hermés. You know what would surprise us right now? A normal Bugatti.

[via AutoBlog.nl]

Not only do 538,461 Bugatti Veyrons look impressive stacked up like an oil goon's plaything, but these stacks of Washingtons looks pretty impressive as well. The original creator decided to give us a bit of scale to judge the enormity of the money being spent and as you can see, that little car is absolutely dwarfed by (what looks like) a 30-story building of cold hard, taxpayer cash.

Seeing the $700,000,000,000 TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) fund like this really pisses us off, so let's think of a better image. How about a mental image of Scrooge McDuck diving into his obnoxiously large gold coin vault. That would at least make us laugh.

While the true totals of the whole government bailout are unknown at this point, since they seem to rise every day, the New York Times has tried to figure out the exact dollar amounts and the results are staggering and make us more than a little weak in the knees. You can view their bailout chart HERE

(Hat Tip To Alex!)

[via stumbleupon, jonnyj.net, NYTimes]

As rumors go, details are lacking, but we've heard that Bugatti has several different options on the table, ranging from a hyper-luxury sedan to sink the Rolls Royce Phantom or an even more exclusive, more powerful hyper-exotic in the same vein as the Veyron or even a luxurious coupe follow up to the timeless Atlantique. With the production run of 300 coming to an end and the additional 150 Grand Sport editions, they'll need something much more mind blowing than the current $1.4 million car.

Will the Veyron's successor soldier on with the 1,001 horsepower, quad-turbo W16 engine or will we see something even more insane? We're not sure at this point, but all rumors are pointing at a concept version of the car being shown at the Frankfurt Auto Show this Fall, while a production version will likely hit in 2011 or 2012. Our main question is, with the economic crisis in full swing, will there be anyone left to buy yet another mind numbing, ultra expensive exotic car? From the sounds of it, we'll find out soon enough.

[via autotelegraaf.nl]