2011 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 8.0l "bleu Nuit" Grand Sport 315 Miles, One Owner on 2040-cars

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Race in a road rally | The List #0035

On this episode of The List, hosts Jessi Combs and Patrick McIntyre compete in The Great Race, a 2,000-mile road rally in which precision, not speed, is the key to victory. The race is a grueling test of endurance, restraint, and the ability to execute rigid instructions under extreme duress. The prize for first place? $50,000. Oh, and did we mention the competitor lineup consists exclusively of vintage cars? For each leg of the race, the point is not necessarily to come in first, but to arrive at your destination at a very specific, pre-determined time, down to the second. If you arrive at your destination when you're meant to, congratulations, you've aced that leg of the race! To do this, you need to be fantastic at following rules, instructions, and driving at a steady speed. "I am not good at following rules, I am not good at following instructions, I am not good at driving slow," says Jessi, pondering the requirements for success in the rally. However, regardless of confidence, our hosts set off from San Rafael, CA, in a 1927 Bugatti Type 35B on the first leg of the nine-day journey. A road trip of this length is difficult in the best of conditions, but being cramped together with another person in a two-seat, topless, slow-moving, 89-year-old car takes a special breed of human. Our hosts are up to the challenge, but the journey isn't without hardships. Will they be able to finish the race? Join us as we drive from California to Illinois to find out on this episode of The List! Click here to find more episodes of The List Click here to learn more about our hosts, Jessi and Patrick

VW Group to split brands under four holding companies

The Volkswagen Group is planning a tremendous shift in its internal structure that will decentralize operations by splitting its 12 brands into four different holding companies. Here's the breakdown. Things will be split logically, considering the inter-sharing of parts, platforms, and engines. The Volkswagen brand, Seat, and Skoda make up a passenger vehicle division led by former BMW man Herbert Diess. Audi, which is tightly intertwined with Lamborghini and motorcycle manufacturer Ducati, will be managed by current Audi exec Rupert Stadler. Porsche and Bentley, which are already quite close, will be joined by Bugatti and run by Matthias Mueller. Finally, a commercial vehicles division will include Volkswagen Commercial, Scania, and Man. Former Daimler exec Andreas Renschler will take care of the big vehicles. The massive move, according to Automotive News Europe, is part of an internal VAG effort to move away from the structure established by ousted Chairman Ferdinand Piech, who favored a compact, but highly centralized, management structure to oversee the independent actions of the company's brands. Criticism of Piech's arrangement stemmed from the company's slow responses to changes in the market, ANE reports. The new structure should make for a more efficient, streamlined company that's better able to make crucial decisions. What are your thoughts? Should VAG decentralize, or did Piech have the right idea? Have your say in Comments.

Bugatti Veyron Legends Edition Black Bess isn't exactly subtle

The Bugatti Veyron Legend editions may do nothing to alter the Grand Sport Vitesse's already prodigious performance, but buyers appear to love them. Four special models have been unveiled so far, and Bugatti has sold out of all of them. At the 2014 Beijing Motor Show, the automaker has introduced the fifth Legend - the Black Bess.
Unlike the previous models, this Legend is inspired by a specific car, rather than a person. Black Bess was the name of a Bugatti Type 18 owned by famous French aviator Roland Garros. With seven examples built from 1912 to 1914, the 18 was a supercar in its time. It sported a 99-horspower, 5.0-liter four-cylinder engine and could reach 100 miles per hour. While paltry today, it was amazing performance by contemporary standards.
The modern Black Bess packs the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse's 1,184-hp, quad-turbo W16 engine, and it wears rich, black paint with 24-carat gold accents. The interior has a combination of beige, brown and red leather, but its real showpieces are the hand-painted leather door panels that depict the Type 18 and Roland Garros' plane.