‘Top Gear’ begins Route 66 trip this week

“Top Gear,” the popular British television series about driving cars, began a 2,400-mile road trip this week on Route 66 in a Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse — a convertible version of what is considered the fastest sports car in history.

From the first day of the show’s Route 66 diary:

You want numbers? 1200bhp of quad-turbo, W16 engine, over 1100 torques, four-wheel drive and a top speed of 260mph. Enough, it’s safe to say, to keep up with American traffic. Oh, and an asking price somewhere north of two million quid, which makes dicing with traffic in Chicago’s rush hour something of a puckering experience.

No one has ever done anything like this with a Veyron before. And they won’t again. With Veyron production ending next year before Bugatti opens a new chapter in its Going Faster history, this is it: the last, the ultimate Veyron road trip.

Which is why it had to be Route 66, the Illinois-to-California highway John Steinbeck christened ‘The Mother Road’.

The crew apparently went from Chicago to St. Louis on the first day, although details about that leg are scant, save for a few photos.

During Day Two, the crew took the Bugatti from St. Louis to Oklahoma City.

I don’t care how fast the car is — 500 miles on an old road makes for a long day.

In the coming days, “Top Gear” says it will reveal the publication date of the sale of its “Adventures” issue of its magazine that will feature Route 66. In the meantime, it will post new roadtrip photos daily on its website.

UPDATE 7/16/2014: Top Gear magazine, featuring an article about the Route 66 trip, is on sale worldwide today. The promotional story about the issue notes the Bugatti required 840 gallons of fuel. That’s less than three miles per gallon. Oy.

(Screen shot of “Top Gear’s” Bugatti at the 66 Drive-In in Carthage, Missouri)

4 thoughts on “‘Top Gear’ begins Route 66 trip this week

  1. High profile TV for sure. However, if that’s the old Howard Johnson/McDonalds across the highway in the shot just past paying at a turnpike booth, it looks like they didn’t travel Historic 66 through Northeastern Oklahoma–which would explain where are no shots of their Veyron with the Coleman, Totem Poles, Blue Whale, Tulsa Deco, Rock Cafe, Round Barn, POPS, et al!!! Too darn bad!

  2. Ooops–“where are no shots” was supposed to be “why there are no shots”…. in my comment above. Guess I was a little emotional in my disappointment that the actual old road was once again bypassed. No doubt the speeds on the super slab are more compatible with the show and Buggati’s “Going Faster” mission.

  3. The stopped at the Midpoint Café and Gift Shop for about 2 hours the morning of June 18th. We had fun with the Top Gear guys as well as the two folks traveling with them from Bugatti. Just as they were leaving, a large motorcycle group pulled and the Bugatti folks let them get their pictures taken around the car. Fun by all…

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