Bugatti F. K. P. Hommage is 1,600hp one-off Veyron
Twenty years on, Bugatti pays tribute to its 21st-century masterpiece - and the man who created it
Remember the Bugatti Brouillard from last year? It was the first of Bugatti’s Solitaire commissions, an endeavour that aimed to take personalisation to a whole new level. Because why stop at merely choosing colours and materials, when you could have totally bespoke bodywork as well? That was the Brouillard, and now there’s a new Solitaire supercar: behold the F.K.P Hommage.
Hang on, you’re probably thinking - that’s just a Veyron. But look a little bit closer, and you’ll see significant swathes of the original W16 Bugatti hypercar are totally different to 20 years ago. Just as that car did, this F. K. P. Hommage - as in Ferdinand Karl Piech, the legendary engineer who devised it - represents the peak of what Bugatti can achieve with an 8.0-litre, 16-cylinder engine, and that iconic Bauhaus-inspired design as a clean sheet.
So instead of 1,001hp, the W16 is now 1,600hp strong - Chiron Super Sport spec, basically, the pinnacle of the engine. Compared with 2005, this one has bigger turbos, chunkier intercoolers, a stronger DCT and upgraded cooling to keep a lid on it all. With the Veyron never stronger than in 1,200hp Super Sport spec, this Hommage promises a significant step up in performance, even against what was once the fastest car in the world.
The revised styling is described by Bugatti Design Director Frank Heyl as “the ideal, definitive Veyron”. And, though it might not look like it, quite a lot has changed. ‘Every surface has now been refined’, says Bugatti, with the horseshoe grille now flowing more into the front end, a tweak to the colour split thanks to the panel changes, larger 20/21-inch wheels and the latest Michelins (perfect for runs beyond 250mph), plus black-tinted carbon where plain old paint used to sit. Even the paint itself is different, with an aluminium coat under the red-tinted clear coat for ‘extraordinary depth and three-dimensionality’.
If anything, the interior is probably the most astonishing part of the F. K. P. makeover. From an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Toubillon in the dash to Custom Car Couture fabrics (where once only leather was available), it’s a very different Veyron cabin. And, of course, absolutely exquisite. The centre console and tunnel, complete with its machined-from-solid aluminium cover, is unique to this car, as is the steering wheel. Point being from Bugatti that the sky really is the limit when it comes to Programme Solitaire cars; if you want totally bespoke features on what was already a limited-run hypercar of the highest calibre, it can happen.
Bugatti MD Hendrik Malinowski said: "Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Karl Piëch was a man who saw the impossible not as a roadblock but as a challenge. His vision for Bugatti was absolute: 1,000 horsepower, 400 km/h top speed, all-wheel drive, and refined enough to arrive at the opera in a tuxedo or a ball gown. The F.K.P. Hommage celebrates this uncompromising pursuit of excellence, combining the timeless proportions of the original Veyron with two decades of engineering evolution." With this and the Brouillard as Solitaire’s opening gambit, clearly Bugatti has lofty ambitions for its ultimate bespoke division. Won’t be long, surely, before something unique is built around the new V16 engine…
Makes me think of the Mat Armstrong thread and why Bugatti don't give two hoots about helping, looking at this and how bespoke it is, 2 examples I think and they have buyers do they need to?
As for the car itself, stunning.
Maybe it comes with a minion to do just that.
Maybe it comes with a minion to do just that.
Problem (that was never really a problem) solved.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff