0-124mph (200kph)

It was no surprise that the Bugatti was first to 124mph, but the way it gathers pace on a wide-open throttle has to be felt to be believed. There's no let-up in the brutality of the acceleration, no discernible interruption in drive, no apparent strain as first gear gives way to second and then to third. The faster it travels, the more determined it becomes.

The Bugatti's time of 7.4sec might not sound too special in isolation, until you consider it is 2.9sec quicker than the highly acclaimed 599 GTB Fiorano. The big surprise is just how much quicker the Veyron was than the Vanquish S, which was 9.1sec slower than the Bugatti at the 124mph mark. And we don't ever remember thinking the Aston Martin felt leisurely. On the contrary…

All of the cars in our test were awe-inspiring, but impersonal numbers told the tale objectively. » More Photos

After trailing the Murciélago LP640 to 62mph by the slimmest of margins, the 599 GTB Fiorano began to take big chunks out of its Sant'Agata rival as speeds increased. The Ferrari hit the 124mph mark in 10.3sec, 1.9sec ahead of the heavier Lamborghini. Also sneaking into the reckoning was the SLR, which equalled the Lamborghini's times to the tenth of a second.
The big mover as speed built, however, was the Corvette Z06. The cheapest car here punched well above its weight, surpassing the more highly rated Ford GT and Porsche 911 Turbo on the way to a 124mph split of 11.9sec. Left languishing at the bottom of the time sheets were the Dodge and the Aston Martin.

0-186mph (300kph)

By the time our supercar stable got to the 0-186mph test we already had one less car to consider. The Dodge Viper SRT-10 failed to crack the third of our acceleration markers by a scant 1mph, due in large part to the drag created by its fabric hood. If nothing else, the V10 convertible won the hearts and minds of our pit crew with its bellowing exhaust note, which reverberated off Ehra-Lessien's retaining walls with the intensity of a NASCAR stocker at full tilt.

At the sharp end, the Bugatti, Ferrari and Lamborghini all held station. But while it took the Veyron just 10.8sec to charge from 124mph up to 186mph, the 599 and the Murciélago required 19.6sec and 20.6sec respectively, which brought into light just how superior the French coupe is when the wick is turned up. Aside from its huge power and torque, what sets the Bugatti apart is the ease at which it runs up towards 200mph. At big speeds it feels immensely robust and, out of all the cars, required the least movement of the steering wheel to keep it tracking on line.

The Ferrari felt inherently stable, indicating that its aerodynamic properties haven't been compromised by its stunning styling, and it never gave the impression that it was running out of steam at 186mph, but it lacked the high-speed refinement of the Veyron. It was more intense, edgier in its movements and required greater concentration to guide down Ehra-Lessien's back straight.

The Lamborghini was a handful. There's no doubting its potency, but at high speeds it's clear the Murciélago could do with a large wing at the rear to generate more downforce. The front end tracks wonderfully, but a lack of stability at the back means you're constantly wondering what it might do next.

The Merc was unable to sustain the momentum it had built up between 62mph and 124mph. It needed 36.9sec to get to 186mph. Although it felt terrifically capable off the banking and onto the straight, with seemingly endless reserves of speed to come, after 160mph it felt challenged. Not so the Ford; it managed to bag the Merc, and recorded a convincing 33.6sec. In doing so, the GT was just one second slower between 124mph and 186mph than the Lambo.

Filling the minor placings were the Porsche and the Chevy, which both ran out of steam, and the Vanquish S. The latter's comparatively long gearing showed that it is clearly more of a GT than the rest of the pack.

All of the cars in our test were awe-inspiring, but impersonal numbers told the tale objectively. » More Photos

Top speed

The Bugatti annihilated the top speed of each of its supercar rivals with a run of 250mph (249.84mph, to be exact). The way it manages to compress time with its sheer speed is breathtaking, and goes a long way to justifying the gobsmacking $1.6m price tag. It isn't relaxing to drive when you're licking along at over four miles per minute, but it doesn't ask any more of its driver than the other cars. All that was really required was a heavy right foot and some steely determination heading out of the banked curves onto the back straight. In fact, it gets better the faster you go: the stability increases markedly as the rear spoiler deploys, and the front air ducts are automatically blanked off to reduce the build-up of pressure within the front end. It was only in the final push where its aerodynamic properties begin to feel the pinch. In the end, we didn't quite manage to verify the official top speed of 252mph, but as we approached the southern turnaround point on Ehra-Lessien's back straight we saw 250mph flash up on our data recorder.

It topped the Lamborghini by 38mph. Take nothing away from the Murciélago, though; after scrapping with the 599 all day, it finally got the better of its Italian neighbor, with 211mph on its final run.

Also bounding back into contention was the Ford, which reached 205mph courtesy of its slippery shape. In doing so, the $150,000 machine dumped the $450,000 SLR back to fifth place.

The most pleasing factor about the top speed runs was the resurgence of the Aston Martin, which pipped the Corvette Z06 by 1mph at 197mph. It's not quite the 200mph promised by Aston, but we've got a feeling our car wasn't in the best of health. That left the Porsche at 193mph and the Dodge on 185mph.

It's patently clear the Bugatti is on an altogether higher performance plane than the rest of the field assembled here, but at that eye-watering price, it also costs more than the cheapest five cars here put together. So you could take the Bugatti or be content with a stable including the Ferrari, Ford, Porsche, Dodge and Chevrolet.

But that's not really the point. After a long but memorable day in nine of the most potent road cars ever, we'd found an answer to question we'd come to settle: the Bugatti is the boss.
Greg Kable/Autocar

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