Tales of a Test Driver
`About an hour passed, then it was my time to suit up. A few other gentleman had already taken the Veyron out for a spin, and the flash bulbs were going off like machine guns. It was standing room only trying to catch a glimpse of the burgundy colored Veyron whizzing by. I was eventually waved over by a member of Bugatti, asked to put on a helmet and fill out a brief “driver bio” and then took my place in line. I was instructed to take a nice, easy lap and not to push the car too hard. “Sure” I thought, I can do that.
I get inside the car – which was beautiful by the way – and settle in, trying to get comfortable before my wild ride in the spotlight. After a few minutes of working the shifter and the pedals to settle into my groove, I was waved onto the track and got the green flag. I gave her about half gas and BOOM, I’m off like a shot. I proceed to fly through the course at a gingerly, controlled pace, struggling to keep myself from flooring it and breaking the sound barrier. Turn after turn I fell more in love with the car – the handling and power were so effortless – it was like a racecar with a luxury cockpit. I was in heaven, living every man’s wildest fantasy. For those brief 2 minutes it was good to be me.
Then, about 3/4 of the way around the track, my perfect fantasy was abruptly interrupted. [..]’
