[On the occasion of this year's Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, we're catching up on the Detroit muscle we've driven in the past year. First up, the Corvette Z06.] It's a tricky day for the Corvette Z06. In its short life, Chevrolet's flagship Vette has topped more best-of lists than Arcade Fire, and won enough esteem to neutralize, or at least distract from, the inadequacies plaguing Chevy's '07 car line. But the Z06 is approaching a crossroads, and fast. Papa bowtie has already sent the lowliest of C6 Vettes to boot camp, and it's returned with Parris Island abs. And there's even greater mechanical violence in Detroit yet to be born.

Chevrolet's new LS3 V8, which powers the base 2008 Corvette, stacks three dozen horses atop the previous year's 400. That'll bring the entry point to 436 hp, should one choose the optional exhaust package -- and I certainly think one should. For historical context, that's 31 more than the last-gen Corvette Z06 got in 2004. Horsepower wars, indeed.

Topping the expanding Corvette line will be the SS model, expected by early next decade. Spied more frequently than Sasquatch, Carlos the Jackal and Britney's redneck hoo-ha combined, the "blue devil," as the prototype's been known, will be blown to the tune of 700 horsepower, or so the legend goes. Chevrolet's squeeze play means the Z06 might soon be its second banana. But what fine little banana it remains.

Little in the physical world, save a perfectly ripened Georgia peach or a first, frenzied roll in the hay, compares with putting foot to floor at 75 mph and watching numbers on the Z06's heads-up screen compound like the national debt clock. Perhaps base-jumping off Thomas Jefferson's Mount Rushmore schnoz might send a stouter charge through the adrenals, but the combination of that agreeable rumble from the engine room, the spectacular dash-top arithmetics and the sight of an overzealous RX-8 vanishing in the rear-view mirror releases more endorphins than a month at Six Flags.

There's also the matter of gas mileage. You've probably heard stories of how, glogging along in top gear, the 7.0-liter LS7's rev count drops to roughly the number of Starbucks outlets along the New Jersey Turnpike. That translates to a fantastical highway-mileage number - something like 26 mpg. Acts of hoonage at higher revs can easily reduce that figure by half, as we noted on a recent test drive, but in the age of the $54 fill-up, posting such a quantity on the sticker adds incalculable cachet.

Of course, the Z06 is not a perfect road car. For one thing, there's the firm suspension, which makes for crisp handling on smooth tarmac. Arrive too hot at a decreasing-radius off-ramp bend riddled with expansion joints or a mafia-approved paving job, however, and you could easily skip sideways into the hedgerows, or worse.

What's more, the Z06 has a fairly nasty, inherent craving to reverse its direction. This was once proved in flamboyant fashion by a guy with a wind-tunnel-tested haircut, who figured I - in a loaner Jag XKR - was being provocative at a stoplight (I was just enjoying the engine music). He loaded for elephant and fired a blast of torque that turned him about-face in the middle of a four-lane thoroughfare. (Psst, buddy; the traction control button is on the right.) The promise of a mid-engined Corvette has already churned through the rumor mill, and emerged debunked. That's not to say engineers haven't considered it, though to follow through would be to deviate awfully far from Harley Earl's script.

Guys like fast cars and even faster women. There’s no denying either of those claims. And in the typical pissing contest that is top speed, there can be only one champion. Let us introduce you top the Bugatti Veyron. This bullet of a car is actually faster than an F1 race car. Not only that, but it has a radio, air conditioning and leather seats (optional of course). Oh, did we mention its top speed is 253 miles an hour? Strap yourself in and hang on.

The Bugatti Veyron. 1001 horsepower. Fuck me running! That will launch you from 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds, and you’ll be blowing past 200 mph in just 13 seconds. Compare that to a Dodge Viper with a paltry 500 hp. Astonishingly the Viper is only nine tenths of a second off on 0 – 60. But it’s all the Veyron’s extra horses that it up to that magical 253 mph, while the turtle-like Viper only manages 190. Yeah, only.

This is the rear air spoiler. It provides down force, which in turn, keeps the car on the ground for cornering and “relatively” high-speed driving. For top speed runs a special key is needed to manually override the wing for maximum aerodynamic efficiency (the car also automatically lowers). It also acts as a parachute brake in emergency “oh shit I need to stop” situations. This isn’t an Acura fiberglass bolt on accessory; it’s the real deal.

 

This is the interior of the land rocket. Surprisingly plush and refined, it hardly looks like it was made to crack the sound barrier. Around the driver and passenger is a single-piece carbon-fiber monocoque, the same things on every racecar, providing superior crash protection.

 

Note the top speed on the speedometer to the far right; 260. This is serious business. You know it is when the tachometer is front and center. There really isn’t that much time to admire how fast you are going when you are covering a football field a second.

 

This is the quad-turbocharged W16 engine. The heart of the beast consists of four banks of four cylinders (two juxtaposed V8 engine blocks), coupled to a single crankshaft. This drives the power to all four wheels. Which, by the way, are specially and specifically designed high-speed tires for the Veyron.

 

So I want one, and you probably want one now too, eh? So how much will this bad boy set you back? Only about $1,700,000. Gulp. But for that price you ARE the fastest thing on the road, and in many cases the sky too. It provides unadulterated and uninterrupted acceleration from a standing start to maximum speed: a feeling previously known only to jet pilots. Sign us up.

Bugatti Veyron 16.4: The Facts

Engine
Type:	Quad-turbocharged W16
Displacement cu in (cc)	488 (7993)
Power bhp (kw) at RPM:	1001 (736) / 6000
Torque lb-ft (Nm) at RPM:	923 (1250) / 2200-5500
Redline at RPM:	6500
Brakes and Tires
Brakes F/R	ABS, vented disc / vented disc
Tires F/R	265-680 ZR500A – 365-710 R540A (PAX System)
Driveline:	All wheel drive
Exterior Dimensions and Weight
Length x Width x Height in:	174.2 x 77.9 x 47
Weight lb (kg):	4162 (1888)
Performance
Acceleration 0-62 mph s:	2.5
Top speed mph (km/h)	253 (407)
Fuel Economy EPA city/highway mpg (l/100 km)	n.a. (24.1)

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