"THAT! THAT IS WHAT MAKES THE VEYRON, YESSS!?!?"
Loris Bicocchi's tan, cherubic face leers at me from the passenger seat, his eyes wide behind Prada shades. It is the most animated I've seen my oh-so-cool Italian co-pilote since our drive began.
"VOW! From this seat, it just feels... so different. So AMAZING!"
And to think, all I had to do was pass a slow-moving farm truck in the most modest way possible. Rather than toggling the lever from Drive to Sport, or clicking the downshift paddle back in a come-hither motion, I overtake the truck the old-fashioned way: by burying my right foot.

For half a beat, nothing happens. Then there is an explosive lurch from the hindquarters, as the 20-inch tall, 365 rears engage in a brief, but victorious, battle for traction. All four wheels hook, leaving our stomachs and the Spanish countryside behind us in a hot wake of exhaust gas. I lift my foot and the wastegates reply with a full-bodied belch as we coast back down to a high-double-digit cruising speed.
Loris and I make an odd couple. I'm a Veyron virgin, while he's the godfather of this 1200 hp cherry-popper. Loris is Bugatti's lead development driver -- the man who signed off on the handling and performance of the original Veyron and each significantly tweaked model since. Though a topic for another time, Loris is also the guy responsible for a few other stratospheric supercars from a variety of manufacturers, including Lamborghini, Pagani, and Koenigsegg.

But today he's the Super Sport's super babysitter, intent on giving me the rundown on his latest and greatest creation. But I can't hear him right now. I'm struggling to wrap my caper-sized brain around this mightiest Bugatti.
First question: How do you make a regular Veyron into a Super Sport?
The same way you make any standard road car into a higher-performance variant. Add more power and more torque, and remove weight. Not exactly rocket science -- except when you start with a car that already has four turbochargers, 16 cylinders, and 1001 horsepower.
The list of upgrades and modifications reads like something out of our sister magazine Super Street. On top of the regular 16.4, larger turbochargers and revised intercoolers, and a revised exhaust system to reduce back pressure, have been added, along with revised ducts, air dams, and diffusers for improved cooling and aerodynamics.