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Bugatti Veyron 16.4 L’Or Blanc

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport L´Or Blanc

The fastest porcelain in the world

The Bugatti "L'Or Blanc" celebrates its U.S. premiere at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering at the Quail Lodge Resort and Golf Club. This unique version of a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport is the world’s first motor car to wear the finest porcelain on its body, as well as in its cabin. The design of the abstract lines on the exterior of the car follows the route of the Italian Stelvio pass.

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport L´Or BlancThe security officer nods, the door opens. Amidst pure white walls bright spotlights illuminate a Bugatti Grand Sport that is placed in the centre of the spacious room. We have entered the hidden world of the Bugatti Design Studio. The team around Bugatti’s Head of Design Achim Anscheidt works in a quiet and focused atmosphere as they walk around their latest object of desire. Several times they stop, take a step to the left and to the right; they bend down and up again, looking intensely at the Grand Sport from different angles. They analyze the reflections of light on the car’s body before they step back for a moment to get an overall impression of their work. Thin blue lines flow over the bright white exterior of the fastest convertible in the world. It feels like visiting the atelier of an American pop-art artist.

The creation bears the name “L’Or Blanc”. It represents an automobile that redefines the art of design. If you look at it through the eyes of a designer, you will recognize that it is the reflection of the studio lights on the body that attracts their interest. Positioned beneath a special light, the car is set in an ideal environment that provides an excellent image of the reflections. The studio light is reflected on the invisible edges between the body shapes of the Grand Sport. In numerous stages each reflection line is translated by Bugatti’s designers onto the car body that has been pre-painted in a vibrant white tone.

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport L´Or BlancIn the next step, Bugatti’s paint specialists dedicate themselves to the further completion of the masterpiece. Over the course of three weeks, each millimeter of the marked lines are being filled by hand with the characteristic blue color. In addition, the whole body receives five layers of clear lacquer. A varying and powerful gradient of the two colors is generated because the team had used a combination of tapes with different widths. While the blue lines dominate over the white spaces in the lower section of the convertible, the relation of colors inverts on the way to the roof so that the intense white appears even stronger. Twelve elements made of finest porcelain at the Berlin based manufactory complete the aesthetic approach of this special Grand Sport.

Let us change the location and visit the workshops of the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur in the heart of Berlin. Following a tradition of around 250 years, at this location more than 170 craftsmen and specialists produce precious items, as today’s expression of porcelain art. Handmade plaster moulds are needed to craft the unique porcelain elements that appear in the exterior and interior of the “L’Or Blanc”, and with a tremendous attention to detail; each mould is created and optimized in a several-week-long process at the research and development department. The team has to run a number of dedicated tests with the raw material to check the impact of the natural shrinkage of around 16% during firing and drying. Finally, the porcelain elements fit seamlessly to the Bugatti components.

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport L´Or BlancAs part of the exterior design, porcelain is used for the inlays of the centre wheel badges, the fuel filler cap and the oil filler cap as well as the signature “EB” badge at the rear. Their shiny white surface blends in with the brilliant bright finish of the paint suggesting that the car would be coated with a thin layer of porcelain, too.

Besides the signed porcelain inlays on the sides of the centre console, an intarsia made of finest porcelain is fixed to the rear panel between the seats. Similar to the exterior porcelain elements this item carries the relief of the famous elephant in an upright standing position that has been created by sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti. His brother Ettore had used the original draft to cast the radiator mascot for the Bugatti Royale. This elephant is a synonym for the brand still today. Embedded in the top of the centre console, there is a fine porcelain dish with edges finished in an exclusive diamond polishing - a technique that has been applied by the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin for the very first time. The precious dish can be removed and is part of a picnic set that was exclusively designed by KPM for the Bugatti car.

The Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport “L’Or Blanc” is a one of a kind creation thats price amounts to 1.65 Mio. EUR ($2.35 million).