At very high speed, a perfect balance between the drag coefficient and the downforce is essential,” declares Schreiber. “Before you can attempt to reach the maximum speed of 406km/h, the car’s aerodynamic profile needs to be adjusted.”

To do that, the driver turns the so-called ‘speed key’ located between the seat and the sill. In ‘top-speed’ mode, the rear wing and the tail spoiler above it retracts almost fully, the front diffuser panels close, the ride height drops to 65mm at the front and 70mm in the back, dropping the drag coefficient from 0.37 to 0.36.

In this setup, drag resistance is at an absolute minimum, but so is downforce. At the front, we have zero lift, and at the rear there’s a mere 40kg of downforce on the wing. In ‘handling’ mode which is good for speeds up to 375km/h, downforce increases to 150kg on the front axle and 200kg on the rear axle.

Like the Merc McLaren SLR, the Veyron is equipped with an air brake. Schreiber explains, “When you hit the pedal hard at 200km/h-plus, the air brake effects a deceleration of 0.6g. And downforce increases by almost 300kg. As a result, the rear wheels take a much larger share of the brake balance without approaching their lock-up limits.”

