Showstopper
MANSORY VEYRON LINEA VIVERE
by Alessandro Marrone
Not a day like any other, not even for a city like Montecarlo, accustomed to the most extravagant and exotic supercars.
A white and carbon spaceship has landed straight from the United States and overshadows any other car in its path: seeing it live is already an event in itself, thanks to the fact that there are only two copies in the world, but we did something more, talking to the owner, discovering that he is not only a proper petrolhead who drove all the cars that we mortals can only dream about, but a very nice person with excellent taste and two great loves, his Bugatti and his beautiful wife Sukran.
Tolga Tarak might seem a gruff and tough man, but after having exchanged a few words with him, you find that in reality he is the opposite and that you could talk with him for hours, learning and discovering a lot of things, thanks to his two decades experience with these special cars. In Florida, he’s in fact the owner of Emilia Motors, a 5 stars company dealing the most beautiful and exclusive cars in the world. Precisely because of this, he drove and owned any car that populate our dreams.
Our long talk began just admiring, with our mouth wide open, what we believe is the most interesting of them all, his Veyron Linea Vivere.
The shining through the eyes of Tolga, as he watches his creature, specially prepared upon explicit request by the famous and exclusive tuner Mansory, is only comparable to the one he has while staring at his wife. The couple doesn’t only share a great love, but a strong passion for beautiful cars, without limits of age or brand: the Bugatti, however, let them reached a goal that will be difficult to overcome. After purchasing it brand new back in 2009, Tolga decided it was time for an upgrade, but without distorting the unmistakable and unique line of the world’s most powerful car. Here that came into play one of the most exclusive tuner, Mansory, which had recently unveiled to the world the Veyron Linea Vivere, a major restyling for the French-German coupe. The work required 6 months, in which the tuner updated each part required to offer the standard needed to produce the second Linea Vivere in the world. The result? Look at the pictures, fainting among the thousands of details and the labyrinthine carbon plot, present over a large part of the body and the interior, made even more luxurious, thanks to the wonderful black/white pattern.
A man like Tolga, however, differs from other supercar owners that I’ve met for a very important reason. He likes speed, and aware of the engineering skills of his “Bug”, he’s not afraid of taking advantage of the 1,000 plus hp of the W16 engine. Over the years, driving it around the world as if it were a normal sports car, he could appreciate the reliability and the ease with which you can handle all that power, thanks to a permanent four-wheel drive transmission, essential in order not to be overwhelmed by a similar power. Smiling, he describes it as an F16 without wheels. Then he pauses for a second and adds “…but it goes even faster than that and is much easier to take to the limit.” He stops smiling and tells me he is talking seriously. Amazing.
A new titanium exhaust gives the Veyron a completely new voice, darker and deeper. It seems almost a gurgle, as if the engine was preparing a magic potion, ready to put on fire and flames everything around it. That’s right: when it passes by, the world seems to stop. Like it or not, it captures the scene better than any other hypercar. It is a conglomeration of emotions on wheels.
Driving it is an authentic and indescribable pleasure, but get out and you will observe it in a continuous search for a particular, a detail, now further enhanced and made unique. Taner Tozan, director of marketing for Emilia Motors, knows something about it. A hundred photos do not do justice to a car like this, because every little angle lies a hidden treasure that enriches our eyes and our sight.
“I don’t think this car needs to be improved or so” – says Tolga; “I know that over the years, more futuristic and incredible cars will come (although it may seem strange), but this Bugatti is a very special one and deserves the highest step on the Olympus of exotic cars, alongside Pagani and Koenigsegg”. It is something essentially perfect, now made immortal thanks to its uniqueness.
Guys, said by such a petrolhead, you gotta believe that.
Photo credits: Emilia Motors