To distract everyone from the fact that its Veyron's getting a bit long in the tooth, Bugatti's relentlessly painting it different colours, sticking porcelain on it, taking the roof off, and putting James May inside. Which explains why it only showed this Bianco and New Light Blue 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse at Wednesday night's VAG party (no sniggering) in Paris, not the show itself - it's just a new paint job.

The manufacturer painted this one the same colours as the famous 1928 Type 37A Grand Prix-winner. The upper body's finished in "Bianco" including the roof area and the air scoops while the lower body panels (side skirting, front spoiler, radiator grille frame and rear apron with diffuser), the inner surfaces of the wheel rims and the underside of the automatically extending rear spoiler are in "New Light Blue." Inside, the peeled cows have been dyed "Cognac".

But even though it's mechanically unchanged, the 7.9-litre W16 still makes 1,500Nm of torque, 1200hp, it'll get from 0-100kph in 2.6 seconds and top out at 410kph. The new owner - Jay Leno - best have full confidence in the strength of his hair follicles...

Tags: paris 12, bugatti, veyron, veyron gsv