What’s Bugatti doing with this Veyron?

Footage of a white Bugatti Veyron driving around the Nürburgring sporting some very odd looking scaffolding atop its engine bay has emerged, and... well, we need your help.

The car itself is doing some very, very slow laps, and there's no official line on what's it's up to. All most mysterious.

What we can tell you is that it definitely won't be a ‘SuperVeyron', a more powerful version of the W16-engined monster, as Bugatti boss Dr Schreiber told Top Gear earlier this year. "We will not produce a Veyron Plus, definitely," he confirmed. Which rules out any faster versions - though frankly, 268mph is quick enough for most of us.

So is this a development mule for the Veyron replacement? A testbed for a hybrid drivetrain? A mule for a more practical, roof-boxed Veyron tourer? A minted local scaffolding firm?

Have a watch of the video and let us know your best guess...

A brief history of the Bugatti Veyron