Typically we avoid drawing your attention to the 'lifestyle' products that practically every high-end car maker indulges in because with a handful of exceptions they tend to be either shameless or unremittingly awful. Or some combination of both.
But some are irresistible, and possess a wattage all of their own. Behold the Bugatti Pool Table. Yep, Bugatti. And yes, pool, the sport of no king anywhere, ever (save, perhaps, King Ralph). Certainly Ralph Hampton Gainsworth Jones would have grasped the appeal of the officially licensed Bugatti Pool Table, which apparently, "reflects the best qualities of the hyper sports cars made in Molsheim". Well, obvs.
Built in partnership with IXO, a small Spanish firm which specialises in carbon fibre, the table does not feature a coin slot nor anything else you'd associate with the battered playing surface you'd find down the local. For a start it features (optionally) an automated gyroscopic self-levelling system to ensure a totally flat baize.
Why would you want such a thing? For your yacht, of course. In the blink of an eye - or considerably less than that if the 5 millisecond claim is to be believed - the servo-driven system will counteract the roll of those pesky waves and ensure that your tasty double doesn't go awry. Apparently this occurs in total silence and with zero vibrations, which ought to make it imperceptible (assuming you're not trying to play pool in a category 5 storm).
Away from the Iwan Simonis 860 cloth and Aramith Tournament Pro competition balls there is carbon fibre. Oodles of the stuff by the looks of it, although the Bugatti Pool Table is not made of solely of composite; underneath it is underpinned by a frame machined from aluminium and titanium. Elsewhere the ball pockets are made from stainless steel and lined with leather, while the carbon fibre pool cues feature anodized and CNC-machined aluminum ends which are designed to look Bugatti switchgear.
Naturally you get a unique plaque to announce the Table's provenance, and the pleasure of knowing that your example will be one of just 30 made. "Nothing has been spared," says Pedro Sanchez, General Manager at IXO. "Everything has been ventured and sacrificed in order to create a being beyond imagination. I truly feel that our creations have soul. We have poured our hearts into them." The cost of heart and soul? €250,000 including accessories. Deliveries begin next month.
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