Beached Bugatti: Car-ma?

Ouch

The sight of a marooned Bugatti Veyron in a saltwater lagoon in Texas was enough to get us reaching for the Kleenex (steady).

A car of such magnitude deserved a better life than that, perhaps spent rifling around five-star hotels transporting A-list Hollywood celebrities, or being driven (legally) at its 253mph top speed to show the puny earth cars what speed really is.

It’s a morbid fascination to see such exotica trashed – this year we’ve seen a McLaren F1 and Ferrari Enzo destroyed by fire, a host of Lamborghinis trashed, and even a rare Bugatti EB110 which had seen better days.

And we’re finding it increasingly difficult to overlook the fact that it seems to be happening more and more often.

So are the world’s rich – and lucky – owners of these exotic machines getting worse at driving, or is car-Karma coming back to reap its vengeance on the elite wonder machines?

Vijay Pattni.