Top Gear Test Drives A Bugatti Veyron, Again

[Face]

[ben62670]

370fps! 250-0 in ten seconds! I'm glad I don't have one.

[daboyz]

That's my work car.

[BaggedLancer]

Where do you put your golf clubs?

[ben62670]

If I was driving you would be shaking to hard to play golf:D

[exalted512]

If I worked for Top Gear or the like, I'd be test driving one of those every other episode!
-Cody

[Fireman32]

I would love to drive that car just once.

[heiney9]

That was the last project for Ferdinand Piech before he got the boot at Volkswagen. His vision was a NO compromise super car. PERIOD!

An absolute engineering marvel and nightmare all at the same time.

I would love to own one. Well, perhaps to drive one.

H9

[heiney9]

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car produced by Volkswagen AG subsidiary Bugatti Automobiles SAS introduced in 2005. It is the quickest accelerating and decelerating road-legal production car in the world, and it was the world's fastest road-legal production car until it was beaten by the SSC Ultimate Aero TT in 2007. Powered by a 1,001 PS (987 hp/736 kW) W16 engine,[2] it is able to achieve an average top speed of 408.47 km/h (253.81 mph).[3] The car reached full production in September 2005, and is handcrafted in a factory Volkswagen built near the former Bugatti headquarters in Château St Jean in Molsheim (Alsace, France). It is named after French racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti firm.

Development of this vehicle began with the 1999 EB 18/4 "Veyron" concept car which itself had a chassis based on that of the Bugatti 18/3 Chiron concept car. Introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show, it was similar in design and appearance to the final Veyron production car. One major difference was the EB 18/4's use of a W18 engine with three banks of six cylinders. The Veyron's head designer was Hartmut Warkuss with exterior designed by Jozef Kabaň of Volkswagen rather than Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign who had handled the three prior Bugatti concepts too.

Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piëch announced the production Veyron at the 2000 Geneva Motor Show. It was promised to be the fastest, most powerful, and most expensive car in history. Instead of the W18, the production model would use a VR6/WR8-style W16 engine. First seen in the 1999 Bentley Hunaudieres concept car, the W16 would get four turbochargers, producing a quoted (metric) 1001 horsepower (see engine section for details on the power output). Top speed was promised at 407 km/h (253 mph), and pricing was announced at €1 million.

Development continued throughout 2001 and the EB 16/4 Veyron was promoted to "advanced concept" status. In late 2001, Bugatti announced that the car, officially called the "Bugatti Veyron 16.4", would go into production in 2003. The car, however, experienced significant problems during development. Achieving the required high-speed stability was difficult - one prototype was destroyed in a crash and another spun out during a public demonstration at the Monterey Historics event in Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca. Production of the Veyron was delayed pending resolution of these and other issues.
A silver and black pre-production Veyron on display at the 2004 Paris Motor Show.
A silver and black pre-production Veyron on display at the 2004 Paris Motor Show.

Piëch retired that year as chairman of the Volkswagen Group and was replaced by Bernd Pischetsrieder. The new chairman promptly sent the Veyron back to the drawing board for major revisions. Neumann was replaced as Bugatti president by Thomas Bscher in December 2003, and substantial modifications were made to the Veyron under the guidance of former VW engineer, Bugatti Engineering head Wolfgang Schreiber.

Each Veyron is being sold for €1,100,000 (net price without taxes), prices vary by exchange rates and local taxes (like value added taxes). Prices for the UK or the US are about over £800,000, or 1.2 million American dollars (net). The production costs of the car are approximately £4 million per vehicle[citation needed].

As Bugatti and, therefore, Volkswagen are taking such a loss, it has been compared by automotive journalist Jeremy Clarkson to the supersonic jetliner Concorde in that both were huge engineering achievements, but the car will probably, like the plane before it, be discontinued after proving to be an economic failure.

It will be several years before Volkswagen will be able to see if their investment in developing ground-breaking technology has paid off. One key measure is how much (if any) of the technology developed for the Veyron finds use in mass-produced cars.

Bugatti originally planned to build 300 Veyrons over five years. In March 2006, Bugatti president Bscher claimed to have 70 firm orders, selling out 14 months of production. The company is reportedly speeding up production in response, with all 70 cars expected to be built in 2006. The March, 2008 issue of Winding Road (confirmed by Autoblog) reports that 220 of the 300 cars to be produced have been sold and 132 have been delivered to customers.

Potential buyers based in and around the London area can expect VIP treatment. One buyer (a freelance writer Arash Farboud) wrote in a column for Lusso Magazine: "Dominic Lancaster, the head of Jack Barclay Bugatti in London, arranged for a private jet to take my wife and I over to the factory at Molsheim, in the top right hand corner of France."[5]

Maintenance will be possible at Bugatti dealerships but repair service will require a flown-in mechanic, who the company promises will be available 24 hours a day.

The Veyron features a W16 engine—16 cylinders in 4 banks of 4 cylinders, or the equivalent of two narrow-angle V8 engines mated in a "W" configuration. Each cylinder has 4 valves for a total of 64, but the narrow V8 configuration allows two camshafts to drive two banks of cylinders so only 4 camshafts are needed. The engine is fed by four turbochargers and displaces 8.0 L (7,993 cc/488 in³) with a square 86 by 86 mm bore and stroke.

Putting this power to the ground is a dual-clutch DSG computer-controlled manual transmission with 7 gear ratios via shifter paddles behind the steering wheel boasting an < 150 ms shift time, designed and manufactured by Ricardo of England. The Veyron can be driven by full automatic transmission. The Veyron also features full-time all-wheel drive based on the Haldex system. It uses special Michelin run-flat tires designed specifically for the Veyron to accommodate the vehicle's top speed. Curb weight is estimated at 1,888 kg (4,160 lb). This gives the car a power to weight ratio of 529 bhp/ton.

The car's wheelbase is 2,710 mm (106.3 in). Overall length is 4,462 mm (175.8 in). It measures 1,998 mm (78.7 in) wide and 1,204 mm (47.5 in) tall.
The Veyron's hydraulic spoiler.
The Veyron's hydraulic spoiler.

The Bugatti Veyron has a total of 10 radiators.[9]

* 3 radiators for the engine cooling system.
* 1 heat exchanger for the air-to-liquid intercoolers.
* 2 for the air conditioning system.
* 1 transmission oil radiator.
* 1 differential oil radiator.
* 1 engine oil radiator.
* 1 hydraulic oil radiator for the spoiler
:D:D

[heiney9]

Power

According to Volkswagen (and approved by TÜV Süddeutschland) the final production Veyron engine produces 736 kW (987 hp) which is equivalent to 1001 PS (metric horsepower).[2] However, the car is advertised as producing "1001 horsepower" in both the US and European markets.

Top Speed

Top speed was initially promised to be 407 km/h (253 mph) but test versions were unstable at that speed, forcing a redesign of the aerodynamics. In May, 2005, a prototype Veyron tested at a Volkswagen track near Wolfsburg, Germany recorded an electronically limited top speed of 400 km/h (247 mph). In October, 2005, Car and Driver magazine's editor Csaba Csere test drove the final production version of the Veyron for the November 2005 issue. This test, at Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien test track, reached a top speed of 407.5 km/h (253.2 mph). The top speed was verified once again by James May on Top Gear, again at Volkswagen's private test track, when the car hit 407.9 km/h, which equated to precisely one-third of supersonic speed at sea level. When getting close to the top speed during the test he said that "the tires will only last for about fifteen minutes, but it's OK because the fuel runs out in twelve minutes." He also gave an indication of the power requirements, at 249 km/h (155 mph) the Veyron was using approximately 270 BHP (201 kW), but to get to its rated 407 km/h (253 mph) top speed required far more from the engine.

Aerodynamic friction or drag is proportional to the square of the speed; for example doubling speed quadruples drag. Work is a product of force applied over a distance travelled. Comparing a vehicle travelling at 100mph with one travelling at 200mph, over a given period of time (e.g. 1 second), the faster vehicle must overcome 4 times the aerodynamic drag, and travel twice the distance of the slower one. Thus it does 8 times the work of the slower vehicle in that period of time. As power is work done / time taken it follows that the faster vehicle, travelling at twice the speed requires 8 times the power of the slower one. German inspection officials recorded an average top speed of 408.47 km/h (253.8 mph)[3] during test sessions on the Ehra Lessien test track on April 19, 2005.

The car's everyday top speed is listed at 375 km/h (233 mph). When the car reaches 220 km/h (137 mph), hydraulics lower the car until it has a ground clearance of about 8.9 cm (3½ inches). At the same time, the wing and spoiler deploy. This is the "handling mode", in which the wing helps provide 3425 newtons (770 pounds) of downforce, holding the car to the road.[9] The driver must, using a special key (the "Top Speed Key"), toggle the lock to the left of his seat in order to attain the maximum (average) speed of 408 km/h (254 mph). The key functions only when the vehicle is at a stop when a checklist then establishes whether the car—and its driver—are ready to enable 'top speed' mode. If all systems are go, the rear spoiler retracts, the front air diffusers close and the ground clearance, normally 12.5 cm (4.9 inches), drops to 6.5 cm (2.6 inches).

Acceleration

The Veyron is the quickest production car to reach 100 km/h (62 mph) with a proven time of 2.5 seconds. It reaches 60 mph in approximately 2.46 seconds. This is an average acceleration of 1.18 g.

One can simulate this acceleration by lying in a car seat that has been taken out of a car and put with its back on the lawn. This will produce an acceleration feeling of 1 G, in the same direction relative to one's body position, that is only 15% less than what would be experienced in a flat out accelerating Veyron (1 G corresponds in fact to the average acceleration experienced in a car that accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.8 seconds).

The forward accelaration in a Veyron may also be strong enough to cause head-up illusion, which gives passengers the impression of driving up a slope, very much like what is commonly experienced in a jet liner that accelerates for take off. This could arguably lead to false perception of stopping distances.

The Veyron reaches 200 and 300 km/h (124 and 186 mph) in 7.4 and 16.7 seconds respectively. And according to the February 2007 issue of Road & Track Magazine, the Veyron accomplished the quarter mile in 10.2 seconds at a speed of 142.9 mph (230.0 km/h). Other tests, however, have the Veyron hitting 150 mph (240 km/h) in 9.8 seconds (see below), so the quarter mile time is actually faster, making the Veyron the most rapidly accelerating production car in history.

Mileage

The Veyron consumes more fuel than any other production car, using 40.4 L/100 km (6.99 mpg imp/5.82 mpg US) in city driving and 24.1 L/100 km (11.7 mpg imp/9.76 mpg US) in combined cycle. At full throttle, it uses more than 115 L/100 km (2.46 mpg imp/2.05 mpg US), which would empty its 100 L (26 US gal/22 imp gal) fuel tank in just 12 minutes 46 seconds.[10]

Braking

The Veyron's brakes use unique cross-drilled and turbine-vented carbon rotors which draw in cooling air to reduce fade. The front calipers have eight[9] titanium pistons and the rear calipers have six pistons. Bugatti claims maximum deceleration of 1.3 g on road tires. Prototypes have been subjected to repeated 1.0 g braking from 194 to 50 mph (312 to 80 km/h) without fade. With the car's acceleration from 50 to 194 mph (80 to 312 km/h), that test can be performed every 22 seconds. At speeds above 124 mph (200 km/h), the rear wing also acts as an airbrake, snapping to a 55-degree angle in 0.4 seconds once brakes are applied, providing 0.68 g (4.9 m/s²) of deceleration (equivalent to the stopping power of an ordinary hatchback).[9] Bugatti claims the Veyron will brake from 400 km/h (249 mph) to a standstill in less than 10 seconds.[9]

The Veyron's performance was tested by Top Gear's Richard Hammond in a race against a Eurofighter Typhoon.

[venomclan]

Nice, I still prefer the Sledgehammer, it goes 1 mph faster :).

[SBrown712]

I couldn't afford a tune up on one of those things let alone the insurance.

[janmike]

That is one wild car. If I owned something like that when I was younger, I'd be dead now.