Bugatti Veyron
Powered by a W16 engine, it is able to achieve an average top speed of . 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. Two examples of the Veyron are known to have been wrecked since production began.
History
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 , 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.
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 over £800,000, or around $1,600,000.
Special Editions
Pur Sang
On 10 September 2007 a special version of the Veyron called the "Pur Sang" was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The only difference from the standard Veyron is the body finishing: the Pur Sang has none, revealing the Veyron's pure aluminium-carbon fibre body. French for "thoroughbred" or "pure blood," production of the Pur Sang will be limited to 5 cars. The car will be included with high-gloss aluminum wheels with a diamond cut finish.Fbg par Hermès
At the Geneva motor show in 2008 Bugatti announced a partnership with the French fashion house Hermès, resulting in the "Fbg Par Hermès" trim. It features several new features as well as a redesigned front end. The interior is done in Hermès leather and it comes with a specially designed Hermès suitcase to fit in the trunk. Built for Rodrigo Cañizares. Bugatti later made 4 new color schemes available for order with the Hermès Veyron, called "Indigo Blue and Vermilion", "Indigo Blue and Lime Green", "Black and Garance Red", and "Prussian Blue and Blue Jean". They will also come with the bespoke luggage, special 8-spoke rims, and H-pattern grill.Sang Noir
The Sang Noir edition was inspired by the Bugatti Type 57 Atlantique. Most exterior details were painted black, including the fuel cap and the headlight assembly, while the front grille, side mirror casings, and the roof rails are chrome. Also, the central section of the body is clearcoated carbon fiber. The interior is bright orange with black-piano lacquer trims. Only 15 of this edition will exist.Grand Sport
Bugatti announced the production of a targa top version, called Grand Sport. The car was unveiled at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on August 15, 2008, with production set to begin in spring 2009. The Grand Sport comes with small tweaks to the windshield and running lights, as well as two removable tops. The first is a transparent polycarbonate removable hard top, and the second is a temporary roof fashioned after an umbrella and inspired by pictures of classic Bugatti racers with umbrellas in hand. The Grand Sport can reach with the hardtop in place, with no roof in place, and is limited to 81 MPH with the temporary roof. The Grand Sport has extensive reinforcement beyond the standard Veyron.The chassis 001 car was sold in 2008 Gooding & Company Pebble Beach auction with winning bid price of $2.9 million, with approximately $900,000 of the auction price going to charity.
Specifications and Performance
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 mm by 86 mm (3.4 in. × 3.4 in.) bore and stroke.
Putting this power to the ground is a dual-clutch Direct-Shift Gearbox computer-controlled manual transmission with 7 gear ratios via shifter paddles behind the steering wheel boasting an <150ms shift time, designed and manufactured by Ricardo of England. The Veyron can be driven by full automatic transmission. The Veyron also features full-time four-wheel drive based on the Haldex Traction 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 . This gives the car a power to weight ratio of 529 BHP/ton.
The car's wheelbase is . Overall width is , breadth , and height .
The Bugatti Veyron has a total of 10 radiators.
- 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
It has a drag coefficient of 0.36 , and a frontal area of 2.07 m2. This gives it a CdA ft² value of 8.02.
Power
According to Volkswagen (and approved by TÜV Süddeutschland) the final production Veyron engine produces and of torque.Top speed
Top speed was initially promised to be 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 . 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 . The top speed was verified once again by James May on Top Gear, again at Volkswagen's private test track, when the car hit , which equated to precisely one-third of the speed of sound at sea level. When getting close to the top speed during the test, May said that "the tires will only last for about fifteen minutes, but it's okay because the fuel runs out in twelve minutes." He also gave an indication of the power requirements, at constant the Veyron is using approximately , but to get to its rated 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 with one travelling at , over a given 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 time. As power is work done in time taken it follows that the swifter vehicle, travelling at twice the speed requires 8 times the power of the slower one. German inspection officials recorded an average top speed of during test sessions on the Ehra Lessien test track on 2005-04-19.
The car's everyday top speed is listed at . When the car reaches , 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 downheft, holding the car to the road. 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 . 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 shut and the ground clearance, normally 12.5 cm (4.9 in.), drops to 6.5 cm (2.6 in.).
Acceleration
The Veyron has the greatest acceleration of any production car to date, reaching from a standstill in 2.46 seconds. It reaches in approximately 2.5 seconds, which equates to an average acceleration of around 1.18 g. The car is greatly aided in achieving such times by the presence of a four-wheel drive system that permits the transmission of such great amounts of power in the initial stages of acceleration.The Veyron reaches 200 and 300 km/h (124 and 186 MPH) in 7.4 and 16.7 seconds respectively. According to the February 2007 issue of Road & Track magazine, the Veyron accomplished the quarter mile in 10.2 seconds at a speed of .
Fuel Consumption
The Veyron consumes more fuel than any other production car, using in city driving and in combined cycle. At full throttle, it uses more than , which would empty its fuel tank in just 12 minutes 46 seconds.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 titanium pistons and the rear calipers have six pistons. Bugatti claims maximum deceleration of 1.3 Gs on road tires. Prototypes have been subjected to repeated 1.0G 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 Gs (4.9 m/s²) of deceleration (equivalent to the stopping power of an ordinary hatchback). Bugatti claims the Veyron will brake from to a standstill in less than 10 seconds.Final numbers
| Basic stats | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Vehicle | Mid-engine, all-wheel drive 2-door coupe | Base price | €1,100,100 (GB£850,000/US$1,600,000) |
| Engine | Quad-turbocharged DOHC 64-valve W16 | Engine displacement | 7993 cc (488.8 in³) |
| Performance | |||
| Top speed | (average) | 0– | 2.46 seconds |
| 0– | 5.5 seconds | 0– | 9.8 seconds |
| 0– | 24.2 seconds | 0– | 53 seconds |
| Standing quarter-mile (402 m) | 10.2 seconds at | ||
| Fuel economy | |||
| EPA city driving | EPA highway driving | ||
| Top speed fuel economy | |||
Production figures
- 2005: 5
- 2006: 44
- 2007: 83
Critics and comments
Previews
Gordon Murray, designer of the McLaren F1 (which for many years was the fastest production car ever built) said the following about the Bugatti Veyron in UK auto magazine evo during its development period:The most pointless exercise on the planet has got to be this four-wheel-driveMurray was impressed with the Veyron after he test drove one, but still apprehensive about it in an article he wrote for Road and Track magazine.
Reviews
After the car had reached production, Murray went on to write an article for another UK auto magazine, Top Gear, retracting a lot of his past criticism of the car.One really good thing, and I simply never expected this, is that it does change direction. It hardly feels its weight. Driving it on a circuit I expected a sack of cement, but you can really throw it at the tight chicanes.He also declared in the article that "The braking is phenomenal. ... And the primary ride and body control are impressive too" and "It's a huge achievement."The trend of backtracking on negative comments about the Veyron continued when prominent UK car show host Jeremy Clarkson declared on Top Gear that it was "The best car ever made" after initially saying it was ridiculous and would never exist. In his Times Online review, his conclusion is that "[The Bugatti Veyron] is a triumph for lunacy over common sense, a triumph for man over nature and a triumph for Volkswagen over absolutely every other car maker in the world".
The Veyron was proclaimed the Top Gear Magazine Car of the Year for 2005 along with the Toyota Aygo, Peugeot 107, and Citroën C1. The Veyron was also declared the Grand Award winner for the Autotech category of 2006 by Popular Science magazine.
Popular culture
A number of fictional Transformers characters turn into Bugatti Veyron cars. The first of which was Cybertron Crosswise. His toy was later recolored or remolded into Cybertron Smokescreen, Transformers Movie Jolt, Timelines Jazz, and Timelines 2008 Ricochet. All the toys for these characters turn into 1:34 scale cars. The Bugatti Veyron appeared in the Energizer Lithium Booster pack for the video game, Need for Speed: ProStreet.References
- Jeremy Clarkson Review Timesonline.co.uk
- Ray Hutton (2005). "Inside Château Bugatti". Car and Driver 50 (11): 112–118.
- Bugatti's Veyron back on test track. Auto Week. Retrieved on May 12., 2005.
- Csaba Csere (2005). "Bugatti Veyron 16.4". Car and Driver 51
- MPH Magazine's take on the Veyron
- bugattipage.com/ride
- Bugatti Veyron - When pigs fly
- Bugatti Veyron - Technic im Detail (in German)
- Official Specifications by Bugatti
- Bugatti EB Veyron 16.4 on Xelopolis.com
- Bugatti Veyron news
- Speed Record Lost
Citations
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Saturday October 11, 2008 at 14:09:42 PDT (GMT -0700)
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