Bugatti Veyron

The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engined full-sized grand touring car, one of the fastest and most expensive production road cars ever, with a top speed of 408.5 km/h (253.8 mph).
Designed & developed by the Volkswagen Group and produced by Bugatti Automobiles SAS at their headquarters in Château St. Jean in Molsheim (Alsace, France), the Veyron's chief designer was Hartmut Warkuss, and the exterior was designed by Jozef Kabaň of Volkswagen, with much of the engineering work being conducted under the guidance of a former VW engineer and now Bugatti Engineering chief Wolfgang Schreiber.
The car is named after French racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti company. It was named "Car Of The Decade" (2000-2009) by the BBC television programme Top Gear.

Specifications and performance

The Veyron's quad-turbocharged W16 engine

The Veyron features an 8.0 litre W16 engine with sixteen cylinders in two banks of eight, equivalent to two narrow-angle V8 engines mated in a "W" configuration. Each cylinder has four valves for a total of sixty four, but the narrow staggered eight configuration allows two overhead camshafts to drive two banks of cylinders so only four camshafts are needed. The engine is fed by four turbochargers and displaces 7,993 cubic centimetres (487.8 cu in), with a square 86 mm by 86 mm (3.4 in × 3.4 in) bore and stroke.
The car's wheelbase is 2,710 mm (106.7 in). Overall length is 4,462 mm (175.7 in), width 1,998 mm (78.7 in) and height 1,204 mm (47.4 in).The transmission is a dual-clutch direct-shift gearbox computer-controlled automatic with seven gear ratios, with magnesium paddles behind the steering wheel and a shift time of less than 150 milliseconds, by Ricardo of England rather thanBorg-Warner, who designed the six speed DSG used in the mainstream Volkswagen Group marques. The Veyron can be driven in either semi- or fully-automatic mode. A replacement transmission for the Veyron costs just over $120,000. It also has permanent four wheel drive using the Haldex Traction system. It uses special Michelin PAX run flat tyres, designed specifically to accommodate the Veyron's top speed, which reportedly cost $25,000 US per set. The tyres can only be removed from the rims in France, a service which reportedly costs $70,000. Kerb weight is 2,034.8 kilograms (4,486 lb). This gives the car a power to weight ratio, according to Volkswagen Group's 1,001 metric horsepower (736 kW; 987 bhp) figures, of 446.3 bhp per ton.

The Veyron's hydraulic rear spoiler in the 

extended position

The Bugatti Veyron has a total of ten radiators.

It has a drag coefficient of 0.41 (normal condition) and 0.36 (after lowering to the ground), and a frontal area of 2.07 square metres (22.3 sq ft). This gives it a CdA ft² value of 8.02.

Engine output

According to Volkswagen Group and certified by TÜV Süddeutschland, the final production Veyron engine produces 1,001 metric horsepower (736 kW; 987 bhp) of motive power, and generates 1,250 newton metres (922 ft·lbf) of torque. The nominal figure has been stated by Bugatti officials to be conservative, with the real total being 1020 bhp or more.

Top speed

The top speed was verified by James May on Top Gear in November 2006, again at Volkswagen Group's private Ehra-Lessien test track, where the final-production car hit 407.9 km/h (253.5 mph), almost one-third of the speed of sound at sea level. As the Bugatti Veyron approached the top speed during the test, May said that "the tyres 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 a constant 155 mph (249 km/h), the Veyron is using approximately 270 metric horsepower (200 kW; 270 bhp); the next 100 mph (160 km/h) requires an additional 730 metric horsepower (540 kW; 720 bhp). Jeremy Clarkson, driving a Veyron from Italy to London, noted that at top speed the engine consumes 10,000 imperial gallons (45,000 L) of air per minute (as much as a human breathes in four days). With a 0-to-60 mph time of 2.4 seconds, the Veyron was the fastest legal street car between the years 2005 and 2007. Once back in the Top Gear studio, James was asked by co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson what the Veyron felt like to drive at 407 km/h (253 mph), May replied that it was "totally undramatic", and very stable at speed.
German inspection officials recorded an average top speed of 408.47 km/h (253.81 mph) during test sessions on the Ehra-Lessien test track on 19 April 2005. The Bugatti website still refers to the Veyron as the fastest production vehicle of all time even though this title has since been taken by the SSC Ultimate Aero TT.
The car's everyday top speed is listed at 350 km/h (220 mph). When the car reaches 220 km/h (140 mph), hydraulics lower the car until it has a ground clearance of about 9 cm (3.5 in.). At the same time, the wing and spoiler deploy. This is the "handling mode", in which the wing helps provide 3,425 newtons (770 lbf) of downforce, holding the car to the road, and helping the Bugatti Veyron perform 1.34 g forces on a 300 foot skidpad. 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 407 km/h (253 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 shut and the ground clearance, normally 12.5 cm (4.9 in), drops to 6.5 cm (2.6 in).

Braking

The Veyron's brakes use cross drilled, radially vented carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) composite discs, manufactured by SGL Carbon, which have a much greater resistance to brake fade when compared with conventional cast iron discs. The lightweight aluminium alloy monobloc brake calipers are made by AP Racing; the fronts have eight titanium pistons and the rear calipers have six pistons. Bugatti claims maximum deceleration of 1.3 G on road tyres. As an added safety feature, in the event of brake failure, an anti-lock braking system (ABS) has also been installed on the handbrake.
Prototypes have been subjected to repeated 1.0 G braking from 312 km/h (194 mph) to 80 km/h (50 mph) without fade. With the car's acceleration from 80 km/h (50 mph) to 312 km/h (194 mph), that test can be performed every 22 seconds. At speeds above 200 km/h (120 mph), the rear wing also acts as an airbrake, snapping to a 55-degree angle in 0.4 seconds once brakes are applied, providing an additional 0.68 G (4.9 m/s²) of deceleration (equivalent to the stopping power of an ordinary hatchback). Bugatti claims the Veyron will brake from 400 km/h (250 mph) to a standstill in less than 10 seconds, though in this time you will have covered a third of a mile.

Specifications and statistics