Buggati veyron_The Fastest Car

The sad truth is that the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is simply too fast for this world. You just can’t go cruising around at something like 20 mph faster than a pole-winning qualifying lap for the Indy 500. But if  you must find a place to blast around in one of these land-bound rockets, you could do worse than Eastern Cape, South Africa, or at least the most remote portions of it. Here, termite hills provide some of the only landmarks by  which to navigate, and the savannas and badlands are covered in a thick blanket of silence.

Bugatti Engineers:

And that’s exactly why  we and a couple of Bugatti engineers have come here for a final preproduction evaluation of the newest and likely final variation on the Veyron 16.4 theme, the Grand Sport Vitesse. Where a rear license plate typically would be found, the Vitesse carries a yellow placard that reads: HIGH SPEED TEST VEHICLE APPROVED BY GOVERNMENT. And as much as we might want this Veyron, we think we might want that placard even more.

But we digress. The Vitesse (French for “speed”) is a combination of the two major existing Veyron variations: the Super Sport, which makes 1200 horsepower from its quad-turbo 8.0-liter W-16, and the targa-topped Grand Sport. Somehow, Bugatti resisted the urge to call it the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Super Sport.

Our first encounter with the Vitesse is on its approach. We hear it, a deep and distant rumble, before we see it. It could be a brewing thunderstorm or a herd of  stampeding ­elephants.  As soon as we make out two lights peeping from between the horizon and the tarmac, the sound shifts to a powerful staccato of 16 pressure-charged cylinders.  Just a few seconds later, we can feel the air that’s being punched out of the way, and the engine’s sound changes again, this time into an extremely loud, jetlike streaming as the 4400-pound missile rushes by.

Grand Sport Vitesse:

The Grand Sport Vitesse has to prove, over the course of  thousands of  miles across Africa’s quietest regions, that the giant W-16 fires up properly even when drinking lesser-quality African fuel; that all the complicated mechanical, thermodynamic, and aerodynamic processes still work perfectly even in harsh conditions. Conditions including those to which no Vitesse driver will likely subject his treasure, such as whipping up dust while driving on gravel roads, along with the more likely Bugatti-driver endeavors such as flying along at high speeds, repeatedly stabbing hard at the brakes, and incessantly accelerating at full throttle.

This prototype Vitesse is peppered with some 300 temperature probes and carries two data loggers, one fixed between the seats and a second in the passenger’s footwell. The blue Racelogic VBOX on the windshield ­displays recorded data that is sampled 100 times per second.

The Vitesse is not just a Grand Sport with the stronger engine and the front and rear fascias of the Super Sport. The driving ex­peri­ence is unique. Never in previous ­Veyron outings has the massive engine felt so close as in the Vitesse. Even with the hardtop in place, we can feel every breath of the turbochargers and hear all the ticking and whirring of the powerplant’s steamworks.

With an estimated 0-to-60-mph time of 2.4 seconds and a top speed of 255 mph, the Grand Sport Vitesse is the quickest and fastest roadster we (or anyone else in the world) have ever driven, but it is not a roadgoing race car. There are other super sports cars with more immediate throttle response, and ­others that offer more-responsive handling. But the Vitesse presents extreme, open-air automotive speed beyond anything we’ve experienced. Thanks to its relatively small roof opening, carefully engineered airflow around the body shell, and optional wind blocker behind the seats, cabin turbulence is kept to a minimum. We can carry on a conversation with our drive partner up to 155 mph, but only by showing uncommon restraint with the throttle pedal.

Specifications and Performance:

The Veyron's quad-turbocharged W16 engine
The Veyron features an 8.0-litre, quad-turbocharged, W16 cylinder engine, equivalent to two narrow-angle V8 engines bolted together. Each cylinder has four valves for a total of 64, but the VR8 configuration of each bank 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 by 86 mm (3.39 by 3.39 in) bore and stroke.

First U.S. Bugatti Veyron on display in April 2006
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, built by Ricardo of England rather than Borg-Warner, who designed the six speed DSG used in the mainstream Volkswagen Group marques. The Veyron can be driven in either semi-automatic or fully automatic mode. A replacement transmission for the Veyron costs just over US$120,000.[19] It also has permanent all-wheel drive using the Haldex Traction system. It uses special Michelin PAX run-flat tyres, designed specifically to accommodate the Veyron's top speed, and cost US$25,000 per set.[19] The tyres can be mounted on the rims only in France, a service which costs US$70,000.[19] Kerb weight is 1,888 kilograms (4,162 lb).[20] This gives the car a power-to-weight ratio, according to Volkswagen Group's figures, of 530 PS (390 kW; 523 bhp) per ton.

Overview Info:

The car's wheelbase is 2,710 mm (106.7 in). Overall length is 4,462 mm (175.7 in) which gives 1,752.6 mm (69.0 in) of overhang. The width is 1,998 mm (78.7 in) and height 1,204 mm (47.4 in). The Bugatti Veyron has a total of ten radiators:[21]

3 heat exchangers for the air-to-liquid intercoolers.
3 engine radiators.
1 for the air conditioning system.
1 transmission oil radiator.
1 differential oil radiator.
1 engine oil radiator
It has a drag coefficient of Cd=0.41 (normal condition) and Cd=0.36 (after lowering to the ground),[22] and a frontal area of 2.07 m2 (22.3 sq ft).[23] This gives it a drag area, the product of drag coefficient and frontal area, of CdA=0.74 m2 (8.0 sq ft).
Base price    €1,225,000 (GB£1,065,000/US$1,700,000)
Super Sport:
€1,912,500 (GB£1,665,000/US$2,700,000)

Last edited by husnain (2014-10-04 09:39:54)