Cars - Bugatti Veyron 16.4

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	Cars - Bugatti Veyron 16.4

The Veyron 16.4 (known as the EB 16/4 Veyron in concept stages) is the most powerful, most expensive, and fastest street-legal production car in the world, with a proven top speed of over 400 km/h (407 km/h or 253 mph top speed). It reached full production in September 2005, and was proclaimed by Jeremy Clarkson to be, "The best car ever made." The car is built by Volkswagen AG subsidiary, Bugatti Automobiles SAS, and is sold under the legendary Bugatti marque. It is named for famed Bugatti racing driver, Pierre Veyron who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939. When Jeremy Clarkson was asked at the Oxford Union what he would sacrifice to own a Bugatti Veyron in 2006, he replied "My penis."

History

Development of the Veyron began with the 1999 EB 18/4 "Veyron" 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 was designed by Hartmut Warkuss of Volkswagen rather than Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign who had handled the three prior Bugatti concepts.

VW chairman, Ferdinand Piëch, announced the production Veyron at the 2001 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 Hunaudières concept car, the W16 would get four turbochargers, producing an expected 1001 metric hp (736 kW, 987 hp American (SAE)). Top speed was promised at 406 km/h (252 mph), and pricing was announced at €1 million (US$1.3 million at the time).

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 experienced significant problems, however. High-speed stability was difficult, with one prototype destroyed in a crash and another spun out during a press demonstration at the Monterey Historics event in Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca. Production of the Veyron was delayed indefinitely.

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 of 2003, and substantial modifications were made to the Veyron under the guidance of former VW engineer, Bugatti Engineering head Wolfgang Schreiber.

After the release of the car, it has become known that while each Veyron is being sold for £840,000, the production costs of the car are approximately £5 million per vehicle. As Bugatti, and therefore Volkswagen, are making such a huge loss, it has been likened by influential journalist Jeremy Clarkson to Concorde; both are largely impractical experiments in technology and ground-breaking performance created just to prove that it could be done. A car the like of the Bugatti Veyron may not be seen in production again for some time to come, if at all.

The first personally owned Veyron was debuted in front of Hotel De Russie in Monte Carlo during the 2005 Grand Prix. The owner is James Horlock.

Specifications

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 vee 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 it 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. Or it can be driven by full automatic transmission. The Veyron also features full-time all wheel drive, necessary given the output of the engine. It uses special Michelin PAX System run-flat tires, which had to be designed specifically for the Veyron, and which are capable of running at 407 km/h (253 mph).

The car's wheelbase is 2700 mm (106.3 in). Overall length is 4466 mm (175.8 in). It measures 1998 mm (78.7 in) wide and 1206 mm (47.5 in) tall.

Curb weight is expected to reach 4300 lb (1950 kg) with a power to weight ratio of 513.3 hp per ton (metric) or 4.36 lb/hp (SAE).

The Bugatti Veyron has a total of 10 radiators. They are:

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.

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