Want power? 1001 hp, 252 mph, $1.3 million!

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Times Online (London)

November 27, 2005

By Jeremy Clarkson of The Sunday Times

Bugatti Veyron

Utterly, stunningly, jaw droppingly brilliant

When you push a car past 180mph, the world starts to get awfully fizzy and a little bit frightening.

When you go past 200mph it actually becomes blurred.

Almost like you’re trapped in an early Queen pop video. At this sort of speed the tyres and the suspension are reacting to events that happened some time ago, and they have not finished reacting before they’re being asked to do something else.

The result is a terrifying vibration that rattles your optical nerves, causing double vision. This is not good when you’re covering 300ft a second.

Happily, stopping distances become irrelevant because you won’t see the obstacle in the first place. By the time you know it was there, you’ll have gone through the windscreen, through the Pearly Gates and be half way across God’s breakfast table.

But once you go past 200mph it isn’t just the suspension and the tyres you have to worry about.

The biggest problem is the air. At 100mph it’s relaxed. At 150mph it’s a breeze.

But at 200mph it has sufficient power to lift an 800,000lb jumbo jet off the ground.

A 200mph gust of wind is strong enough to knock down an entire city. So getting a car to behave itself in conditions like these is tough.

At 200mph you can feel the front of the car getting light as it starts to lift. As a result you start to lose your steering, so you aren’t even able to steer round whatever it is you can’t see because of the vibrations.

Make no mistake, 200mph is at the limit of what man can do right now. Which is why the new Bugatti Veyron is worthy of some industrial strength genuflection.

Because it can do 252mph. And that’s just mad — 252mph means that in straight and level flight this car is as near as makes no difference as fast as a Hawker Hurricane.

You might point out at this juncture that the McLaren F1 could top 240mph, but at that speed it was pretty much out of control. And anyway it really isn’t in the same league as the Bugatti.

In a drag race you could let the McLaren get to 120mph before setting off in the Veyron. And you’d still get to 200mph first. The Bugatti is way, way faster than anything else the roads have seen.

It all started when Ferdinand Piëch, the swivel-eyed former boss of Volkswagen, bought Bugatti and had someone design a concept car.

“This,†he said, “is what the next Bugatti will look like.†And then, without consulting anyone, he went on. “And it vill have an engine that develops 1000 horsepower and it vill be capable of 400kph.â€

His engineers were horrified.

But they set to work anyway, mating two Audi V8s to create an 8 litre W16. Which was then garnished with four turbochargers. Needless to say, the end result produced about as much power as the earth’s core, which is fine.

But somehow the giant had to be cooled, which is why the Veyron has no engine cover and why it has 10 — count them — 10 radiators. Then things got tricky because the power had to be harnessed.

For this, VW went to Ricardo, a British company that makes gearboxes for various Formula One teams.

“God, it was hard,†said one of the engineers I know vaguely. “The gearbox in an F1 car only has to last a few hours. Volkswagen wanted the Veyron’s to last 10 or 20 years. And remember, the Bugatti is a damn sight more powerful than any F1 car.â€

The result, a seven-speed double-clutch flappy paddle affair, took a team of 50 engineers five years to perfect.

At 137mph, the nose of the car is lowered by 2in and the big rear spoiler slides into the slipstream. The effect is profound. You can feel the back of the car being pressed into the road. However, with the spoiler in place the drag is so great you’re limited to just 231mph.

To go faster than that you have to stop and insert your ignition key in a slot on the floor. This lowers the whole car still further and locks the big back wing down. Now you have reduced downforce, which means you won’t be going round any corners, but you have a clean shape. And that means you can top 400kph.

That’s 370ft a second. You might want to ponder that for a moment.

And then you might want to think about the braking system. A VW Polo will generate 0.6g if you stamp on the middle pedal hard. You get that from the air brake alone on a Veyron. Factor in the carbon ceramic discs and you will pull up from 250mph in just 10sec. Sounds good, but in those 10sec you’ll have covered a third of a mile.

I didn’t care. On a recent drive across Europe I desperately wanted to reach the top speed but I ran out of road when the needle hit 240mph. Where, astonishingly, it felt planted. Totally and utterly rock steady. It felt sublime.

Not quiet, though. The engine sounds like Victorian plumbing — it looks like Victorian plumbing as well, to be honest — and the roar from the tyres was biblical. But it still felt brilliant. Utterly, stunningly, mind blowingly, jaw droppingly brilliant.

From behind the wheel of a Veyron, France is the size of a small coconut. I cannot tell you how fast I crossed it the other day. Because you simply wouldn’t believe me.

I also cannot tell you how good this car is. I just don’t have the vocabulary. I just end up stammering and dribbling and talking wide-eyed nonsense. And everyone thinks I’m on drugs.

This car cannot be judged in the same way that we judge other cars. It meets drive-by noise and emission regulations and it can be driven by someone whose only qualification is an ability to reverse round corners and do an emergency stop. So technically it is a car. And yet it just isn’t.

It 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.

VITAL STATISTICS 

Model  Bugatti Veyron 16.4

Engine 7993cc, 16 cylinders in a W

Power  1001bhp @ 6000rpm

Torque 922 lb ft @ 2200rpm

Transmission  7-speed DSG, manual and auto

Fuel 11.7mpg (combined)

CO2 574g/km

Acceleration 0-62mph: 2.5sec

Top speed 253mph

Rating Five stars

Verdict Deserves 12 stars. Simply as good — and as fast — as it gets

Edited October 15, 2006 by hoss

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[JM15 386]

wow thats insane!!!

[Guest CrotonFalls33]

wow, i know whats gonna be on my christmas list. Dear Santa...

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Edited October 15, 2006 by hoss

[Guest]

note: speedo is in Km (european model).....

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[JBE 328]

Should take that thing out on 684 and drop the hammer. See how fast you can make it from White Plains to Katonah or Brewster.

[Porsha911gt3 8]

I saw one of these on the road in greenwich (what a suprise ) after the Concours d ' Elegance last june, that was quite a site, wish i hadn't wasted all of my film.

Old news though SUPPOSIVELY shelby cars (no relation to carrol shelby) has developed a car capable of well over 270mph, but gotta see it to believe it

[IzzyEng4 427]

Lets all pool togetherr the ticket fot the Taconic, I'll drive the first time!!!!!!!!

Edited October 15, 2006 by IzzyEng4

[helicopper 1,050]

Farmingville Fire District Amends Controversial Budget

not BY JULIET CHUNG

Newsday Staff Writer

October 15, 2006

Farmingville's fire commissioners received a tongue-lashing last night from residents upset about the district's spending plans for next year - including more than $300,000 set aside for refurbished rec rooms and a new race car.

As Newsday reported last week, the commissioners recently passed a $2.9-million budget that allocates $260,000 for the renovation of its stations' recreation rooms and $55,000 to buy a race car.

Today the budget was amended to include 1.3 million dollars for the 1001 HP, 252 mph, speedster that will be used by the departments drill team and fire prevention officer. The Fire Prevention Officer is quoted as saying "this thing goes so fast I'll actually get there before the fire starts"...

[BIGRED1 71]

...Today the budget was amended to include 1.3 million dollars for the 1001 HP, 252 mph, speedster that will be used by the departments drill team and fire prevention officer.  The Fire Prevention Officer is quoted as saying "this thing goes so fast I'll actually get there before the fire starts"...

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HAHA i was thinking the same thing when i saw the picture! But seriously when are they gonna get one in L.I. for their drill team?

[vodoly 535]

think of it no tools needed to extrcate just Speedi Dri and a body bag Oh maybe foam if it blows up

[Guest]

Maybe there should be some sort of prize awarded to whoever posts the 1st photos of one of these babies in the NY Metro area........(gotta be able to see the license plate, no cheating...)

oh, btw, speedo would have to read 300mph, not 420kmh like the posted photo....

Edited October 15, 2006 by hoss