Car of the Day - Bugatti Veyron 16.4 (early production)

Car of the Day - Bugatti Veyron (early production version)

Bugatti throughout its history has merged extraordinary performance capability and prestige with what is essentially art. While many will dispute the use of the term “Art” to describe a car, there is no doubt that the people who design and build Bugatti’s are Artisans, even if the company is under the control of Volkswagen. The current Bugatti ”factory” is known as ..... the “Atelier”, or artists workshop.

Between the establishment of Bugatti by Ettore in 1909 through to the outbreak of WW2 - Bugatti flourished. The name was synonymous with the most prestigious and highest performance cars of the era. Racing success was also a major part of the Bugatti legend.

Between 1939 and Volkswagen’s purchase of the brand in 1998, the company, under its various ownership had little success. Upon its purchase and under the directorship (some might say dictatorship) of the then Chairman - Ferdinand Piech, Volkswagen set out to re-establish the Bugatti name at a level above all others. No expense was spared.

Piech immediately commissioned a series of designs from ItalDesign who had worked with the previous owners of Bugatti. Four primary concepts where built for the motorshow circuit, three of which where styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro; the Chiron, the 118 (a 2dr luxury coupe) and the 218 (essentially a 4dr version of the 118). Volkswagen and more importantly Piech were not satisfied with the direction of the 118 for the first Halo car, he wanted a much more sports oriented car.

The first car to re-launch the Bugatti name had to reach performance levels unseen before and the sporting nature of the car was reflected in the name chosen. Pierre Veyron, who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939 for Bugatti.

The design duties were brought in-house for the first Veyron Concept. The Veyron’s chief designer was Hartmut Warkuss, the exterior was designed by Jozef Kabaň of Volkswagen, The Veyron Concept was designated 18.4 as it used the W18 engine from the Chiron and 1999 Bentley Hunaudières concept car. During development the engine configuration changed to a W16 and the designation to 16.4.

The major difference between the 18.4 (more accurately at times designated 18.3) and the 16.4 was that the W18 engine used three banks of six cylinders and the 16.4 was really two banks of narrow angle V8’s.

Development of the Veyron commenced fullbore in 1999 and continued at a rapid pace throughout 2000 and 2001 when the EB 16.4 Veyron was promoted to
“Advanced concept” status.

In late 2001, Bugatti announced that the Veyron 16.4, would go into production in 2003. It was promised to be the fastest and most powerful car built.

Piëch retired in 2002 as chairman of the Volkswagen Group and was replaced by Bernd Pischetsrieder who stamping his authority on the company sent the Veyron back to the drawing board for major
revisions. Substantial modifications were made to the Veyron under the direction of Bugatti Engineering chief Wolfgang Schreiber, formerly of Volkswagen.

The wheelbase was increased to 2700 mm, an extension of 50 mm to allow extra cabin space. Aerodynamics and cooling airflow were targets for revision. The rear received two new air outlets, an automatically extending rear spoiler and front-end airflow was improved via a panelled undertray with a diffuser.

A supposedly production ready version of the Veyron was displayed at the 2003 Frankfurt Motorshow. Sales were scheduled to commence late in 2003. It was announced at the show that the Veyron would have a top speed exceeding 400 kph and 250 mph and accelerate to 300 kph in less than 14 seconds.

Eleven prototypes were built during the development and testing stage. Testing was rigourous and often reported in the motoring press. The press also often doubted the car would ever make it to production as the project deadlines
constantly slipped.

Bugatti did however succeed and the performance figures set in 2001 were confirmed at the Ehra - Lessien Volkswagen proving grounds where the Veyron reached 407 km/h (253 mph).on the 19th of April 2005.

The production-ready car was eventually launched in 2005 and it was stated a total of 300 Veyrons would be built.

The Veyron’s production W16 8.0 litre (7,993 cc/488 cu in) is force fed by four turbochargers. Bore and stroke is square at 86 mm by 86 mm (3.4 in × 3.4 in). The engine is essentially two banks of eight cylinders with each bank being an extremely narrow-angle V8 with the cylinders offset between each other. The banks are said to be mated in a “W” configuration however in reality it is more like two V’s joined at their base as there is only one crankshaft.

There are 4 valves per cylinder, and two camshafts for each bank of 8 cylinders as the very narrow angle of the V means a single camshaft can drive all corresponding exhaust or inlet valves for each bank.

The transmission is a dual-clutch 7-speed Direct-Shift computer-controlled manual gearbox with paddle change. Shift time is less than 150 milliseconds.

Drive is constant to all four wheels, utilising the Haldex Traction system. Tyres are Michelin run-flat tyres, designed specifically for the Veyron to meet its top speed requirements.

The Veyron has a drag coefficient of 0.41 in standard mode and 0.36 after the go fast key is turned. To set the car up for a high speed run the driver uses a key in a lock on the left of the drivers seat to turn on high-speed mode. This can only be turned when the car is stationary. On doing this the rear spoiler retracts, the front air diffusers shut and the ground clearance drops from 12.5 cm (4.9 in), to 6.5 cm (2.6 in). In non-highspeed mode the car can reach 220 mph. At 140 mph hydraulics lower the car until it has a ground clearance of 8.9 cm (3½ inches). and the wing and spoiler deploy. This is known as “handling mode”.

At the speeds the Veyron is capable of even in standard mode it is important that the well-heeled drivers feel comfortable they will be able to stop. During testing the car was subjected to constant 1 G plus braking and Bugatti quote a maximum deceleration of 1.3 G on road tyres.

The Veyron’s brake discs are cross-drilled, radially-vented Carbon fibre-reinforced Silicon Carbide (C/SiC) composite. Calipers are aluminium alloy monobloc made by AP Racing; the front have eight titanium pistons and the rear calipers six pistons. ABS is also installed on the handbrake for emergency use. Above 200 kph the rear wing doubles as an airbrake deploying to 55 degrees in 0.4 seconds once brakes are applied.

In all an extraordinary car and an extraordinary achievement by all the designers and engineers involved. Ten years after development started the Veyron has had numerous special version introduced. These will be covered in other COTDs.


Rod