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When we first learned Bugatti was laboring to produce a 1000hp supercar, we dismissed it as a pointless excercise, a proud boast that was fueled by even more pride, much like the VW Phaeton.

But now that it has been completed it’s not the 1000hp, the sustainable 253mph top speed, or the sub 3-second to 60 time that impresses us most. It’s the aerodynamics, suspension, steering and braking systems that make all this power relatively usable that has us thinking the $1,250,000 asking price is almost reasonable… (Besides – they’re not planning to making any money on the car – this one is simply to build the brand; profitable cars are in the pipeline).

Here are some excerpts from Csasba Csere (say ‘Chubba Chedda’)’s dispatch in the November issue of C&D:

One reason it felt so secure is that when you hit 137 mph, the Bugatti hunkers down, lowering its normal ride height of 4.9 inches to 3.1 in front and 3.7 in the rear. At the same time a small spoiler deploys from the rear bodywork and a wing extends about a foot, perched at a six-degree angle. Two underbody flaps ahead of the front tires also open up. This configuration produces substantial downforce—about 330 pounds in front and 440 in the rear at 230 mph… But 230 mph is about as fast as the Veyron will go until you put the car into top-speed mode. This involves coming to a stop and, while the car is idling, turning a key in a lock on the floor to the left of the driver’s seat. When you do that, the car sinks down even lower on its suspension, until ground clearance has been reduced to a mere 2.6 inches in front and 2.8 in the rear. This setup also causes the front underbody flaps to close and the rear spoiler and wing to retract, although the wing remains tilted out of the body at a slight two-degree angle. These changes reduce the car’s drag coefficient from 0.41 to 0.36, and they reduce the peak downforce from 770 to 120 pounds. Once the Veyron exceeds 35 mph, if you turn the steering wheel more than 90 degrees, or so much as touch the brakes, the car’s configuration reverts to the handling mode…

Developing tires [special Michelin PAX System Pilot Sports] that could withstand 250-plus mph while supporting up to 4800 pounds of car, occupants, and downforce was one of the major technical challenges of the Veyron

Fortunately, the Veyron’s steering is ideally set up for such fast running. There’s absolutely no slack on-center, and the steering responds with a gentleness that makes it easy to feed in the delicate corrections needed to keep the Veyron between the center lane’s dotted lines without overcorrecting…

...You could not only hold a cell-phone conversation at 185 but also dial a cell phone at that pace. Allocate some money to keep an attorney on retainer if you get one of these cars, because double and triple the speed limit will quickly feel comfortable and normal.

You will likely only experience this speed in short bursts, which is why the Veyron’s powerful brakes will come in handy. The car is equipped with huge carbon-ceramic brakes: 15.7 inches in front with eight-piston, four-pad calipers, and 15.0 inches in back with six-piston, two-pad calipers. When you step on the brakes at high speed, the rear wing tilts up to a 55-degree angle. At 230 mph, this increases rear downforce to 1100 pounds and adds as much as 2500 pounds of drag. A panic stop at that speed produces nearly 2.00 g of initial deceleration—at least 50 percent more retardation than a Porsche 911 can generate at any speed.

Not since the McLaren F1 (still our standard) has a car so impressed us with its engineering (and we’re including the Ferrari Enzo, the Porsche Carerra GT, and the Mercedes SLR here).

(Click here for AutoWeek’s coverage…)

UPDATE
These excerpts from 4Car are worth reading:

It is so easy to be critical of the Veyron. It’s size, its expense, its excess in all areas. But what cannot be denied, at least not by anyone who’s actually had the privilege of driving one, is the towering engineering achievement that it represents.

The claimed 987bhp was measured, as are all VW power outputs, at an ambient outside temperature of over 40° C, where the air is thin, starving the turbos of the oxygen they need to develop full boost. At a more normal temperature, say 20° C, its output is nearer 1035bhp.

When you accelerate, it is torque, not power that you feel. The Veyron has 922lb ft of the stuff: to put that into perspective, the only other car ever made to even approach the Veyron’s performance, the McLaren F1, had 479lb ft of torque. [but] with oil and fuel on board it weighs 1950kg. A McLaren F1, by very stark contrast, weighs less than 1200kg.

The Veyron, for all its speed, massive grip and crushing braking power, is as far from being a track car as a Formula One car is from being a road car.

The real scale of the Veyron’s achievement is not so much that it does things beyond the scope of any other road car, but that it does them without really trying.

UPDATE

Gordon Murray, designer of the McLaren F1, has this to say in the Jan. ‘06 issue of Road & Track:

In summing up the Bugatti Veyron, had I not driven it, I would have great difficulty in deciding just what it stands for and where it fits in. To be absolutely fair, the Veyron team did not set out to challenge the McLaren F1, enzo or Porsche GT as the ultimate driving machine. This it certainly doesn’t do at two tons with turbo lag. It also falls short of the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and the Mercedes SLR McLaren for high performance touring because of the outward vision problems and lack of lggage space. Where it absolutely succeeds is as a massive technical achievment – a statement for VW AG.

UPDATE

Murray also published a more expansive piece in this month’s Top Gear. Here’s an excerpt:

It’s not trying to be the ultimate driver’s car. Only the ultimate machine.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 4th, 2005 at 3:53 am and is filed under Bugatti, Volkswagen, technical.