Bugatti: Another Champ of Acceleration
A French car manufacturer started in Germany with Italian name long ago.
That mixed breed has now 16 cylinder 8.0 L W shaped engine backed by four
(yeah, not two) turbos and this beast runs so fast that its tyres can't handle
theoretical speed (288 mph) so its needed to be electronically limited. Yeah, I
am talking about Bugatti.
Short History:
Bugatti started its journey before 20th century. However,
skipping those old models, lets fast forward to 1987, the year Bugatti was born
again. Romano Artioli,
an Italian entrepreneur bought the brand and 4 years later, in 1991, Bugatti EB
110 debuted, exact 110 years later the founder of the company Ettore Bugatti
was born.
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| EB110 |
Everything was going fine, but then another economic recession hit. Bugatti bought Lotus in 1995 which was a poor decision along with some other financial ones. The company ended up being bankrupt. In 1998, Volkswagen bought this troubled company for $50m. They also bought Lamborghini, Bentley, Rolls Royce - to fight back with BMW.
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| Bugatti Veyron |
Then in 2004 their first production vehicle came out, Bugatti Veyron. A legend and masterpiece, that came from a struggling company after 7 years of development. The time when other car manufacturers were going green and focusing on fuel efficiency, Bugatti went to the opposite road. They debuted 8.0 L quad turbo charged 16 cylinders engine behind the driving seat. This produced nearly four-digit horsepower and such speed made so much heat that they made their break disk of carbon ceramic (carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide). Quad turbo sucked in 45 thousand litres of air per minute. And they didn’t stop there, upgraded this beast with 200 more horsepower named Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sports.
Records:
1. And all these paved the way to Bugatti to achieve
Guinness world record of fastest production car (268 mph) in 2010 taking back
the title from SSC Ultimate Aero TT.
2. It broke and built the quarter mile record by finishing it in 9.7 sec which was held for next 8 years until Dodge SRT Demon snatched it.
2. It broke and built the quarter mile record by finishing it in 9.7 sec which was held for next 8 years until Dodge SRT Demon snatched it.
3. Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse became the fastest open-top production sports car, with a top speed of 408.84 km/h (254.04 mph). The record was handed over to Hennessey Venom GT spyder (265.57 mph) in 2016.
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| Bugatti Chiron |
Bugatti Chiron:
In 2016, Bugatti Chiron debuted with heavily updated version of Veyron engine.
The W16 screams with nearly 1500
horsepower and 1180 lbs torque. Four
turbos work in a two-stage controlled configuration and pumps 60,000 litres of
air through the engine every minute. Simultaneously, 800 litres of water per
minute circulate through the Chiron’s heart, and guarantee the cooling of the
engine and generate the extraordinary power.
 |
| 8.0 L quad turbocharged W16 |
Records:
It goes 0-60 mph
in 2.4 sec, quicker than any Koenigsegg, their prime competitor. Only Porsche 918, Tesla Model S and Dodge SRT Demon has quicker acceleration
than this beast regarding stock engine and considering production car. Its top
speed (288 mph) is electronically
limited to 261 mph because no street
legal tyres in the world can handle such speed. However, still the fastest
production car record is held by Koenigsegg
Agera RS (277 mph).
At the 2017 IAA show in
Frankfurt, Bugatti announced that the Chiron broke the record of fastest
0–400–0 km/h acceleration time, completing it in 41.96 seconds in a span
of 3.2 kilometres. However, Koenigsegg
Agera RS (36.44 sec) bagged the record few weeks later.
Bugatti also mentioned that
during the run, the car accelerated from 0–200 km/h (0–124 mph) in
6.1 seconds which is faster than Koenigsegg
One : 1 (6.6 sec), 0–300 km/h (0–186 mph) in 13.1 seconds, and
0–400 km/h (0–248.5 mph) in 32.6 seconds, which altogether, also
makes the Chiron faster than its predecessor, the Veyron.
One
offs:
 |
| Centodieci |
Bugatti Centodieci: The
Centodieci continues Bugatti’s successful 110-year course of exceptional design
and performance, while reviving the memory of the brand’s recent history. This
vehicle is actually homage to EB110 featuring a modern interpretation of the
classic wedge shape and with the iconic W16 engine. The production will be
limited into only 10.
 |
| Divo |
Bugatti Divo: Though Bugatti Veyron was king of speed since
2010, its performance was poor on track, it completed Nurburgring in 7:40 sec
which was not impressive for a masterpiece from Bugatti. However, you can’t blame
for that as the design of a Veyron is not track focused, same goes for Chiron. So
Bugatti debuted Divo, a mid-engine track focused sports car.
The car includes a redesigned exhaust system featuring
quad exhaust pipes, a 1.8 metre wide fixed rear
wing (23% wider than the retractable wing on the Chiron),
a NACA duct on
the roof that channels air to the rear of the car on a central fin and
ultimately on the rear wing for improved downforce,
a large front chin spoiler, more refined side skirts, larger air intakes on
the front, new head lamps and tail lamps, a vent in the bonnet for
improved radiator cooling and vents on the front wheel arches to
cool the brakes. In short, a modified Chiron for track.
The car is 8.0 seconds quicker than the Chiron around
the Nardò test track and generates 456 kg of
downforce at top speed, 90 kg more than the Chiron. The top speed is,
however, reduced to 380 km/h (236 mph), owing to the extra drag
produced by the aerodynamic elements and due to excessive pressure on the tyres
resulting from a lower ride height. Power output is unchanged from the Chiron,
with 1,479 hp at 6700 rpm and 1,600 N⋅m of torque at from 2000 to 6000 rpm.
Acceleration from 0-60 mph is also unchanged from the Chiron but the Divo has a
higher lateral acceleration (1.6 g vs 1.5 g in the Chiron). Only 40 of these
cars has been produced and was sold on first day.
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| La Voiture Noire |
Bugatti La Voiture Noire: The La
Voiture Noire, meaning "The Black Car" is a one-off special introduced at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. The design is based on
chiron and inspired from Type
57 SC Atlantic and is a celebration of the company's distinctive
design history. A trim piece running from the front of the car to the rear
spoiler recalls the dorsal fin present on the Type 57 SC. The car features a
floating windscreen and has masked A pillars.
The car will be powered by the same engine from the Chiron
having the same power output figures but the 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox and
the all-wheel-drive system are heavily revised in order to allow for a more
relaxed driving experience. Softer dampers and a revised chassis contribute to
the factor. The car features six exhaust
pipes recalling the innovative design of the past.
Bugatti states that the car is likely to have a lower top
speed and acceleration times than Chiron due to its Grand Touring nature. The
car was sold for a price of €11 million, $18.7 million after adding tax making
it one of the most expensive cars built to date.
Nearest Competitor:
Koenigsegg
Bugatti Chiron(2.4 sec) is faster than Koenigsegg (2.8 sec)
in 0-100 kph performance thanks to her
four turbochargers that suck in 60000 Litres of air per minute. It is also king
of 0-200 kph as mentioned before.
But Koenigsegg holds its crown in 0-300, 0-300-0, 0-400-0 and top speed record as it gets support from best power to
weight ratio in the world, aerodynamics and efficiency. The two manufacturers
have different philosophies, Bugatti is more powerful, quicker, bulkier but Koenigsegg is lighter and faster.
Source:
1. Wikipedia
2. Donut
Media
3. Bugatti Official Website
3. Bugatti Official Website
