Bugatti stands at the top as the world's most expensive car.It is also the fastest street legal production car in the world with proven speed of over 400 Km/hour. The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine grand tourer developed by the German car-manufacturer Volkswagen and produced by the Volkswagen-brand Bugatti Automobiles SAS at their headquarters in Château St. Jean in Molsheim (Alsace, France), and whose production and development is often credited to Ferdinand Karl Piech. It is named after French racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti company.
Two hundred Veyrons are known to have been built and delivered since production began through late 2008. Veyron editions include the Veyron, Veyron 16.4, Pur Sang, Hermes Edition, Sang Noir, Targa, Vincero, and the Bleu Centenaire. It will be replaced with the Grand Sport, which is essentially a Veyron convertible.
Top speed
The top speed was verified once again by James May on Top Gear for the November 2006 issue, again at Volkswagen Group's private Ehra-Lessien test track, where the final-production car hit 407.9 km/h, which equated to nearly one-third of the speed of sound at sea level. As the Bugatti Veyron approached the top speed during the test, May said that "the tyres will only last for about fifteen minutes, but it's okay because the fuel runs out in twelve minutes". He also gave an indication of the power requirements, at a constant 250 km/h, the Veyron is using approximately 270 to 280 horsepower (200 to 210 kW), but to get to its rated 408 km/h top speed required far more from the engine. Once back in the Top Gear studio, James was asked by co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson what the Veyron felt like to drive at 407 km/h, James replied that it was "totally undramatic", and very stable at speed.
Aerodynamic friction or drag is proportional to the square of the speed; for example doubling speed quadruples drag. Work is a product of force applied over a distance travelled. Comparing a vehicle travelling at 200 km/h with one travelling 400 km/h, over a given time (e.g. 1 second), the faster vehicle must overcome four times the aerodynamic drag, and travel twice the distance of the slower one. German inspection officials recorded an average top speed of 408.47 km/h during test sessions on the Ehra Lessien test track on 2005-04-19. The Bugatti website still refers to the Veyron as the fastest production vehicle of all time.
The car's everyday top speed is listed at 350 km/h. When the car reaches 220 km/h, hydraulics lower the car until it has a ground clearance of about 9 cm. At the same time, the wing and spoiler deploy. This is the "handling mode", in which the wing helps provide 3,425 newtons (770 lbf) of downforce, holding the car to the road. The driver must, using a special key (the "Top Speed Key"), toggle the lock to the left of his seat in order to attain the maximum (average) speed of 408 km/h. The key functions only when the vehicle is at a stop, when a checklist then establishes whether the car—and its driver—are ready to enable 'top speed' mode. If all systems are go, the rear spoiler retracts, the front air diffusers shut and the ground clearance, normally 12.5 cm, drops to 6.5 cm.
Fuel consumption
The Veyron consumes more fuel than nearly any larger car (not including buses or heavy trucks), using 40.4 litres per 100 kilometres (6.99 mpg-imp; 5.82 mpg-US) in city driving and 24.1 litres per 100 kilometres (11.7 mpg-imp; 9.76 mpg-US) in combined cycle. At full throttle, it uses more than 115 litres per 100 kilometres (2.46 mpg-imp; 2.05 mpg-US), which would empty its 100 litres (22.0 imp gal; 26.4 US gal) fuel tank in just 12 minutes.
Braking
The Veyron's brakes use cross-drilled, radially-vented Carbon fibre-reinforced Silicon Carbide (C/SiC) composite discs, manufactured by SGL Carbon, which have a much greater resistance to brake fade when compared with conventional cast iron discs. The lightweight aluminium alloy monobloc brake calipers are made by AP Racing; the fronts have eight titanium pistons and the rear calipers have six pistons. Bugatti claims maximum deceleration of 1.3 G on road tyres. As an added safety feature, in the event of brake failure, an Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) has also been installed on the handbrake.
Prototypes have been subjected to repeated 1.0 G braking from 312 to 80 km/h without fade. With the car's acceleration from 80 to 312 km/h, that test can be performed every 22 seconds. At speeds above 200 km/h, the rear wing also acts as an airbrake, snapping to a 55-degree angle in 0.4 seconds once brakes are applied, providing 0.68 G (4.9 m/s²) of deceleration (equivalent to the stopping power of an ordinary hatchback). Bugatti claims the Veyron will brake from 400 km/h to a standstill in less than 10 seconds.
