After what seems like years of teasing us with prototypes, mock sketches and the odd mention of a 1001 hp engine brake, the Bugatti Veyron is finally finished and sold on European markets in late 2006, and the Americas and Asia / Pacific areas thereafter.
While the Bugatti name is essentially Italian, Carlo Bugatti left (father of Ettore Buggati) Milan to France in 1904, built the brand from their car in Molsheim, France.
Today, the Bugatti name is owned by Volkswagen and the new Veyron supercar has been designed by the Germans, but despite that many diehard fans Bugatti is still happy with the look of the car.
Bugatti Veyron was formally announced as ready to go by Volkswagen in Monte Carlo recently.
The automaker also released official pictures of the production car (pictured right), which is slightly different than the Veyron presented at the Salon de l'Automobile in Geneva 2002.
First, a long, healthy Bugatti - which measures 4.5 meters on the grid is "zorst, and a massive 2.0 meters wide - can be slightly re-jigged headlights and a pair of additional air intakes, such as front wheels just behind the hotel.
Currently, however, the Bugatti is a giant exotic proposals, both in terms of style and performance.Twin suction nozzles mounted on the roof help funnel cool air to the engine mounted in the middle, while the practice, they add a lot of visual effects.
Volkswagen goal was to create the world's fastest vehicles, something that can be driven on the road, problems, or right-royally knocked off.
As such, one of the first hurdles the company faced when developing a killer 16-cylinder engine, was to make sure it was aerodynamically sound.
To be able to reach speeds over 400 km / h, while providing linear handling characteristics, the Veyron's body had to be elegant, but in the car and out of sight are the types of floor effects most commonly seen in Formula One cars
Volkswagen paid much attention to the front and rear spoilers, and the company estimates that the new Veyron hold more corner speed may be better to get more power when exiting corners and also slow down more rapidly under brakes thanks for all the painstaking work that exercised in a wind tunnel.
The most impressive aspect of the new Veyron supercar has to be the 16-cylinder engine, located behind the driver (mid mount) for a low center of gravity, ergo, in turn improves the handling characteristics and general.
Rather than trying to squeeze 16 cylinders in V form, the Volkswagen came up with a lot of compact idea a few years ago - configuration "W". In a nutshell, is basically two 4.0-liter V8, which share the same engine, which makes it more compact size compared to the same V12s.
This huge 8.0-liter W16 has four valves per cylinder - with a total of 64 valves - and a highly sophisticated forced induction, belts to 1001 horsepower, or 736kW @ 6000rpm.
Aluminum and magnesium (to keep the weight down), 7993cc W16-fired power plant has four turbochargers and four camshafts, one for each bank of four cylinders accordingly.
With a 9.0:1 compression ratio and variable valve timing system allows the quad-turbo to increase bottom of the car, while providing a higher torque at the same time: 1250Nm torque @ 2200-5500rpm. The closest any other production car comes to this impressive figure is the Mercedes CL 65 AMG, which pumps at 1000nm its V12 twin-turbo 6.0-liter.
The new Bugatti is fitted with a brand new transmission semi-manual 7-speed, which is operated by paddles behind the steering wheel in leather. On average, the double clutch takes only 0.2 seconds to change gears, which is faster (on average) of a traditional textbook.
In the real world, this 736kW and 1250Nm combines a 7-speed, four-wheel drive transmission and the empty weight of 1600 kg making Bugatti Veyron is 100 km / h in 2.9 seconds remaining. E 'extremely fast.
If this is not enough, the block four-wheel drive exotic hit 300 km / h in 14.0 seconds flat and can cruise at 400 kmh with ease. The car is electronically limited to 400 km / h (248 mph), but if the restriction cut 8.0 liters would be capable of at least 450 km / h, perhaps more if the final drive and injection Fuel mapping was tweeked.
To accelerate safely and reliably to 400 km / h, the Veyron uses specially designed Michelin tires, which use what is called the Pax system. The tires are able to cope with the stress of 400 km / h speeds, and also have a special pressure control and ability to execute plans, so that even if a puncture at high speed, things going all pear shaped.
So at the end of the day, Volkswagen has not only built one hell of a coupe, but has now also boast the fastest car in the world - and a direct blow to the likes of McLaren F1, Lamborghini Murcielago and Ford GT.
Bugatti Veyron is expected to cost about 750,000 €, which is about 1.3 million U.S. dollars in local currency. It is expected that a handful will make their way to Australia, but most are sold in Europe.
The new four-wheel drive Veyron has more power than the crop of Formula One cars, and its massive 8.0-liter, four-engine turbo, carbon fiber reinforced chassis and aluminum body, there are few cars on the track today, combine such technical sophistication with the view that it is quite unusual, but strangely attractive.
