Making a big splash in 2010 was the Bugatti SuperSport at 267+ MPH. Photo Bugati Press.
Bugatti Veyron “World Record Edition“
By Roberto Motta and Staff
When Roberto Motta sent us this article, we thought it might be an appropriate candidate for 2010 top stories. If not, it certainly is right up there; readers comments and opinions are welcome. We will, of course, pretend that the new Bugatti is a French car, if only in spirit. But exciting, nonetheless!
Think about it: The Bugatti SuperSport achieved a new land speed record for production cars. The Veyron 16.4 (sixteen cylinders, four valves) puts out 1,200 hp and 1,500Nm of torque and is able to reach the incredible top speed of 431,072 km/h (267.856 mph).
If you had sixteen cylinders and sixty four valve and four turbos you too, might produce a tad over 1000 hp. Photo Bugatti Press.
Notably the actual production version of the SuperSport World Record Edition will be limited to 415kmh or 256 mph necessary to “protect the car’s tires”. Or occupants. While we made mention of the record a few months ago in an article by Werner Pfister, we thought that it deserved more attention. Plus, the PR photos of the car are well worth presenting; they are simply stunning.
But what is this land speed record for production cars anyway? The category is not an FIA class, with timed runs conducted at Bonneville with a sanctioning organization. The land speed record for production cars is sort of a rogue class, but since 1993 it has been trying to become a bonafide record run. In 1992 at the Nardo Ring in Italy, Martin Brundle drove an XJ220 to 212.3 mph (341.7 km/h). Jonathan Palmer took a McLaren F1 to 231 mph at Nardo in 1994. In 2005 A Koenigsegg topped 240 at Nardo, and was witnessed and verified by the Guinness Book of Records crew. Along came the first of the Bugatti Veyron attempts, and they clocked in at 253.81 in April of 2005. The ante was upped once more by the SSC (Shelby Super Cars, no relation to Carroll Shelby) Ultimate Aero TT, a car with a production run of only 24 copies. It brought the unofficial record up to 256.14 in 2007, and by now all runs were being verified by the brewery folks, however inappropriate or appropriate that may seem.
Obviously the powers that be at Wolfsburg were not going to let some upstart hold the land speed production car record, official or not. Hence the run this year in the specially prepared SuperSport. From here, we will let the Bugatti PR department crow:
On last July 5th 2010, on the Volkswagen’s testing track at Ehra-Lessien (nearby its headquarters at Wolfsburg), the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 SuperSport reached an average top speed of 431 km/h and has achieved a new landspeed world record for production cars.
The SuperSport has achieved the new record at the presence of the German Technical Inspection Agency (TÜV) and a representative of Guinness Book of Records.
It was driven by Bugatti’s Official Pilot Pierre Henri Raphanel. The incredible top speed of 431,072 km/h (267.856 mph), top speed that exceeded the company’s expectations, was the average between two passages made in the opposite directions.
That couldn't be a bit a of apprehension, could it? Brave guy, that Henri Raphanel. Photo Bugatti Press.
After that the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 SuperSport has set the new landspeed record, the chief engineer Dr. Wolfgang Schreiber stated “We took it that we would reach an average value of 425 km/h, but the conditions today were perfect and allowed even more”.
The World Record Edition
For celebrate the Landspeed World Record, the Bugatti management has decided to make a new car for the consumer but, its speed has been electronically limited to 415 km/h (258 mph).
The new Bugatti Veyron 16.4 SuperSport has a powertrain capable of 1,200-hp (882 kW) and a maximum torque of 1,500 Newton metres. The SuperSport is a development of the exclusive 1,001-hp Bugatti Veyron 16.4, launched in 2005. In the lastest version, the 16-cylinder engine has four enlarged turbochargers and bigger intercoolers, and the chassis has been extensively redesigned to maintain safety at extreme speed and received new shock absorbers with a complex architecture originally developed for racing cars.
The new fibre structure of the all carbon monocoque ensures maximum torsion rigidity and passive safety and reduced the weight. The body has been fine-tuned to improve the aerodynamic efficiency and the skin is made entirely of carbon-fibre composites.
Here's the side view. More stunning photos below the story. Photo Bugatti Press.
On request, the new Bugatti Veyron 16.4 SuperSport is available in clear-lacquered exposed carbon. The SuperSport’s body has an elongated silhouette and it is immediately recognizable.
The 16-cylinder engine gets its air from two NACA ducts set into the roof. The front air intakes have been expanded and reshaped, with the lower one extending around the sides to the wheel arch. The revised back looks sportier due to the double diffuser and a centrally arranged exhaust system.
SuperSport production began this autumn at Molsheim along with the Veyron and the Grand Sport. The first five cars, known as the “World Record Edition“ are in a special black exposed carbon and orange finish and have already been sold.
And off we go. Seatbelts fastened? Photo Bugatti Press.
Getting up to speed on the test track. Photo Bugatt Press.
It was a nice day for a drive in the German countryside. Photo Bugatti Press.
Don't worry, they will be back. The SSC is probably ready to try to beat the Veyron's record again. Photo Bugatti Press.
We need more of this sort of record setting for street cars–cars on pavement and not a mile high on the salt flats, fun as that may be. Bristol cars, a couple years ago, were interested in going to Bonneville and becoming the fastest street-legal/licensed car in the world with the twinturbo Bristol fighter (which, by the way, uses an upgraded Viper engine). But they’d have had to mess up the car with rollcage, brake chute, etc., etc. and they thought it wouldn’t be, in my words, a “real car,” not to mention the expense of the whole trip. I would like them to bring one to this test track, just for fun, and see what she’d do. But I gotta admit they’re building a lot more Veyrons than they are Bristol fighters, with or without turbos. Now if I’d been in charge of a new Bugatti, it’d have to be a supercharged rollerbearing straight eight!
I think a story about a car that only a handful of us will ever see, never mind own, making a pointless record is elitist nonsense and hardly the story of the year.
How about Fiat buying Chrysler? I think that’s pretty important.
Yeah, I think that something that they only made 24 copies of isn’t really a production car. And for that matter, they don’t make very many Veyrons do they?
How can a million dollar car be so ugly? (I know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.) If an arch outline were added (think St. Louis City arch) with its top coinciding with the existing UNGAINLY Bugatti horseshoe (leave it there for heritage) the front end is instantly transformed. Add rear wheel skirts to give it the Art Decco streamline look. Do a little with the big-ass-end sideview. Let a couple of Italian designers loose on it. German efficiency is outstanding, but Italians know the body!