Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is now being driven by automotive journalists.

[levine]

8 liters. 16 PSI of boost from 4 turbochargers. 1020 SAE net horsepower. 922 ft-lbs of torque. 0-62MPH in under 3 seconds. And a top speed of over 250 miles per hour. Car and Driver review.

I barely touched the car's top-speed governor that was set at 253 mph (407.5 kilometers per hour) on that first lap, but on the second I held the car there for at least three of the back straight's five miles. The combination of driveline noise, tire noise, and hurricane-force winds rushing over the car must have been deafening, but I don't remember it, as I concentrated on keeping the gently meandering car within the center of the track's three lanes.

Hurricane force winds? Try nearly triple hurricane force winds.

[JAMBEEZLER]

That car is fugly.

[david_sakh]

sigh.

What a singular experience. A thrill you could only have were you lucky enough to be rich in this short-lived age of oil burning.

sounds like a blast.

[levine]

3mpg@253mph sustained. Heh.

edit: Assuming even a massive fuel tank (27gal, let's say) that means you've got about 9 miles worth of fuel at max speed. Which you would burn up in (9miles)*(1 hour/253 miles)*(60 minutes/1 hour) = 2.13 minutes = 2 minutes, 7 seconds or so.

[ny32182]

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.

First time I've ever heard of something like that.

Before proceeding further, the driver is urged to verify visually that all these aerodynamic changes have taken place, as well as to check the pressure in the special Michelin PAX System Pilot Sport tires and inspect them for any damage. Developing tires 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, and judging by the comparative lack of concern about the tires during my run, I'd say this problem has been solved.

heh... I bet.

Just some observations:

-Since they keep comparing it to a vette: modified cars vs. factory cars is apples and oranges of course, but a built corvette running the same boost level is going to be capable of duplicating that accelleration performace including and well past the quarter mile. Where the veyron's aerodynamics take over is probably anyone's guess, but I bet it would be a good race up to 150 or more... C5s with the stock tranny run totally out of gearing at around 230, iirc. And, I'm not aware of a stock bodied vette ever reaching that speed.

-8 liters, 4 "small" turbos, 9.3 c/r, 15+psi... I doubt they are running 93 octane pump gas on their 1000hp/200++ mph pulls. Which makes me slightly wonder about the absolute and total truth of their 253mph factory stock, totally street legal claim. I wonder if it comes with a factory provision for running different fuels/boost maps.

An amazing car now that they have finally finished it. I guess this one really does defeat the Mclaren without question, even though it took an extra 400hp to do it. New king street car.

[ny32182]

Originally Posted by levine

3mpg@253mph sustained. Heh.

edit: Assuming even a massive fuel tank (27gal, let's say) that means you've got about 9 miles worth of fuel at max speed. Which you would burn up in (9miles)*(1 hour/253 miles)*(60 minutes/1 hour) = 2.13 minutes = 2 minutes, 7 seconds or so.

Wouldn't that be 81 miles worth of fuel at max speed?

[levine]

Originally Posted by ny32182

Wouldn't that be 81 miles worth of fuel at max speed?

D'oh! You're right, I think. Assuming 25 gallon tank, 25gal@3mpg = 75 miles; (75 miles)*(1 hr/253 miles)*(60 min/1 hr) = 17.7 minutes until empty. Which makes more sense - I think the McLaren Mercedes SLR does about the same at top speed.

[levine]

Originally Posted by ny32182

First time I've ever heard of something like that.

It's like F1 cars - the teams adjust the front and rear wings for every track to balance downforce and top speed. The more angle on the wings, the more downforce you create at speed, and thus the tighter you stick to the track. But pushing you down detracts from how fast you can go, so a car with a lot of wing will have a lower top speed on a straight than a car with less wing angle. Or maybe you knew that, and you were saying that's the first you've heard of that system in this car.

[Townsend]

Originally Posted by levine

It's like F1 cars - the teams adjust the front and rear wings for every track to balance downforce and top speed. The more angle on the wings, the more downforce you create at speed, and thus the tighter you stick to the track. But pushing you down detracts from how fast you can go, so a car with a lot of wing will have a lower top speed on a straight than a car with less wing angle. Or maybe you knew that, and you were saying that's the first you've heard of that system in this car.

You'd love this guy Gene I keep seeing around campus. He does virtual wind tunnel modelling for F1 cars. An ME, I believe. Old guy, silver hair. Talks a lot.

He likes the story about how they changed the requirements on the cars two days before some European race and the officials expected everyone to run slower than normal, but pretty much all the teams had access to enough computing power to find the best fit for the new spec and then they implemented it in time for the race. I've heard that one twice.

I don't even know how I know that guy.

[The Chain Rule]

its about damn time they reviewed this car.

[ny32182]

Originally Posted by levine

It's like F1 cars - the teams adjust the front and rear wings for every track to balance downforce and top speed. The more angle on the wings, the more downforce you create at speed, and thus the tighter you stick to the track. But pushing you down detracts from how fast you can go, so a car with a lot of wing will have a lower top speed on a straight than a car with less wing angle. Or maybe you knew that, and you were saying that's the first you've heard of that system in this car.

Oh... what I meant was that there are plenty of cars out there with speed dependent adjustable aerodynamics, but they are usually changed automatically on the fly. I don't know of any other street car that you have to bring to a stop and then make a manual adjustment in order to have "top speed mode".

[whatever]

Originally Posted by levine

3mpg@253mph sustained. Heh.

edit: Assuming even a massive fuel tank (27gal, let's say) that means you've got about 9 miles worth of fuel at max speed. Which you would burn up in (9miles)*(1 hour/253 miles)*(60 minutes/1 hour) = 2.13 minutes = 2 minutes, 7 seconds or so.

hmmm Thats alot of gas.

[m3thos]

Originally Posted by mtownse

You'd love this guy Gene I keep seeing around campus. He does virtual wind tunnel modelling for F1 cars. An ME, I believe. Old guy, silver hair. Talks a lot.

He likes the story about how they changed the requirements on the cars two days before some European race and the officials expected everyone to run slower than normal, but pretty much all the teams had access to enough computing power to find the best fit for the new spec and then they implemented it in time for the race. I've heard that one twice.

I don't even know how I know that guy.

He's in my grad program. Probably one of the most annoying people I've ever met. He WAS ME... now he's in the MPA program here. I have no idea how he goes from working at ford -> F1 team -> MPA at Clemson...

He tries to relate shit like that to what we're talking about in class... but no one cares and it makes no sense.

He likes to go up to people he doesn't know and just talk their ears off.

[Townsend]

Originally Posted by m3thos

He's in my grad program. Probably one of the most annoying people I've ever met. He WAS ME... now he's in the MPA program here. I have no idea how he goes from working at ford -> F1 team -> MPA at Clemson...

He tries to relate shit like that to what we're talking about in class... but no one cares and it makes no sense.

He likes to go up to people he doesn't know and just talk their ears off.

Indeed. Like I said, I don't know how I know him but I'm pretty sure there was a girl involved. I'm thinking that we were in a group project together and at first I thought he was being a creepy old man and making her feel very self-conscious (which I didn't want at all), but then he just became what I took to be a cock-block. Any time we had free time for me and this mystery girl (can't remember her at all) to talk, he'd come and talk with/to/at us.

I can't remember anything about the girl, but I'm sure she was totally interested in me and I'd have been a very happy person were it not for him.

[Harksaw]

Originally Posted by mtownse

You'd love this guy Gene I keep seeing around campus. He does virtual wind tunnel modelling for F1 cars. An ME, I believe. Old guy, silver hair. Talks a lot.
I don't even know how I know that guy.

I know who you're talking about. He was at a linux installfest once.

He likes to go up to people he doesn't know and just talk their ears off.

Definitely him.

He also systematically offended just about everyone in the room one by one.