09-05-2005, 01:38 PM
Legendary sports-car maker Bugatti is to produce the world's fastest road car after a prototype this week exceeded 400 km/h on a German test track.
The run silenced critics who predicted that the super sports car would never achieve its ambitious goal.
The multimillion-dollar Bugatti Veyron 16.4 - its name refers to the 16-cylinder, quad-turbocharged engine that has more power than a formula one car - achieved the feat on a Volkswagen test track supervised by the German Homologation Authority, the company announced.
Bugatti claims the 1001-horsepower (750 kW) test car, one of 11 prototypes developed in the lead-up to the launch of the two-seater super sports car, achieved the speed "several times".
At that speed (and assuming its brakes retard the car at a similar level to other supercars), the Veyron would take some 750 metres to stop - almost half the length of Bourke Street.
As well as the seemingly ludicrous top speed - the speedo is calibrated to 450 km/h - the all-wheel-drive Veyron can reach 100 km/h in just 2.9 seconds.
Such performance clearly raises safety implications for a car capable of quadrupling the legal limit, although - just as Ferraris almost never reach their potential on public roads - Bugatti has said such daring will most likely be left to race tracks or private roads.
What is important for Bugatti is that it achieves its much-touted goal of reaching the 400 km/h milestone.
Customer deliveries of the Veyron were originally scheduled for 2003, but overheating problems, concerns about high-speed stability and quality standards set by parent company Volkswagen made the project run late. The first customer deliveries are now expected by the end of this year, according to Bugatti president Thomas Bscher.
So how much does it cost? One million euros net, according to Bugatti, which plans to build only 300 Veyrons over six years. Put that in Australian dollars, add GST, import duty and luxury car tax and the Melbourne price would be in the region of $3 million.
Which, along with the fact that the Veyron will be built only as a left-hand-drive, may explain why no Australians have dipped into their savings just yet.
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ArrayVeyron can reach 100 km/h in just 2.9 seconds.[/quote]
:nuts::laugh:
The run silenced critics who predicted that the super sports car would never achieve its ambitious goal.
The multimillion-dollar Bugatti Veyron 16.4 - its name refers to the 16-cylinder, quad-turbocharged engine that has more power than a formula one car - achieved the feat on a Volkswagen test track supervised by the German Homologation Authority, the company announced.
Bugatti claims the 1001-horsepower (750 kW) test car, one of 11 prototypes developed in the lead-up to the launch of the two-seater super sports car, achieved the speed "several times".
At that speed (and assuming its brakes retard the car at a similar level to other supercars), the Veyron would take some 750 metres to stop - almost half the length of Bourke Street.
As well as the seemingly ludicrous top speed - the speedo is calibrated to 450 km/h - the all-wheel-drive Veyron can reach 100 km/h in just 2.9 seconds.
Such performance clearly raises safety implications for a car capable of quadrupling the legal limit, although - just as Ferraris almost never reach their potential on public roads - Bugatti has said such daring will most likely be left to race tracks or private roads.
What is important for Bugatti is that it achieves its much-touted goal of reaching the 400 km/h milestone.
Customer deliveries of the Veyron were originally scheduled for 2003, but overheating problems, concerns about high-speed stability and quality standards set by parent company Volkswagen made the project run late. The first customer deliveries are now expected by the end of this year, according to Bugatti president Thomas Bscher.
So how much does it cost? One million euros net, according to Bugatti, which plans to build only 300 Veyrons over six years. Put that in Australian dollars, add GST, import duty and luxury car tax and the Melbourne price would be in the region of $3 million.
Which, along with the fact that the Veyron will be built only as a left-hand-drive, may explain why no Australians have dipped into their savings just yet.
ArrayVeyron can reach 100 km/h in just 2.9 seconds.[/quote]
:nuts::laugh:
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