twohoos

After years of companies promising to knock off the McLaren F1's 240mph top speed record, they all failed until the Koenigsegg CCR just recently inched past it by a fraction of a kph. Now we have this:

The 1000+ hp (SAE net or PS, take your pick) Bugatti Veyron not only shatters the record by hitting 253 mph (408 kph), but there's more left -- the damn thing is *governed* to that top speed! Csaba Csere of Car and Driver had the car riding the governor for 3 of the 5 miles of VW's test track straightaway. Without the governor, who knows what the car could get to (before it got airborne!?)...

Putting this car's performance in perspective is difficult:

- 0-62 (100kph) in 2.5 sec
- 0-125 (200kph) in 7.3 sec
- Bone stock quarter mile in the 10s at about 140mph
- 0-186 (300kph) in 16.8 sec (a Carrera GT needs 34 seconds)
- BAR Honda is using their ~1000hp 3.0L V10 F1 car to *try* to get to 250mph at Bonneville; the Bugatti is warranted and emissions-legal, and will hardly break a sweat doing it
- Wind resistance at 190mph requires about 500 hp to overcome; that means there's still 500 hp left to accelerate you when you nail the throttle at 190 mph. You're pressed back in your seat just as hard as in a C6 Vette at 100mph!

Worth $1.25 million? Yes, please.

Slamnasty

It is truly an interesting engineering exercise, and it looks like they pulled it off. The fact that it can hit 100 faster than most cars that are considered reasonably quick is quite and eye-opener. When you're to 60 in a "lesser car", this things already at like 75-80 mph.

The final version isn't as pretty as I had hoped; it's close, but something's missing. Either way, it's still cool, and I can't wait to see one in person, if that chance ever presents itself. Maybe I'll change my mind on the styling when that happens.

daniel_h23_2000

I believe they weren't even able to reach the 253mph they claimed. If they were, that is impressive, but I doubt it'll go much beyong that point.

SpeedxRacer

I believe Motor Trend or Car and Driver already did max it out to the 253 MPH. This was already posted but I dont see how board members here can argue that this is a "POS". Anything that can go 253mph on 4 wheels is a engineering marvel... especially a "street" car.

Slamnasty

The interesting parallel for me is: the Sledgehammer Vette hit like 251 with 1000 or so horsepower. This car does a tad better with about equal power, and more "civility", but probably more weight. Anyone know the weight of the Sledgehammer Vette?

Perhaps gearing differences would explain.

PedalFaster

Aerodynamics have a much greater effect on maximum speed than weight.

YBS1

I thought for sure I remembered that car only hitting 252mph but a web search is showing the results at 254.76. It was putting out 880hp under relatively low boost during that run. IIRC they were intending to up the boost and take care of some aerodynamic problems for an attempt at 300mph. Apparently they weren't able to overcome the aero issues as I never heard another word about it.

Slamnasty

The Sledgehammer already had a few aerodynamic changes made to it. The usage of the old C4A body surely had a lot to do with any aero issues they encountered.

But at the same time, the aerodynamics of the Veyron aren't as good, maybe, as one would think they should be. Car and Driver mentioned that the cD of the Veyron is .36, which is .08 *worse* than a C6 Vette, and still .02 worse than a C4A Vette, which was apparently tested as having a .34 rating. I have no idea what effect, if any, the SledgeHammer aero mods had.

One area the Veyron surely has advantages is in high-speed lift. Since it has a special suspension setting and various other aero doo-dads, these probably make up for its less-than-world-class cD number.

steven975

don't you need a higher cD in order to go faster SAFELY?

Does the added downforce fromt the wing hamper the cD?

Slamnasty

I'm not sure what you need to do it safely. Any auto engineers here?

I know aerodynamics can definitely be a factor though. The Viper, for example, has always had a terrible aerodynamic profile, which I think is partly why you don't see many of them going over 200 mph. I'm sure you can still break 200 with a Viper, but it would be harder given its profile.