Veyron Supersports top speed: 267 mph - How long will it stay?

I too believe this car is nuts and way over-the-top. How long do I think it'll stay on top though? I give it 5-10 years max. Small companies keep popping up with crazier and crazier ideas. If each Vector W8 built could go 242 back in 1992, I have no doubt we could see a 300mph car in the next 20 years if everything unfolds correctly. The economy will play a major factor with the type of research and development needed, and lets not forget that the Bugatti brand still isn't profitable (last I heard) yet - this goes to show a lot about the complexity of this type of supercar market.

 

Totally awesome..

 

Shelby have said this... http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/251355/

And there already is 300mph car... http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/250892/

I'd still prefer the Bugatti over either of these cars though, I'd still prefer the ordinary Veyron over either of these cars... not the the Veyron is ordinary though lol.

 

Nothing exceeds like excess.
Someone will always go faster.

 

It seems somehow possible -300mph-. Cars progressed up thru 300 at Bonneyville. Curious about tires. What's the speed rating? Would VR cover it because it's 149 MPH +

 

Modified Ford GT's are hitting 267 mph in the standing mile. And they are at a Cd. of about .39. The Veyron is about .36... the Vector W8 is .32... Koenigsegg .30 (but the wrong engine to do the job).

The number of 1000 hp cars on the street is actually quite high when looking in the modified world. Many of them will top 220 w/out changing gear ratios.

 

Horse power is one thing. The effects of the air at those speeds is completely different. For some cars, turning at 200+ mph can cause them to take flight and roll (NASCAR for instance). So at 300mph, one can only add to the list of possible negative variables.

Bugatti test driver Pierre Henri Rafael (Sp.?) said that the second run in the opposite direction at Ehra-Lessien was much rougher due to the "grain of the pavement." Considering all other runs on the track have always been done clock-wise.

...That's just insane. He commented that if there had been anything that went wrong there would have been no way at that speed to correct the car.


_J

 

Shelby Super Cars had the title for 3 yrs. I expect them to spank the title away from Buggatti in short order.

 

Shelby can do whatever they want, fact of the matter is the Veyron is an engineering masterpiece. Watch how stable that thing is at 256 mph while James May is piloting it, it's unreal. I doubt these "kit cars" can hold a candle to this thing in all around performance. It also kicked the asses of the other kit cars like the Apollo Gumpert and such on Top Gear's test track. First car to break the one minute 16 second mark.

 

it really did look like it was on the edge of control the whole time Not unlike the Enzo test...

 

Its going to come down to more than engineers have planned for, in terms of negative variables. I'm willing to bet that if anybody managed to max an SS on a runway something would go wrong. Let a cross-wind hit that thing at 267 and well see what happens.

The fact is that what engineering is becoming capable of in road cars is close to unmanagablein any realistic situation.

300mph is a rediculous concept and one that I don't think has any need in a road car. For many reasons.


_J

 

Well you wouldn't just go out and do nearly 270mph, there are many things that you would have to take into account as James did on Top Gear. Also on the standard Veyron Bugatti used to let you take either your car (when you bought it) or a bit more sensibly one of their cars and get to it's top speed on the same straight that James did on Top Gear, and I'd imagine that the SS would be know exception so at least you'd be able to get to it's top speed once.

 

Thanks for the heads up on this Isaac, I was a little sceptical reading this at first but chose to look into it further rather than question you, absolutely incredible performance!

 

The Veyron is the complete opposite of an engineering masterpiece.

If you actually learn about the car and get technical with it... it is a giant F'up overall.

It was such a crappy design the rest of the car had to be so over engineered to accomplish what they wanted to do. The idea of 14 heat exchangers???? really??? thats because you are facing a bad design and had to overcome a lot of problems to get it to work right.

The engineers will tell you the same. They worked there asses off to get it to work, but it didn't have to be so complicated and expensive... also you will note that ford GTs etc... are exceeding 267mph and yet they don't wear 45k dollar tires... further evidence of horrible design and engineering.

This car is not what it is cracked up to be. In my opinion this is a car for school kids. It checks all the right boxes...

more cylinders than anyone else... CHECK... coolest car ever...
twin turbos... ohh wait 4 turbos... CHECK... twice as cool now...more than anyone else...
1001hp... Check... more than any other production car... and imagine if it was modified... WOW....
14 radiators... CHECK... more than anyone else so its got to be good.
cost? Check... more than anyone else


anyone catching on to the theme???

the McF1 went almost as fast with 400 less horsepower and didn't have all this other BS either....

and if you want further evidence... why is there no racecar? because A there is no class for jackasses with too much money and B it wouldn't be competitive... meanwhile the McF1 was a stock car with down graded horsepower (restrictor plate) more adjustable suspension and safety gear and WON.

This is not a post about the McF1 is a better car or anything... its just to show the VW fanboys what a joke the veyron really is


A fool and his money are soon parted...

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't really like the veyron (FAR to heavy, boring), but it was over engineered for a reason. Ze boss drew a picture and told the boffins that that's how the car should look like, and that it should do 400kp/h, and that it should be able to be daily driven.

Try that with one of those stupid daggers or a SSC (which is even uglier than the veyron, which I thought was impossible). The Dagger, with the 2000hp drag racing engine (no other word for it), could do 300mph, once. Then it needs a full rebuilt. The SSC I don't know, but I'm confident it won't be as reliable as the veyron.

I don't like any of the super high speed mega cars, they're either boring (to German), very ugly, or undrivable. Or all of them together.

 

The Ford GT's running 267 mph in the standing mile aren't running 267 mph for more than a second. Tires are a real limitation, and the fact that Michellin created such a tire for the Veyron is truly an engineering marvel of our time. The tires on the GT's running those speeds are also non DOT spec... they are slicks.

 

yes... they are not DOT approved... but that has very little to do with it... im actually not sure that the "top speed" tires are DOT approved either as that speed clearly isn't for highway use...

Yes the ford GTs etc... aren't only at that speed for a second... but the force that is being exerted on them is much greater as far as acceleration... however... there load is much less as the veyron weighs as much as an M1A1... which is why it needs the special tires that are similar in construction to a freaking commercial air liner...

 

Traction is a big issue. Putting full power down in a twin turbo Heffner GT is seemingly a bad choice doing anything less than 200. The Veyron can do it because of its techno inovation. Something that would take smaller firms a lot longer to perfect. Case in point the Dagger GT. American, 2000 hp and 300mpg on the top end. There's no way cars like this can ever put the power to the ground.

Being able to get to the faster bit of the 200's is one thing, slowing down in real world situations or coming across uneven road is another.

_J

 

Okay.... what?

Saying the Veyron is a F'up is rediculous. The engineering IS amazing for the simple reason that it does what it does without compromise. Air con. And a full interior on a car with its capabilaties has not been seen before.

There is no racing effort because the factory is loosing money on every model despite high msrp, AND the bigger point is that the Veyron was never engineered as a racing car. Its billed as the greatest grand toujer of all time, and any owner would back that statement up. The F1 was designed as a completely different idea.


_J

 

Well, apparently it's already left:

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/15/bugatti-veyron-super-sports-top-speed-will-be-10-mph-less-than/

So, Bugatti themselves think 267 is too much. Tires seem to be the major proponent. As the article reads: "...the gas tank runs dry in 30 seconds."

Forget "possible," is anything more in terms of top speed logical?




_J

 

agreed to a certain point.

One big this is is that you have one of the phrases backwards which best helps explain my point is... "the engineering IS amazing for the simple reason that that the design is compromised"

The engineering that went into digging the project out of the whole is incredible, absolutely incredible and my hats go off to the engineers of the cars especially in the later years. My point is that with a better initial design this entire car would have been built much easier and all the same goals achieved.

 

In terms of what? The original goals were straight forward, most powerful production car, top speed over 400kph, over 1000bhp.

In keeping with the Bugatti name, luxury was high on the list and like the EB110 in the decade before it, the use of four turbo chargers and an interior as luxurious as any Mercedes was key. Hartmut Warkus (sp?), the same fellow who designed a prototype for Audi and the "new" Jettas was the original designer but failed to continue on the project. Although, the idea behind the car's over all design came from the four prototype Bugattis in the 90's designed by Giugiaro.

Its hard to obtain these kinds of performance goals in keeping with the Bugatti philosophy.
Needless to say, they have done it perfectly.

_J

 

Trouble is..they have totally missed the point of the Bugatti legend and marque. Nice car yes..but definitely not what Ettore Bugatti would have EVER built...