BUGATTI Automobiles S.A.S. displayed the latest version of the Bugatti EB 16·4 Veyron at the 72nd Geneva Motor Show. With a two-colour red and black paint finish (‘rouge Ventoux / noir’) recalling the Bugatti T 57 C Ventoux Coupé of 1938, the car in display is close to production status in the driveline and body areas. In addition, the first performance figures are available: the production version will have a top speed of 406 km/h and accelerate from a standstill to 300 km/h in under 14 seconds.
Noble interior atmosphere
The generous wheelbase of 2,700 millimetres ensures ample space inside the car, this example of which is trimmed in ‘silk’-coloured leather.
For an unbeatable listening experience inside the car, a high-end sound system from Dieter Burmester, the Berlin-based manufacturer of hi-fi equipment, is fitted. In close cooperation with the Bugatti development team, the ideal location of all the components was determined when the bodyshell was developed, in order to ensure optimum function, music quality and design appeal.
Two one-carat diamonds form part of the interior decor of the study car exhibited in Geneva, and act as points of focus for its exceptional luxury. These ‘Spirit’ diamonds, as they are called, are mounted on the speedometer needle and at the centre of the ‘powermeter’, a dial that displays how much of the engine’s available power is being used. Cut with 16 sunray facets, these diamonds symbolise the power and energy of the 16-cylinder engine that forms the technical heart of the Bugatti EB 16·4 Veyron.
These ‘Spirit’ diamonds were specially cut by the Dr. Ulrich Freiesleben diamond workshops, using an innovative technique to obtain the 16 full-radius facets.
More air for the engine and the brakes
Modifications for aerodynamic reasons have led to bold styling features at the front, the rear and on the sides of the car. Those at the front end are the most visually prominent: to ensure optimum cooling of the 736 kW (1001 bhp) W-engine and the brakes, air inlets of considerable area had to be provided. At the same time the team led by Hartmut Warkuss, the director of the parent group’s “Center of Design Excellence” has been able to refine the shape of the characteristic Bugatti radiator grille.
1. Air supply to the engine’s cooling-system radiator
2. Air supply to the air conditioning system
3. Cooling air for the brakes (this air is expelled through two additional apertures in the side-skirt area behind the wheel arches)
4. Air supply to the air-to-air intercooler
5. Optimised body downthrust.
Diffusors and an automatically extending rear wing
The underside of the Bugatti EB 16·4 Veyron’s body has also been aerodynamically optimised. At the front, but in much more obvious form at the rear, the floor pan is shaped to act as a diffusor and therefore generate the correct amount of downthrust. This principle is aided by a rear spoiler which extends automatically when the car reaches a predetermined road speed.
The rear spoiler itself blends so smoothly into the body outlines that it cannot be identified as such when it is fully retracted. When the preset actuating speed is reached, the aerofoil is extended and at the same time moves back horizontally by about 20 centimetres. When the engine is switched off, the wing remains extended at first in order to increase the flow through the engine cooling ducts located beneath it.
The Bugatti EB 16·4 Veyron’s dimensions
The imposing dimensions of the Bugatti EB 16·4 Veyron exert a fascination all their own: the wheelbase is no less than 2,700 millimetres, the overall length 4,466 mm, the car’s width is 1,998 mm and its height 1,206 mm.
New tyre system and double-spoked wheels
The development team has chosen wheels and tyres suitable for what will be the world’s fastest production car when it appears in 2003. The design of the new alloy wheels takes the need for optimum brake-system cooling into account. These forged wheels are 20 inches in diameter and have two sets of six spokes, offset in relation to one another.
The Bugatti EB 16·4 Veyron’s tyres have been specially developed. They are of an entirely new type, and rated for speeds in the 400-km/h region. The front tire size is 245-690 R 520 A, the rear tires have the unusual dimension 365-710 R 540 A. With its “Pax System”, tyre manufacturer Michelin has created a standard of excellent handling, ride comfort and run-flat capability that is quite new for high-speed tyres.
In an emergency, the car can still be driven after tyre pressure has been lost
As well as its excellent emergency-run characteristics, the Michelin “Pax System” includes a permanent means of monitoring the tyre pressures. Even if air pressure is lost, the Bugatti still handles safely at speeds up to 80 km/h and can be driven for a further 200 kilometres. BUGATTI Automobiles S.A.S. and Michelin will provide worldwide service support for these tyres.
W16 engine with new technical features
If there is one feature of the Bugatti EB 16·4 Veyron that is absolutely unique, it is surely the innovative W16 light alloy engine. It has two exceptionally narrow-angle cylinder blocks each containing eight cylinders (the VR principle); these two blocks are mounted at a 90-degree included angle on a common crankcase. The W16 unit, installed in the mid-engine position ahead of the car’s rear axle, develops a monumental 736 kW (1001 bhp) at 6000/min, yet is only 710 millimetres long and 767 mm wide. The ‘W’ layout not only permits these compact dimensions despite the high swept volume and power output, but also makes the entire engine exceptionally rigid.
Four turbochargers on the 7,993 cc engine help it to develop a maximum torque of 1,250 Newton-metres, a figure not even remotely matched by any other passenger car. The charge air passes through two intercoolers mounted above the cylinder heads. Fuel-air mixture reaches the engine and exhaust gas leavers it through no fewer than 64 valves. These are actuated through roller cam followers by four continuously variable overhead camshafts.
The camshaft settings are varied by a continuous electro-hydraulic system, which takes effect in all engine operating situations. In order to coordinate all the W16 engine’s operating parameters perfectly, two computers that exchange data with each other are used for each bank of cylinders.
Dry sump lubrication with four-stage oil pump
The engine’s oil supply is also based on motor-sport technology. A dry sump of very shallow construction supplies the lubricating oil circuit. An interesting feature is the four-stage shaft-pattern oil pump, with three suction stages and one discharge stage to ensure a reliable oil supply to the Bugatti’s 8-litre engine.
New seven-speed gearbox with double clutch system
This new seven-speed gearbox has in fact been developed specially for the Bugatti EB 16·4 Veyron, but one could be excused for thinking that it comes directly from the top motor-racing class, since like a Formula 1 car, the gear shift is sequential in action, using paddles at the steering wheel. There is no clutch pedal: the double clutch (DCT) system performs gear shifts within a maximum of 0.2 of a second. Permanent all-wheel drive is used to transmit power from the engine to the road wheels.
From 0 to 300 km/h in under 14 seconds
To blink even once, for a fraction of a second, could mean missing part of the excitement: the Bugatti EB 16·4 Veyron all-wheel-drive sports car needs scarcely 14 seconds to reach a speed of 300 kilometres an hour - an unsurpassed figure, though admittedly a largely theoretical one. What determines the Bugatti’s character even more convincingly is the engine’s unbelievable flow of torque.
When exposed to the full 1,250 Newton-metres, the resistance of the air and even the force of gravity itself seem to have no chance: the EB 16·4 Veyron eats up the road as if these physical laws had just been abolished.
The Bugatti U-16 engines - the sixteen-cylinder Type 45 and 47 racing-car engines
At the 2002 Geneva Motor Show, BUGATTI Automobiles S.A.S. is also exhibiting one of the engines that created the Bugatti mystique during the first half of last century: a 16-cylinder engine built for the Bugatti T 45.
When designing these 16-cylinder engines, Bugatti made good use of the experience gained in building aircraft engines between 1910 and 1918. From our standpoint, the design is evidence of a most interesting period in mechanical engineering, since there was no previous experience available of how engines with such a large number of cylinders would perform. A prototype of both of Bugatti’s 16-cylinder engines was constructed in 1928. As far as we know today, no more than three complete engines were ever built.
The engine consists of two vertical eight-cylinder blocks on a common crankcase. The two crankshafts are connected together by gearwheels. Each of the eight-cylinder banks is equivalent to the ‘straight-eight’ engines then being built, with three valves per cylinder, The crankshafts run in nine plain bearings, as also used in the aircraft engine that powered the mighty T 41 Royale. At the front of the engine is a water pump supplying both cylinder banks. The two superchargers are at the rear, driven by a spur gear train. The camshafts are also driven from here; this was the only means of obtaining sufficient space for the intake pipes between the two cylinder blocks. The superchargers, which run at engine speed, are directly connected to the Zenith carburettors. Each cylinder bank has a magneto, mounted on the racing car*’s bulkhead. One of the reasons for installing the two superchargers behind the cylinder banks on the T 45 and T 47 was to keep the engine’s width to a minimum. The exhaust pipes on both sides are located outside the car’s body. The spark plugs are screwed into the block horizontally, between the exhaust manifolds. As on other Bugattis, the gearbox is installed separate from the engine.
The Type 45 and the smaller 16-cylinder engine used in the T 47 have dry sump lubrication and three oil pumps for each cylinder bank.
The two engines share the same design
It is interesting to compare the two engines: they are basically of the same design, but with different swept volumes. The ‘Grand Sport’ engine in the T 47 is a 2,986-cc unit with a 60 mm cylinder bore and 66 mm stroke. It develops approximately 240 horsepower at 5000/min.
The T 47 had a lengthened wheelbase in order to permit it to be entered in the four-seater touring class according to the Le Mans race regulations. This explains its shorter stroke of 66 mm, chosen with a view to keeping the engine’s swept volume below the three-litre limit.
The Type 45’s ‘Competition’ engine, on the other hand, has a displacement of 3801 cc; the bore is 60 mm, the stroke 84 mm. In this case the power output is approximately 270 hp at 5000/min.
The design-study-pictures of Bugatti EB 16·4 Veyron:
Pictures from Geneva 2003:
Entries (RSS)