Bugatti Cars

Of all the fine cars that Bugatti has made, the Veyron stands out from the rest. The Veyron 16.4 is the most expensive, fastest and most powerful production automobile on the planet, and it boasts a documented top speed of 253 miles per hour. The car can go from 0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds, to 125 mph in just over seven seconds, and to 200 mph in under 20 seconds. The development of the Bugatti Veyron began in 1999 with the 18/4 concept car, which was introduced at Tokyo's Motor Show and bore a similar appearance to the production model. The Veyron was designed by an engineer from Volkswagen, Hartmut Warkuss; the choosing of a Volkswagen designer was a departure from the three previously-released Bugatti concepts.

The Veyron's development continued through 2001, and the EB 16/4 became the Veyron 16.4 production model; the car started rolling off the line in 2003. However, the car's early editions were riddled with problems. Stability at high speeds was an issue; one prototype was totaled in a crash and another lost control during a demonstration at Laguna Seca Raceway. Those issues caused production on the Bugatti Veyron to be delayed until further notice.

After the Veyron's release, it was widely publicized that although the cars were being sold for over 840,000 pounds, each cost about 5 million pounds to make. Since Bugatti/Volkswagen were incurring such high losses, the project was likened to the Concorde in that both were impractical experiments, done just to see if it were possible. There may not be another car like the Bugatti Veyron ever again.

The production model of the Veyron has a W16 powerplant; sixteen cylinders in four banks of four cylinders each, or the size equivalent of two narrow V8s. The narrow configuration allows one camshaft to drive each of the four engine banks, and the engine is supplemented by four turbochargers. It has a displacement of 8.0 liters, with a bore and stroke of 86 mm x 86 mm.

The Bugatti Veyron's powerplant is based on the design introduced in Volkswagen's 2003 Passat. The Veyron's engine has two V8s set in a 90-degree configuration, offset by 15 degrees, and is lubricated by an F1-style dry-sump system. The power gets to the ground via a computer-operated manual transmission with paddle-shifting on the steering wheel; there is also the option to switch to an automatic configuration. The Veyron also has Michelin Pax run-flat tires, which are speed-rated to 253 mph.