Hot Cars: James May of Top Gear drives Bugatti Veyron SuperSport
Top Gear does their usual “review” of the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. Bugatti’s answer to the fastest production vehicle from America, the Shelby Ultimate Aero. All Credit goes to BBC, writers, directors, and producers of Top Gear.. Watch the video clip below.. Enjoy 🙂
Watch James May doing 414km/h on a Bugatti Veyron Super Sports
some photos from the clip..
The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engined grand touring car. The Super Sport version is the fastest production car in the world, with an average top speed of 431.072 kilometres per hour (267.856 mph).[4]
Designed and developed by the German Volkswagen Group and produced by Bugatti Automobiles SAS at their headquarters in Château St. Jean in Molsheim (Alsace, France), the Veyron’s chief designer was Hartmut Warkuss, and the exterior was designed by Jozef Kabaň of Volkswagen, with much of the engineering work being conducted under the guidance of a former VW engineer and now Bugatti Engineering chief Wolfgang Schreiber.
The car is named after French racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti company. It was named “Car of the Decade” (2000–2009) by the BBC television programme Top Gear.
A number of special variants have been produced, including two targa tops.
Top speed
The top speed was verified by Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear in November 2006, again at Volkswagen Group’s private Ehra-Lessien test track, where the final-production car hit 407.9 km/h (253.5 mph), almost one-third of the speed of sound at sea level. As the Bugatti Veyron approached the top speed during the test, May said that “the tyres will only last for about fifteen minutes, but it’s okay because the fuel runs out in twelve minutes”. He also gave an indication of the power requirements: at a constant 155 mph (249 km/h), the Veyron is using approximately 270 brake horsepower (200 kW; 270 PS); the next 100 mph (160 km/h) requires an additional 730 brake horsepower (540 kW; 740 PS). Jeremy Clarkson, driving a Veyron from Italy to London, noted that at top speed the engine consumes 10,000 imperial gallons (45,000 L) of air per minute (as much as a human breathes in four days). With a 0-to-60 mph time of 2.4 seconds, the Veyron has the fastest top speed of any street legal car. Once back in the Top Gear studio, James was asked by co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson what the Veyron felt like to drive at 407 km/h (253 mph), May replied that it was “totally undramatic”, and very stable at speed.
German inspection officials recorded an average top speed of 408.47 km/h (253.81 mph)[11] during test sessions on the Ehra-Lessien test track on 19 April 2005. On 4 July 2010, Bugatti’s official test driver Pierre Henri Raphanel piloted the Super Sport edition and was clocked at an average of 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph) on the same track, taking back the title of the fastest production vehicle of all time from the SSC Ultimate Aero TT. The 431.072 km/h mark was reached by averaging the Super Sport’s two test runs, the first topping out at 265.96 mph (427.93 km/h) and the second at 269.86 mph (434.20 km/h). The record run was certified by the German government and the Guinness Book of World Records.
The car’s everyday top speed is listed at 350 km/h (220 mph). When the car reaches 220 km/h (140 mph), hydraulics lower the car until it has a ground clearance of about 9 cm (3.5 in.). At the same time, the wing and spoiler deploy. This is the “handling mode”, in which the wing helps provide 3,425 newtons (770 lbf) of downforce, holding the car to the road, and helping the Bugatti Veyron perform 1.34 g forces on a 300 foot skidpad.
The driver must, using a special key (the “Top Speed Key”), toggle the lock to the left of his seat in order to attain the maximum (average) speed of 407 km/h (253 mph). The key functions only when the vehicle is at a stop, when a checklist then establishes whether the car and its driver are ready to enable ‘top speed’ mode. If all systems are go, the rear spoiler retracts, the front air diffusers shut and the ground clearance, normally 12.5 cm (4.9 in), drops to 6.5 cm (2.6 in).
