Bugatti Veyron - Beyond engineering

BUGATTI VEYRON

Whenever we discuss about super cars there is no way anyone forgets to mention Bugatti Veyron.

Bugatti Veyron is master piece of engineering that can fly to a killer speed of 253 mph. Part Airplane and part automobile, a combination that makes this monster one of the most complex super-car of the automotive world. A rare combination of sculpture and speed,that only 450 were build for people with passion of 'speed,beauty and most complex engineering'. 

It cost $ 1.7-2.7 million dollars,an extreme price that pushes extreme in every direction. Nothing about this car is normal. Its engine cranks out at amazing 1001 HP nearly twice as much as other sports car. 

Veyron wears the initial of 'Ettore Bugatti' , the father of Italian family that build extremely unusual high performance cars from 1909 to 1947. Bugatti comes back to life in 1998 when Volkswagen buys the right to the brand. And after two years of purchase , it was decided to build something extra-ordinary, a car that would have 1001 HP and a top speed of 407 Kmph (253 MPH).

So, the first challenge was - "How to build an engine that has power five times a normal car"?

Even more incredible : " How do you give such powerful engine two very different personalities?"

1) When it's a beast on a racetrack.
2) A gentle giant that can be driven around town everyday.

And it takes engineers 5 years to find the solution- One giant W16 cylinder engine. Only 8 specialist build the massive engine of Bugatti Veyron,which is absolutely hand made engine. W16 is made with more than 3500 parts ,twice more than an engine of typical car and takes about 4 weeks to assemble one engine. An engine that has power of 1001 horses combined. 

W16 Engine

But the 1001 HP is not in-fact true. The engine produces about 3000 HP but two-third of that energy is 'heat'. These was so high that it can keep 100 families warm in winter. Even during an early road test, a 6 foot flame shoot at back of the car. The solution was to use 'Titanium'., which is also used in aerospace industries.

Also it was a challenge to build the most efficient cooling system to keep the massive engine cool. The radiator is hand-made with 600 different grooves for water to flow through.

Stacking of plates

They do it by stacking 30 different plates into a jig ,welding it all together,polishing it and then pressure testing it to make certain there are no leaks. It takes 15 hours to build one radiator and Veyron has 10 of them.

• 3 heat exchangers for the air to liquid intercoolers
• 3 engine radiators
• 1 for air conditioning system
• 1 transmission oil radiator
• 1 differential oil radiator
• 1 engine oil radiator

TRANSMISSION:

One of the kind engine , needs one of a kind transmission. So, the next problem for engineers was " How to make Veyron one of the fastest shifting car of the world?"

The  Bugatti Veyron accelerates from 0-100km/hr (0-60 mph) in 2.5 secs only. The transmission shifts  about 150 ms(milli-seconds) which is same as blinking your eye. For this Veyron has a little secret. The Veyron has two transmission,built into one-they called it as 'Double clutch transmission'. 

It has two input shafts, one for 'even' gears and another for the 'odd' gears having clutch in each input shaft. Hence with two separate transmission shafts,two gears can be engaged at same time and to shift all the car does is with clutches. And because of this double clutch transmission concept, the shifting is so fast. 

That is, car can be accelerating in one gear and already have the next gear ready to go! Because of such extreme acceleration the another challenge for engineers was to stop the car.

BRAKE:

Even though engineers work very hard to make very powerful engine that can accelerate from 0-100 km/hr(0-60 mph) in just 2.5 secs, they had to put the same efforts to stop these beast. Bugatti Veyron needed the most powerful brakes ever build,to make it as street legal production car. The Veyron has massive disc brake made from high tech carbon,ceramic and titanium. Each brakes is hand made by experts.But even the Veyron's massive brakes aren't enough to handle the car's incredible power. 

But Veyron can be stopped faster than any other production car in the world. That because Veyron has two different braking system build in the car. First is mechanical brake in wheels and the second one is air brake. At speeds above 125mph (201 kmph), hit the brake pedal and Veyron's rear wing shoots upto 55° angle. The wing acts as an air-brake providing almost one-third of Veyron's total braking power. The airbrake alone generates 70% braking power of normal car. Together,the wing and disc brakes have a total braking force equal to almost twice the force of gravity. The Veyron takes less than 10 seconds to go from its top speed of 253mph to complete stop. No other car has made brakes that can do that or even come close. In up position the Veyron rear wing helps braking while lowered it add stability to high speed run creating downforce to be in contact with the ground.

For this to operate the rear wing has to operate at very high speed response-'measured in pico-seconds which is one billionth of a second'. The sensors measures the time it takes the pulsive light to travel down a wire in a magnet and reflect back as an ultra-sonic sound wave. 

For normal driving the wing is retracted ,and when you hit 136 mph, the wing pops up to 15° angle. For high speed runs above 230mph the wing retracts to just 2° angle. For high speed stops the wing hits 55° in four-tenth of a second.

Air brakes in action

STRUCTURE:

The frame for the Veyron is made by Heggemann, an aerospace company that builds aircraft parts. They installed the rear wing assembly for Veyron. Heggemann aerospace builds 150 sub-assemblies for the Veyron, including the rear and front frame for the car. 

They construct the rear frame out of high strength aircraft graded stainless steel and welded exactly as same as they weld the airplane parts. Heggemann aerospace also manufactures Veyron's fuel tank which took almost 4 years from design to actual model. It took that long as Veyron fuel tank needs to pump fuel 8 times more faster than normal fuel tank. It takes 3 days to weld the fuel tank of Veyron with 250 different parts, 5 times the number in normal car's fuel tank. So, in total there are 2300 different parts that Heggemann manufactures for Bugatti Veyron.

TYRE:

Before the Veyron came into market no tyre manufacturer ever created an automobile tyre that can be used above 250 mph. 

Michelin took the challenge to build tyre that can go to extreme limit. Michelin presented two different tyre : one for race track and another for road. But Bugatti wanted both in one single tyre. So, they had to specially design tyres that can function as both. They are massive tyres, 14.5" inches wide for rear wheel which is as twice as wide as normal car tyre. They make Veyron tyre by rolling multiple layers of rubber on a drum. A set of Veyron tyres last for 6000 miles and the replacement for all four tyres can cost upto 17000 $. Infact the tyres are over-engineered as they can go for 279 mph on torturing machine at Michelin.

ASSEMBLY:

The assembly of Bugatti Veyron is done by just 17 specialist workers. First they carefully move the rear frame complete with its wing struts into position to bolt it to the engine and transmission. 

The car ends up in three section,where the rear part is connected with the front part only with 14 titanium bolts,each bolt costing 100 $. 

TESTING:

Every Veyron is tested in Volkswagen super facility where it has 60 miles of private road including a straightaway over 5 miles long. This track allows the Veyron to achieve its top speed which is 253 mph. First few lapse to warm up the car,  then driver acclerates to 155 mph. After the cornering comes the straight road of 5 miles where Veyron is taken to its top limit.

Each Bugatti Veyron is tested for nearly 500 km to check each and every single defect which hardly exists.


Bugatti Facts:

1) A 6 feet long flame came out of exhaust when running test for first time. This made them to choose titanium for exhaust pipe.

2) The Veyron could go actually to 260 mph, but it is computer limited to 253 mph as above that speed stability could become a problem.

3) At maximum power, its turbocharger suck in the same amount of air in one minute that the driver would use to breath for 4 days. 

4) At top speed Veyron gets 3miles/gallon , and at that speed its 26 gallon fuel tank runs dry in just 12 minutes.

5) You cannot go to the top most speed that is 253 mph but you can go for maximum 230 mph. In order to achieve top speed it should be activated by special key on floor left to the driver's seat. When you activate that Bugatti will get informed.

6) 0-60 mph or 0-100 kmph in just 2.5 seconds. About 4000 HP needed to stop the car from its top speed.


Footnote:
Sources: Special thanks to nat geo gif's.