Veyron

Nope, not the racing driver Pierre Veyron. But a car named after him. The Bugatti Veyron 16.4.



Designed by Hartmut Warkuss of Volkswagen (VW Group owns Bugatti), the Veyron underwent various development stages. Including being pulled back to the drawing board as the requirements were not achieved by its concept cars. Now, with the 1001 bhp, 8.0 liter Quad-turbocharged W16 engine, and the friction coefficient of a fish, the mid engine all wheel drive monster is the fastest production car in the world. Not to mention the most expansive too with a price tag of approximate £840,000 (approx. RM 5,880,000).



With that 1001 bhp (1006-1026 bhp to be exact) and 1250 Nm of torque, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is capable of achieving a top speed of over 400 km/h within a minute with the aid of its 7 speed, dual-clutch sequential transmission (0-100 km/h in 2.5 s, 0-200 km/h in 7.3 s, 0-300 km/h in 16.7s) . With the top speed of 407 km/h (electronically limited), the W16 engine is capable of drying its 100L fuel tank within 12 minutes and the four Michelin run-flat tyres (specifically designed for the Veyron) will wear out within 15 minutes in the process of achieving its top speed. 10 radiators were mounted onto the vehicle to dissipate the immense amount of heat generated. 3 for engine cooling, 1 for the air to liquid intercoolers, 2 for the air conditioning, 1 for transmission oil, 1 for differential oil, 1 for the engine oil and 1 for the spoiler's hydraulic oil.


The Veyron 16.4 is stopped by a set of 400 mm(front) and 380 mm(rear) cross drilled, turbine-vented carbon rotors with 8 pot titanium calipers and ABS, ESP and stuff to provide even braking on each wheel.The rear wing further improves its braking as it acts as an air brake as it raises up to 70 degrees within 0.4 s as the brakes are applied at speeds above 200km/h. With brake pressure of up to 180 bar, the Veyron 16.4 is said to be able to come to a stand still from its top speed in less than 10s.

Straight to the point now, I am most impressed with that 8.0L W16 engine. Engineers, care to do some calculations?


The aim: create an engine capable of producing 1001 bhp
Challenge: make it burn enough gasoline to produce that amount of power.

1000 horsepower = ~2.6 x 10^9 Joules/hour
1L of gasoline = 34.7 x 10^6 Joules
1000 hp requires approx. 75 liters of gas per hour(1.25L per min)

since efficiency of car engines = ~25%
1000 hp now requires 300L of gas per hour (5L per min)

1kg of gas requires ~14.7 kg of air to burn.
density of air = 1.22 kg per cubic meter
density of gasoline = 737 kg per cubic meter.
= 0.737 kg per liter

Air required to produce 1000hp= (5 x 0.737 x 14.7) /1.22
= 44 cubic meters per min
= 44,oooL of air per min

A normal V-8 engine at 6000rpm can inhale total of 24,000 cylinders full of air per min.
(Since V-engine, 1 min = 6000 x 8/2 cylinders full)

-For 44,000L of air per min, it requires approx. 2 liters per cylinder full.
-therefore displacement of V-8 engine = 16 liter

But, a 16 liter V-8 will require huge pistons and cylinders. Due to laws of physics, It is impossible for the engine to rev up to 6000rpm.

Bugatti came up with a solution:
take 2 4.0L V-8 engines, bi-turbocharge both of them, mount them side by side, there you go!
An 8.0L QUAD-TURBOCHARGED W16 engine! Each cylinder consists of 4 valves, that makes 64 valves! Massive!



I myself am not at big fan of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4. Not a big fan of its design, nor its styling, not to mention its colour coding. However, the vehicle is a break through in the automotive industry. C'mon, with 1001 bhp, it is capable of actually turning through corners! And it had got a horsepower meter! How cool is that? You've gotta be impressed! This ain't not a freaking wussy American car that only knows how to go straight, mate!



PS: a little extra. Not for the faint hearted. Here


References:
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Veyron_16.4
-http://auto.howstuffworks.com/bugatti.htm
-http://www.rsportscars.com/eng/cars/bugatti_veyron.asp
-http://www.bugatti-cars.de
-http://www.atspeedimages.com/limerock_2003/concours/bugatti_veyron/