Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Balle Française



Imagine this! Your on the Autobahn in Germany. There are no traffic cars around you. It's just you and the road. Now, Imagine that your in a 1001 horsepower supercar breaking the sound barrier at 256 miles per hour on the Autobahn. Sounds crazy, huh? Well, lucky for you, Volkswagen put this imagination into reality.



This is the Bugatti Veyron, the fastest production car in the world. Unlike its rival, the SSC Ultimate Aero, it is a properly designed, technological piece of art. Everything around this car has been handcrafted to reach an ultimate top speed of 252 miles per hour. The engine is actually two Audi V8 engines combined to produce a W16 engine. For a lot more power, Bugatti put in not two, but four turbochargers into the engine producing 1001 horsepower making it one of the most powerful cars in the world. Even with this much power, it is unbelievably quiet. In some instances, when testing the car, the engine got way too hot. To sort this out, Bugatti put in 8 massive intercoolers and 10 radiators to help the engine stay cool even at high revs. The body of the car was designed in order to make the car extremely aerodynamic. To add to the aero, Bugatti fitted a hydraulic rear spoiler that automatically pops out when you need some grip. This spoiler also acts as an air-brake when driving too fast. To make sure the car remained stable at high speeds, Bugatti fitted it with Audi inspired all-wheel drive. This also made the car quick in the corners. Even though it's a Bugatti, they still insist on safety. Normally, to start a car you need one key in the ignition. Bugatti has two! You can use one for regular everyday driving with the top speed limited to 220 mph. But, if you really want to let it all out, there is a second key, in which you can insert behind the seats. This lowers the ride height and brings the rear spoiler down for aerodynamic effects. The top speed here is 252. For a car to go that fast, it must be quick off the start line. To make it quick, Bugatti put in a 7-gear dual-clutch sequential transmission. This gave the car the ability to reach 60 miles per hour in a staggering 2.6 seconds, making it the quickest car in the world. I could go on and on about the science behind this car, but I think you get the idea: this is engineering at its finest.



Fast isn't the only thing the Veyron can do. It can also do luxury. The seats are heated and made out of a fine tuned leather. As the for center console, you have your chose of two elements: a smooth aluminum finish, carbon fiber finish and even a handcrafted wood finish. There are many dials on the dashboard: one for speed, one for RPMs, and even one telling how much horsepower you are actually using. The car even comes with a rear view camera, parking sensors, a navigation system, and even cruise control. There is a lot of technology in this car.



The Bugatti Veyron has been praised for being one of the best engineered cars in the world. The award-winning car show "Top Gear" even praised it for being a car that "rewrote the rule book". There are various Bugatti's made special for certain customers. For example, the Bugatti Grand Sport was the first and only Bugatti with a glass roof that could be taken off manually. The Veyron Bleu Centenaire was the only Veyron in which the interior and exterior were painted blue. Then, there's the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. This was made in response to the SSC Ultimate Aero that shattered its top speed record by 5 mph. This new Veyron has increased its power from 1001 to 1200 horsepower. The body is now lighter and more aerodynamic. With a 0-60 time of 2.3 seconds, the car took its rightful place as the worlds fastest car with a new top speed of 268 mph! I don't think SSC can beat that.



The Bugatti Veyron has achieved world wide fame for being a car of its own genre. Unfortunately, in order to have this engineered marvel you must have a big wallet with $2.1 million saved for this car. Even with that amount of money, it is worth it. This is one of the best cars in the world.