Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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Morteza
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Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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TopGear.com
Over the past six months, a team of engineers from Bugatti, Michelin and chassis wizards Dallara set about creating a car that can break the 300mph barrier. And what a car. This is no ordinary Chiron. First, there’s the way it looks. At 25cm longer, this Chiron has an elegant but menacing presence. Its purposeful intent is amplified by laser-controlled ride height, set significantly lower to reduce drag, giving the impression that the car is melting into the tarmac.

At the rear, the long tail with its reduced cross section (to aid aero and minimise drag) is punctuated by a pair of over-and-under shotgun tail-pipes (first seen on the Centodieci limited special). Objectively, these project the exhaust emissions as far from the rear as possible to reduce their effect on drag and aero. Subjectively, they add even more drama and a whole new menace and sense of purpose to the Chiron aesthetic.

To reduce drag, the rear wing and airbrake have been removed and replaced with a static unit recessed into the tail. Somehow the design team has managed to incorporate the demands for low drag and high-speed stability, while improving aesthetics to the extent that when you look at the regular car, it looks stumpy in comparison.

“The biggest challenge is to get the overall package right, not only design, not only aerodynamics, not only engine, not only tyres. It’s to get everything together and working in one car,” says Frank Heyl, the man with the most outrageous title at Bugatti – master of arts, head of exterior design.

Inside, the high-speed Chiron has been stripped of a passenger seat, replaced with myriad computer systems. There’s a full roll cage and a safety seat for the driver, and any number of visible and invisible weight-saving measures have been deployed.

Given speed is driven by two factors – aerodynamic efficiency and power – the engine powering the Chiron is rather special too. The 8.0-litre, quad-turbo W16 unit, nicknamed Thor, delivers 1,578bhp. In a testament to Bugatti’s engineering, the gearbox remains standard – as does the all-wheel-drive system.
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Holm86
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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Impressive achievement, and a long tail Chiron looks pretty good.
Ready for Le Mans hypercar class from 2021?? :D [-o<

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MtthsMlw
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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I'm quite surprised. I thought Koenigsegg would break that barrier first.

Just_a_fan
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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Heavily modified compared to the car one can buy from Bugatti. McLaren just removed the rev limiter from the F1 back in the day... 8)

Impressive performance, however, and big respect to Wallace for yet again setting the bar. =D>
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.

NL_Fer
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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@400 fuel and tyres are gone within 15 minutes. How about 500, after 10?

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MtthsMlw
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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Did he also drive back? To verify the record like Koenigsegg did a while ago.

santos
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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Just_a_fan wrote:
02 Sep 2019, 16:56
Heavily modified compared to the car one can buy from Bugatti. McLaren just removed the rev limiter from the F1 back in the day... 8)

Impressive performance, however, and big respect to Wallace for yet again setting the bar. =D>
Maybe this version will be the Super Sport.

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Andres125sx
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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I love the car, I love the technology, I love the speed... but... this is becoming absurd sincerely

As NL-Fer said, tires are gone in 60km at 400kmh, so at 490... What if driver need to stop the car in a hurry? Will the tires (and driver) survive?


To me this is several orders of magnitude more dangerous than any racing category. And I love it but, I wonder what will have to happen before manufacturers stop this fight for nosense records :?

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RZS10
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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I wonder if VW threw money at that one off car to beat Koenigsegg to 300 (who will do it with a series production car in the Jesko eventually) after Koenigsegg embarassed them with the Agera RS runs shortly after VW made a big deal out of their 0-400-0 time with the Chiron Sport :lol:

Given that no one drives those cars at those speeds apart from high speed runs in closed locations there's really no reason to stop it, is there? Most of those cars end up in collections or get driven around downtown at crawling speeds (or into lakes) by some douchebag millionaires ... it's really just about prestige and great engineering feats.

I'd also say that hunting for NBR Nordschleife records is more dangerous than running in a circle on a purpose built high speed test track - Koenigsegg actually destroyed one of their ONE:1s doing that and the driver was fine

Besides ... if one would stop doing potentially dangerous and/or risky things life would be extremely bland and boring - can't imagine the adrenaline rush at 300+ mph in a car

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strad
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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There’s a full roll cage and a safety seat for the driver,
See mom it's totally safe. :lol: :lol: :lol:
I was surprised at how quiet and smooth it was at those speeds.
It's not like some guy from the office was doing this. Highly modified and a professional test driver on a closed course.
If some IT guy or book keeper is dumb enough to attempt something like this on the highway I would agree it's at or near the top of the list of stupid. Almost as stupid as the guys that went passed today on a back country road pretending they were Guy Martin at the IoM. I'm glad they were going the other way.
To achieve anything, you must be prepared to dabble on the boundary of disaster.”
Sir Stirling Moss

roon
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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Complaining about a manufacturer builing a production based racecar? You guys must really hate WEC. Stripping out a roadcar and giving it custom parts is as old as... Cars?

Maritimer
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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NL_Fer wrote:
02 Sep 2019, 17:18
@400 fuel and tyres are gone within 15 minutes. How about 500, after 10?
The rate would increase exponentially I'd expect, so probably less than seven.

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Holm86
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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Its very impressive how stable and calm the Bugatti is, I remember the Koenigsegg as being very loud, and all over the road on their record run.

santos
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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RZS10 wrote:
02 Sep 2019, 22:27
I wonder if VW threw money at that one off car to beat Koenigsegg to 300 (who will do it with a series production car in the Jesko eventually) after Koenigsegg embarassed them with the Agera RS runs shortly after VW made a big deal out of their 0-400-0 time with the Chiron Sport :lol:
There's a difference. The Bugatti made it's run almost at sea level. Koenigsegg did it in Nevada, at a higher altitude where there's less drag.

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RZS10
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Re: Bugatti breaks 300 mph barrier with a modified Chiron

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santos wrote:
03 Sep 2019, 10:56
RZS10 wrote:
02 Sep 2019, 22:27
I wonder if VW threw money at that one off car to beat Koenigsegg to 300 (who will do it with a series production car in the Jesko eventually) after Koenigsegg embarassed them with the Agera RS runs shortly after VW made a big deal out of their 0-400-0 time with the Chiron Sport :lol:
There's a difference. The Bugatti made it's run almost at sea level. Koenigsegg did it in Nevada, at a higher altitude where there's less drag.
yea that's true but also irrelevant ...

Bugatti did their run on the Ehra Lessien track in (what appeared to be) perfect conditions ... 90-100 meters above sea level.
0-400 ... 32.6 s
400-0 ... 9.3 s
0-400-0 ... 41.96 s ... 3112 m


After that run Volkswagen announced they'd go for the top speed world record in 2018, saying this run was just a first step in showing the exceptional, unrivaled position the car had among the world of high performance cars.

Koenigsegg did their initial run on a dusty low grip runway of the Business Park Vandel in Denmark ... 71 meters above sea level.
0-400 ... 26.88 s (-5.72s ; 17.5% faster)
400-0 ... 9.56 s (a tiny bit worse)
0-400-0 ... 36.44 s ... 2441 m (-5.52s and -671m ; 13.16% faster and 21.56% shorter)


That run already humiliated VW merely a month after their pompous press release.

Pulverizing the record in the Nevada run on a dusty piece of public road another month later was just the icing on the cake.
0-400 ... 24 s ... 1740.2 m (-8.6s and -888m ; 26% faster and 33% shorter)
400-0 ... 9.29 s ... 499.3 m (the same)
0-400-0 ... 33.29 s ... 2239,5 m (-8.67s and -872.5m ; 20.7% faster and 28% shorter)


They also did their (still standing) world record of 278mph (reaching 285mph in one direction) there.

Anyone good at math/physics correct me if i'm wrong but at the same temperature the drag difference for a car like the Agera RS at 100m and 1000m above sea level would maybe be around 10% and some of that would be negated by a potential loss of power, right?

Anyways ... after that VW never even attempted their boastfully announced high speed run - i believe this purpose built, heavily modified Chiron might be their reaction to that slap in the face they received back then.