Bugatti Veyron: Gone But Not Forgotten
It’s been 20 years since the Veyron – conceptualised by the greatest car engineer of all time – shattered the production car top speed record on its way to 407kmph;
The Bugatti Veyron was armed to its horseshoe grille with tech such as AWD and an active rear wing that also acted as an airbrake
The Passat VR 6 has a rated top speed of 250kmph, except those were the days when press cars had an extra sprinkling of masala in them. Whether it was by extension or a consequence of it I’m unsure, but those were also the days when press departments were staffed with enthu-cutlets, a notable example being the then-head of VW Group India comms who had his left indicator on while tailgating everything in the fast lane, the most aggressive way the Germans ask people to get out of their way. He had one job. Clear out the fast lane. Behind him I had one job. Give it the beans. Hang back, as the Passat maxed out at 275kmph cleared out traffic. And then, boom. 16 cylinders. 4 turbos. 8 litres. And the world’s fastest car.
As far as memories go, this is hardwired into my brain. The mercilessly brutal rate of acceleration. The noise. The… ease with which it cracked 300kmph, and would push on even higher were it not for the Passat now blocking my lane. And yet it could also idle in 45-degree traffic like a Polo.
The story goes that VW Group overlord Ferdinand Piech wanted his road going missile to eclipse the top speed of his Porsche 917 at Le Mans – and hence the 400kmph target. To get to a third of the speed of sound posed monumental engineering challenges and intractable physics problems. The tyres took five years to develop. Active aerodynamics set the car up for handling.
The Speed Key dropped ride height to just 65mm for top speed runs. At 400kmph the Michelin PAX tyres had a lifespan of 15 minutes. At top speed the 16-cylinder engine gulped fuel at a rate of 8 litres per minute, exhausting the 100 litres in 12 minutes. Fuel economy, if you’re interested, of 0.8kmpl.
To rein it all in, carbon ceramic brakes weren’t enough, it needed an air brake like a fighter jet. 1250Nm of torque required development of a brand-new 7-speed DSG. The mid-mounted W16 was dry-sumped and bolted to the carbon monocoque using titanium bolts. Those bolts, once unscrewed, had to be thrown away – I still have one of those bolts from the time I visited Molsheim.
Cooling needed 10 radiators. The tyres were so wide the pedals and thus your feet, were angled inwards. And it had an exquisitely crafted cabin that used blemish-free hides from Alpine cattle raised in cool climates and kept away from barbed wire and insects.
It was also the first time I heard of Burmester audio. And it had not one screen in sight. Those days screens were just beginning to pop up, and I thought the engineers had missed a trick. 20 years later, exhausted as we are with screens, we now know who the greatest car engineer of all time was.