summary

The main instrument with a range from 0 to 1001 shows the actual power available at the wheels. "It takes only 270 bhp to achieve a speed of 250 km/h," says technilcal director Wolfgang Schreiber, one of 3 people who have taken the 16/4 Veyron to its limits so far.

"The Veyron exceeds all expectations" added the engineer. The engine produces 3000 hp but it takes 1000 hp to cool it, another 1000 hp get lost by heat and gas emissions and the remaining 1001 bhp are available at the wheels.

1250 Nm from 2200 rpm, even in 3rd gear all 4 wheels would spin in the wet if the ESP would be switched off. "It is forgiving and easy to handle but deserves a lot of respect."

The arodyminc set-up, the relatiosnhsip between drag coeffiecient and downforce has to be changed completely to achieve a top speed of +400 km/h, the drag coefficent comes to Cw=0.36 and it produces nearly no downforce in front and just 40 kgs in rear.

In handling mode up to 375 km/h the wings and diffusors produce a downforce of 150 kgs in front and 200 kgs in rear. As the Mercedes SLR, the Veyron also comes with an air brake as the rear wng flips up vertically producing 300kgs of downforce at the rear and so an decellartion of 0.6g to come to halt.

The Veyron has 4 water coolers, 2 intercoolers for the turbos and two larger ones for the engine coolant. The ideal temperature to reach the top speed of 400 km/h is between 18 and 28 degrees Celsius. In city traffic, the rear wings flips up into cool-down position and the 16/4 Veyron is surrounded by clouds of heat, gas, dust and smell. The air is flickering as if the Veyron is a Fata Morgana.

The Veyron covers the whole range form 40 to 400 km/h comfortably, all parameters of the suspension can be adjusted, the groudn clearance ranges from 115 to 35 mms.

The Veyron is fitted with Michelin PAX-tyres in the dimesion of 265/35 R 20 in front and 365/25 R 21 in rear.

The kerb weight: 1950 kgs !!!
0-100 km/h in 2.5 secs.*
0-200 km/h in 7.3 secs.*
0-300 km/h in 16.7 secs.*
*mfr.

transmisison: 7-speed DSG with paddles

fuel consumption:
av. 20 liters per 100 km
100 liters per 100 km at top speed!
max range = 100 km at top speed, a new record!

"300 km/h is nothing for the Veyron, there still is enough power to achieve 380 km/h easily. But it takes 55 secs. to accelerate from 380 to 405 km/h."

Vmax = 111 meter per second!,
the engines revs 6000 rpm in 7th gear,
tyre pressure raises from 3.0 to 3.5 bar in within 15 secs.
it would take another 8 bhp just to achieve 1 km/h more.

Review:
"In the beginning there was chaos. The fuel amount made available by the fuel pumps was just enough to achieve 650 bhp, we had to develop complete new fuel pumps and modern knock sensor technology. There were problems with the drive shafts losing the grease."

How many cars are sold?
the figures vary from 30 to 40 units, means that another 10 still will be available for 2006. No potential customers so far had the chance to test drive the car.