Bugatti Veyron Tribute: 10 Facts That Shook The Auto Industry

By Santosh

The Bugatti Veyron story has come to an end, with the 450th and final unit sold to the last customer recently. Called the La Finale, the last Veyron was built after approximately ten years since the first model rolled off the production line in Molsheim, Alsace, in France.

This was a car like none other, with it setting so many standards of engineering excellence but uniquely combining it with a supremely luxurious grand tourer personality. While other supercars may have caught up with certain performance figures of late, let's not forget that the Veyron was the first car that taught humanity the feeling of 400 km/h on tarmac, long before other manufacturers even dreamed of trying to achieve similar milestones.

A special car like this needs a special farewell, so we thought we'd leave you with some of the incredible facts and figures associated with this iconic hypercar, in a tribute of sorts to its stellar achievements over its lifespan.

1. Velocity Bites

1. Velocity Bites

The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport still stands as the world's fastest production car with a top speed of 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph), while the roadster Grand Sport Vitesse is the fastest roadster in the world, setting an averaged top speed of 408.84 km/h (254.04 mph) during a 2013 test. The Hennessey Venom did set a faster time for a single top speed run, however, Guinness Book record laws state that top speed needs to be measured as an average of two runs in opposite directions, so the Bugatti still reigns supreme.

2. Lives on a diet of fuel and rubber

2. Lives on a diet of fuel and rubber

At 250 mph, the Veyron's tyres will last only 15 minutes, while the 26.4-gallon (100-litre) fuel tank will run dry in 12 minutes.

3. En-genius

3. En-genius

The Bugatti Veyron has an 8.0-litre, 64-valve, W16-cylinder configuration engine with 4 turbochargers producing 1,001 horsepower and 1,250 Nm of torque, as ‘conservatively' claimed by the Volkswagen Group.

4. Land-through-air missile

4. Land-through-air missile

At the Veyron's 253-mph top speed, it consumes 47,000 litres of air per minute—as much air as one man breathes in four days.

5. Beware! Extreme radiation

5. Beware! Extreme radiation

It takes 15 hours to build one radiator for the Veyron—each car has a total of 10—3 heat exchangers for the air-to-liquid intercoolers, 3 engine radiators, one for the air conditioning system, one transmission oil radiator, one differential oil radiator, and one engine oil radiator!

6. Pump and show

6. Pump and show

Fuel for thought: The Veyron utilises fuel pumps that can pump fuel eight times faster than a normal car.

7. Higher Attyre

7. Higher Attyre

The Bugatti Veyron uses special Michelin PAX tyres specially designed for and unique to the car. The rear wheels are 14.5 inches wide, around twice as wide as a regular car. If you require replacements, the car needs to be shipped to France to have the new tyres mounted, a process that costs a cool $70,000...

8. Heat up, brake fast

8. Heat up, brake fast

The carbon brakes measure 400 mm in the front and 380 mm in the rear, and can withstand heat of up to 1800°C.

9. Spoilers of victory

9. Spoilers of victory

The Bugatti Veyron can come to a dead-halt from its top speed in around 10 seconds. The brake-pressure-activated special spoiler pivots to effectively become an air brake, with the stopping power equivalent to a standard car's brakes.

10. Creating history is no loss cause

10. Creating history is no loss cause

The Volkswagen Group loses USD 6.25 million for each Veyron sold. However, the impact the Veyron has made on the automotive industry will far outweigh the monetary losses of the model. In addition, the extremely secure company can soon make financial amends with development of the next Bugatti model already ‘well underway', according to a recent announcement by Bugatti president, Wolfgang Durheimer.

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Article Published On: Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 15:22 [IST]
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