Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
When it comes to the vital statistics of a modern hypercar, surely none have as little relevance as its top speed. You can make use of a sub three-second 0-60mph time in most parts of the world without causing a ruckus—just find the nearest toll booth on a highway. Pin the throttle flat and for a brief moment, until respect for one's fellow humans or fear of the speeding ticket takes over, and it's possible to experience all of the torque and power. But reaching the Vmax for most of these hand-built exotics remains an abstract idea, even on Germany's derestricted Autobahns.
Fast forward another nine years and Bugatti replaced the Veyron with the Chiron, another scarab-like hypercar but this time with even more powerful 8L W16 engine, packing almost 1,500hp (1,103kW). But when the new car arrived, Bugatti revealed that its top speed was actually electronically limited to a maximum of 261mph (420km/h). It could theoretically go faster than that but its specially designed Michelin tires would fail under the extreme forces. [...]
Bugatti and Wallace spent four days at Ehra-Lessien, and eventually found enough confidence in the car to keep it flat over "the jump", a resurfaced section of track that would unsettle the Chiron as it crossed it at warp speed. "After it landed and had a bit of a weave about I thought it was the best it's been, the cross wind was a little bit less and I just kept it pinned," he told Autocar.
The result was a scarcely believable 304.773mph (490.484km/h), giving Bugatti hypercar bragging rights that will probably be difficult to beat. (Particularly since Bugatti, like Ehra-Lessien, is owned by Volkswagen.) At the same time, Bugatti is a European company, and therefore works in metric, as do most of its global customers. You have to wonder if discussions have already begun about trying to find an extra 10km/h so it can break the 500km/h barrier as well…
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday September 02 2019, @10:13PM (12 children)
The 500kph capable "performance" edition.
I think this was the car (or maybe its predecessor) that some dude just totally lost it in off the Gulf Freeway between Houston and Galveston. There's a problem when your land vehicle is going fast enough to catch air and generate more lift than its weight.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday September 02 2019, @11:16PM (10 children)
I forget the details, but IIRC it, and other "hypercars" change shape, lower themselves, raise wings and flaps, etc. I can't imagine going that fast on land, but I'd want some pretty sophisticated dynamically controlled aerodynamics and flight surfaces. You catch a little air and you're in huge trouble. NASCAR cars barely go 200 MPH and have all kinds of flaps to attempt to control things when cars get sideways, but sometimes they go very airborne.
I hope Dorian doesn't cause you too much trouble.
(Score: 3, Funny) by PartTimeZombie on Monday September 02 2019, @11:27PM (8 children)
I have been a passenger in a car going ~320 kmp/h and that was plenty fast enough for me. On a racetrack of course.
I suppose people go that fast on the autobahn, but they must have steel balls. I wouldn't do it.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday September 02 2019, @11:41PM (3 children)
> I suppose people go that fast on the autobahn
They do. I was cruising at 200/210kph in the middle of a scarcely populated tract with a tuned 330d and I got passed by a gt40 so fast that I didn't even see what color the plate was. I don't get it, I'd rather play at the green light or in the mountain with a proper car (a dallara stradale, a 4c, a lotus seven replica, an atom...). But hey, to each one his toys.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday September 03 2019, @12:05AM (2 children)
200 kmp/h in a nice BMW or whatever sounds great, especially on a good road like a autobahn. It's the extra 100 kmp/h that makes my sphincters clench.
I agree with you about mountain driving. I had a lot of fun in my Alfa Romeo when I was young and stupid driving through mountain passes at not much more than the speed limit.
(Honest officer)!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday September 03 2019, @01:55AM
We had a nice BMW that would do ~250kph, around 225 the aerodynamics started generating enough lift to lift up on its suspension, not enough to take off, but certainly enough to uncompress the springs, and the more air that got under, the more lift it generated.
I think the flying Bugatti in Texas might have caught an unlucky bump or gust of wind or something - it ended up off the road skimming through the water for a long long way.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 03 2019, @04:31AM
Mountain driving. I had to slow down some, when my new bride got carsick/airsick/seasick. That was a real bummer . . .
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday September 03 2019, @01:30AM
Guy I know was the driver of a car doing 180kmh around a racetrack when the ECU glitched and he had to restart it.
At 180kmh.
Says something for automotive control systems design that the only noticeable effect was a slight knock in the ignition on restart.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 03 2019, @04:05AM (1 child)
We should have autobahns in the US. Let's start a pressure group to promote them.
We could call it The Autobahn Society.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday September 03 2019, @07:51PM
You've described, essentially, 90% of New Mexico. Best time to drive through it is at night, as it's a giant desert. When my Dad would drive through, we'd be going quite fat, and never saw a single cop. Pro tip, if you see a sign that says no gas station for 100 miles. That's not an exaggeration. It might have gotten better, since I was a kid, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday September 03 2019, @01:18PM
The autobahn is very flat and straight. You don't really notice the speed until you have to slow down suddenly. A friend's father in Cologne was an executive recruiter that had placed most of the top people in Citroen Germany; he was going to take a trip to see family in Berlin so they lent him a prototype that could do 300kph. It lowered itself the faster you went, to deal with the ground effect, presumably. So they invited me along and we briefly touched top speed just shy of the East German border, the one place where traffic let up enough. You didn't really notice the difference as a passenger between normal speeds and top speed.
I do remember being impressed Citroen had managed it, since their cars are the sort that normally feel like they're going to rattle apart above 100kph.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday September 03 2019, @01:59AM
>but sometimes they go very airborne.
That's the problem with ground-effects, when you lose your proximity to the ground, you have a dramatic transition from vacuum-stuck to the pavement, to being a big lifting body.
You don't even need the Bernoulli effect of a long path over the top, short path on the bottom (which all cars have, anyway) - think about a sheet of plywood in the wind, tilt it up and you get tremendous lift just from the air impacting the bottom.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 03 2019, @12:58AM
Meanwhile, back in Realityville, our beXXXXed council are hanging out 40km/h signs. That will stop the 'boy racers' right in their tracks. Yes it will!
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Hartree on Monday September 02 2019, @10:34PM (12 children)
I can find cheaper ways to kill myself than trying to top out a Chiron.
I can get into all the trouble I can handle with a stock Ford Fiesta.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday September 02 2019, @11:02PM (7 children)
From a design perspective, the Fiesta is a lot better looking than both the Veyron and Chiron. Both of the latter look like they were designed by Ferengi and the Chiron in the link looks like a Ferengi escape pod painted in Israeli pride colors.
Perhaps they should have named the Chiron...the Oy-Veyron?
Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week!
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday September 02 2019, @11:49PM (6 children)
oy vey, but the cars with central engine are aesthetically unbalanced by default, because the pilot is pushed forward. the miura the countach and very few others manage to mask this. Plus the electric rimac concept one sidesteps the problem and is one of the best looking cars ever IMHO. (the concept 2 is too lamborghinous).
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday September 03 2019, @12:12AM (5 children)
Any kind of drive is going to murder its driver in iced-road conditions, unless that drive is front-wheel drive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 03 2019, @02:36AM (1 child)
I"ve driven more on ice than you ever will.
Front wheel drive is not a panacea. If you knew more about vehicle dynamics you'd understand this.
The ORIGINAL version of Audi's quattro system, which had two differentials that could be locked via pneumatic servos, was the most stable drive system on ice.
How do I know this ? I drove 300 miles on ice with both diffs locked and I was towing a 5x8 UHaul trailer. It was well beyond hairy. I was literally the ONLY vehicle on the road for that 300 miles. This was in southern Idaho, on Interstate 84, which is normally a fairly busy stretch of pavement. The reason no other vehicles were on the road was that the road was basically covered in ice, and most people knew better than to try driving on it. I was under orders from a government agency and I had no choice but to drive.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday September 03 2019, @01:28PM
pfah I-84 is for pussies. I-90 between St. Regis, MT and Coeur d'Alene is the way to cross Idaho. Real men do it in rear-wheel drive pickups, at 75mph, in January.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 03 2019, @04:40AM (1 child)
I've seen snow and ice within ~100 miles of San Diego. Someone who claimed to know said it was the first time in more than 30 years. I don't think you need to worry about ice very much, EF. Stay off the mountain passes, and your chances drop to real close to zero.
As for FWD, experienced drivers just don't care. Steer into the skid, front, rear, or middle. Yeah, middle, as in articulated vehicles. Rear or mid engine vehicles are far more of a factor than where your drive wheels are located.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 03 2019, @05:40AM
Meh. it gets cold and icy up by Alpine east of San Diego in the winter. it occasionally snows there and further up the hills, like Julian.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 03 2019, @05:18PM
Nope. The skill of the driver makes far more difference than the drive type. A skilled driver will navigate slippery snow and ice using a rear wheel drive car better than an unskilled driver in a 4WD car.
Now, that same skilled driver will obviously do better with 4WD than rear wheel drive in ice/snow, but again, it is the driver's skill level, not the drive type, that makes up all of the difference.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday September 02 2019, @11:28PM (3 children)
Yeah, but in a Chiron you'll get top news billing recognition. Fiesta won't even make police blotter.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday September 03 2019, @02:03AM
The police blotter was made for Fiestas - they spatter little drops on it.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Tuesday September 03 2019, @04:18AM (1 child)
True, but not quite the rep I'd want.
We had one of our students at the university I work for drive a quarter million dollar Ferrari through the front of a barber shop. That got some notice. I'm sure it impressed the gal who was riding with him, though maybe not in the way he wanted.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday September 03 2019, @04:40AM
Yeah, maybe not with her, but think of the future street cred. The ladies will line up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 02 2019, @11:59PM (1 child)
The essence of a car is the rubber meeting the road.
Both for providing forward power, but also controlling it.
At these speeds, the car meeting the air sounds more interesting that the rubber.
To be controllable, the gadget needs to be less like a car, and more like a plane.
Does it have movable control surfaces, or just tires for steering?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by istartedi on Tuesday September 03 2019, @05:48AM
Does it have movable control surfaces, or just tires for steering?
The Chiron, like its predecessor the Veyron, almost certainly has a spoiler. At low speeds it's retracted. When needed, it rises up to provide downforce and when braking from high speeds it tilts forward to produce drag. I assume it's all controlled by computers. I've seen it working in videos of the Veyron.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 03 2019, @12:01AM
The only accomplishment is that they "failed" to launch the vehicle into crash.
Even worse than my dumb trumpism submission. It at least is worth a chuckle.
(Score: 2) by Farkus888 on Tuesday September 03 2019, @08:53PM
First of all this was not a production record by any sane standard. The car was prepped by Dallara and they do not sell them in the prepped configuration. Take that qualifier away and it is over 100mph short of the piston powered wheel driven record. Fast, yes. Not worthy of the news or hype though.