1,200 PS in a roadster — with the introduction of the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse in 2012 — Bugatti set new requirements of energy and efficiency from a roadster. A yr later, the extraordinary hyper sports activities automotive cemented its distinctive standing within the automotive world by hitting a high pace of 408.84 km/h — establishing itself because the world’s strongest and quickest manufacturing roadster — a file for open-top autos that also stands immediately.
President of Bugatti Vehicles Christophe Piochon remembers how, after the Veyron 16.4 Tremendous Sport coupé launched the world to the 1,200 PS W16 engine, prospects expressed their need for an open-top model which boasted the identical inconceivably excessive energy output. The engineers spent the next months growing the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse.
The best problem when it got here to the brand new roadster was attaining ample driving stability and redefining the rollover safety and the detachable roof of the predecessor Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport. The Veyron’s very particular structural design wanted to be additional strengthened. To attain this, a detachable roof module created from light-weight polycarbonate was created, which made open-top driving attainable in only a few handbook steps. What sounds easy was in actuality something however – within the coupé the roof is an integral a part of the monocoque body that helps present the automotive with its excellent stability. Within the roadster, reinforcements with extraordinarily excessive torsional rigidity of twenty-two,000 Nm per diploma alongside calculated load paths needed to be added to attain the required rigidity and security requirements.
The extraordinarily sturdy and light-weight passenger compartment constructed within the monocoque design required an optimum mixture of physique rigidity and light-weight development. If an integral a part of the construction — i.e. the roof — is eliminated, the load paths have to be redefined as a way to keep the automobile’s excessive rigidity and crash security that embody facet impression and rollover safety.
The monocoque was consequently strengthened across the facet skirts and the transmission tunnel, and the B pillars have been laterally stiffened by a carbon fiber assist. A central carbon plate beneath the transmission tunnel served to make sure the automobile was much less liable to torsional flexing than some other roadster. As well as, the facet doorways of the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse are created from carbon fiber and disguise an built-in longitudinal assist with pins that passes the load from the A pillar to the B pillar within the occasion of an accident, decreasing impression drive.
The 8.0-liter W16 engine delivers 1,200 PS and allows the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse to hit a high pace of 410 km/h. On the record-setting drive, carried out by Chinese language businessman and race automotive driver Anthony Liu in 2013, a pace of 408.84 km/h was recorded, with the roof down.
“Minus the roof, the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse demonstrates simply how unparalleled Bugatti’s engineering experience is. Though the burden distribution is totally completely different when the roof is down, the automobile stays secure and accelerates simply as impressively because it does with the roof closed,” explains Christophe Piochon. “With the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, Bugatti proved it was attainable to construct an open-top hyper sports activities automotive with very excessive efficiency and energy output that drives extraordinarily dynamically and really comfortably.”
The predecessor of the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse that was unveiled in 2008 — the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport which boasted 1,001 PS — had already allowed prospects to expertise phenomenal energy with top-down driving, however the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse amplified the expertise even additional, residing as much as its title — Vitesse — which interprets to hurry. The rise of 199 PS in contrast with the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport was achieved in the beginning due to 4 bigger turbochargers, along with new intercoolers.
The design of the automotive was additionally overhauled; the entrance of the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse options broad air intakes as on the Veyron 16.4 Tremendous Sport. The underside air slot extends sidewards into the wheel properly, giving the roadster a particularly commanding look. Straight under the air consumption is a brand new entrance spoiler. A double diffuser, a central twin-pipe exhaust system, and a roof edge spoiler all mix to present the rear of the automotive an extremely hanging design. In distinction to the coupé, the roadster’s pores and skin is made totally from carbon. Bugatti subsequently additionally presents the choice of clear, seen carbon paintwork.
In contrast to the Veyron 16.4 Tremendous Sport, however like all the opposite Veyron fashions, the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse has two air scoops on all sides of the engine cowl. Within the roadster, these serve two functions: firstly, they suck in air for the 16-cylinder engine and, secondly, they’re an elegantly built-in a part of the rollover safety.
Bugatti additionally strengthened all of the powertrain elements, together with the gearing of the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (DSG). A gas system taken from the Veyron 16.4 Tremendous Sport that encompasses a four-pump tank provides the engine with ample gas. To reliably and comfortably put the facility on the street, Bugatti retuned the chassis together with ESP, tires, and brakes — all of which carry the roll and pitch all the way down to an nearly imperceptible minimal.
With the roof closed, the predecessor mannequin, the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport with 1,001 PS, hits a pace of precisely 407 km/h, matching that of the coupé. When the roof is down, Bugatti electronically curtails the pace to 360 km/h. Within the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, not solely is the facility output greater, so too is the highest pace. With its 1,200 PS when the roof is closed, the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse accelerates to as a lot as 410 km/h, whereas its pace is restricted to 375 km/h when the roof is down.
“The inner noise and turbulence are decreased to a minimal due to the roof edge spoiler and an elaborately designed wind deflector. Even at high speeds of over 200 km/h, the passengers can nonetheless maintain a dialog with the highest down,” relates Christophe Piochon. “This was us catering to a elementary buyer want.” Along with carbon, aluminum, and magnesium, Bugatti included a particular moisture-resistant leather-based with high-quality backstitching within the inside.
The Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse was to be the final mannequin within the Veyron collection, with the 2013 model created as a part of the Les Légendes de Bugatti vary. Les Légendes de Bugatti celebrated not solely six historic Bugatti people — Jean-Pierre Wimille, Jean Bugatti, Meo Costantini, Rembrandt Bugatti, Black Bess, and Ettore Bugatti — but additionally Bugatti’s distinctive creativity and craftsmanship. To this finish, for the Les Légendes de Bugatti version of the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, the designers used ending strategies and supplies by no means earlier than seen like this in a automobile. All of the Légendes fashions, which have been restricted to simply three autos every, offered out instantly.
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