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Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

topgear.com

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Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#141

Post by C1sc0cat »

toyg wrote: post #119
tialaramex wrote: post #13

It's futile to actually have road-legal cars that go this fast because you can't do very much useful with the speed. This is much too fast for the human operator (driver) to safely react to things outside the cockpit, which is why for example Britain owns trains capable of 140mph in service but deliberately limits them to 125mph. Tests suggested drivers couldn't be relied on to reliably observe and react to a linesid…

It’s futile to have quad-core laptops bought by managers who barely run office apps. But the world of commerce runs on dreams.

Quad core is entry level now, when did you last buy a laptop :-)

Having a laptop with say a 16/32 Ryzen 3 (which believe is due fairly soon) would be pointless

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#142

Post by n1000 »

colechristensen wrote: post #130
fasicle wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would a Tesla's initial torque compare to the Bugatti? Would the Bugatti reach 30 mph much faster?

The fastest Tesla seems to beat the stock version of the Bugatti in question by about a quarter second from 0-60 (2.25s vs 2.5s) but the Bugatti handily beats the Tesla in the 1/4 mile by half a second and 25 mph, so the Tesla wins at acceleration for the first second or so. The torque curve on the Bugatti starts out lower for the first 1-2k RPM and then sticks at a significantly higher torque that seems artificially…

These fancy supercars come with "launch control". A mechanism that will rev in a high range (charging the turbos) and then release the clutch with full torque. I wonder if that helps...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_control_(automotive)

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#143

Post by cs02rm0 »

dvdbloc wrote: post #50
mrweasel wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but that just makes the whole exercise even more pointless. There's really no point in building a car that can go above 150km/h, but perhaps some of the aerodynamics can translate into more fuel efficient car. I'm also slightly annoyed by the usage of the word "barrier". There's physical or perceived 300mph barrier. People have built cars that will go a super sonic speeds, so there was never any doubt that it w…

I know you are probably just speaking in jest but "faster" is all relative. If you put this Bugatti in an F1 race, it probably wouldn't win. They are both engineered to do their very specific things.

Just to put some numbers to that... at the Nordschliefe in 1974 Lauda dipped under 7 minutes. The original Veyron managed 7:40 in 2005. BMW engineers estimated their 2006 car could lap it in 5:15.

Basically, put a few corners in and I don't think it would even be close. There's quite a few cars that can claim a faster top speed than an F1 car though.

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#144

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

killjoywashere wrote: post #96
fasicle wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would a Tesla's initial torque compare to the Bugatti? Would the Bugatti reach 30 mph much faster?

Top Gear actually did a road test of a Tesla S vs an Aston Martin starting at 30 MPH and the Tesla dusted the Aston Martin. Considering electric motors start with max torque, and the stats that are easily googlable, the Tesla would have no problem with the Bugatti. Never mind the Tesla is smaller, has a lower center of gravity, and costs 15x less and has more range. And it's probably worth noting that the Tesla is al…

Apples and oranges. Stats alone are pretty meaningless when comparing what's basically a mass produced commuter car that had to meet a price point with a limited production luxury super car built without budget constraints.

The Bugattis and Aston Martins alike are engineered to lap tracks or do speed runs over and over again in comfort and luxury without any reduction in acceleration or braking performance while Tesla's drive-train reaches its thermal limits really fast if you push it and reduces its performance accordingly.

Tesla, due to how economics factor in engineering, was not designed to deliver it's peak performance in a sustained fashion but in short bursts when you need it. The Bugattis and Porsches can deliver their peak performance all day long, that's why they cost x-times more. And let's not talk about luxury or comfort.

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#145

Post by hvidgaard »

gavia1 wrote: post #88
MrGilbert wrote: post #48

It's pretty impressive. In terms of a daily driver, I think the fun comes from the acceleration, and thus the torque a car can produce. My daily driver is a Mazda 3 / Mazda Axela, which comes with 200 Newtonmeter torque at 6400 rpm. It's ok, it's fun, but yeah. So the other day I drove a 2013 Nissan Leaf (BEV), which gives you ~250 Nm torque right at the beginning. This was so much fun to drive. So for me, a car does…

You could get close just with turbocharging which will lower the torque curve such that max torque is somewhere around 1500 to 2000RPM.

After a second or two of spooling the turbo yes - but it's not equivalent to an EV which has instant torque.

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#146

Post by arethuza »

ollie87 wrote: post #21
tialaramex wrote: post #13

It's futile to actually have road-legal cars that go this fast because you can't do very much useful with the speed. This is much too fast for the human operator (driver) to safely react to things outside the cockpit, which is why for example Britain owns trains capable of 140mph in service but deliberately limits them to 125mph. Tests suggested drivers couldn't be relied on to reliably observe and react to a linesid…

Mmmmhmmm, don't really see it as an issue here given that not many folks are going to be buying a £2.5m hypercar to drive at three times the speedlimit to work on a Monday morning.

I remember reading about a German chap who used a McLaren F1 for a commute on an unlimited section of the autobahn - his average speed was so high McLaren contacted him to check that everything was OK.

The F1, in pre-internet days, literally phoned home to McLaren with telemetry.

Edit: I think you had to physically plug it into a phone socket... in case anyone was being put off buying an F1 for security/privacy reasons. ;-)

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#148

Post by hvidgaard »

edejong wrote: post #39
jlg23 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's futile .... But it is fun .

This got me thinking. Once I thought it was fun , but the more I look at it, the more I feel it is utterly pointless. A racing car has a function: to get around a track faster than other cars (over a period of laps). To do this, it needs to be versatile: turning, braking, acceleration, fuel consumption, range of vision and suspension (among others) play a role. That's the true engineering challenge. It's why it has w…

By that logic a top fuel dragster is pointless? For some racing is something that happens in a straight line, for others it involve turns - neither serves a purpose in the grand scheme of things and can be considered "pointless".

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#149

Post by ukd1 »

hvidgaard wrote: post #145
gavia1 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could get close just with turbocharging which will lower the torque curve such that max torque is somewhere around 1500 to 2000RPM.

After a second or two of spooling the turbo yes - but it's not equivalent to an EV which has instant torque.

You can brake-boost, which negates most of the lag in a turbo'd car. Still not as flat curve, but reduces / kills the lag.

Re: Bugatti has broken the 300mph barrier

#150

Post by fyfy18 »

tialaramex wrote: post #13

It's futile to actually have road-legal cars that go this fast because you can't do very much useful with the speed. This is much too fast for the human operator (driver) to safely react to things outside the cockpit, which is why for example Britain owns trains capable of 140mph in service but deliberately limits them to 125mph. Tests suggested drivers couldn't be relied on to reliably observe and react to a linesid…

I wonder how well their next model would sell if it was limited (with no option or upgrade to unlock it) to a maximum of 100mph. I imagine most buyers aren't buying to race it around a track.
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