Skip to main content

Bugatti Chiron Speed Limited by Tire Technology

It’s been a while now since Bugatti debuted the Chiron and still we don’t know what the top speed is. Rumors abound and the speedometer goes all the way to 310 mph, but we may not know the car’s true top speed until tire technology catches up with this speedy machine, according Bugatti test driver Andy Wallace.

Although its current, limited top speed of 261 mph is faster than almost anything else on the road (or the track for that matter), Wallace implied to Popular Mechanics that it reaches that speed without much difficulty.

It seems, therefore, that there’s more in it. But we won’t know if it’s capable of bending the speedometer needle for a long time, because there’s no road legal tire that can handle the forces involved in spinning at 300 mph.

07_CHIRON_Molsheim_34-front-up_WEB

As Popular Mechanics writes, the 2.5-gram valve cap on a Chiron’s wheel weighs about 16 lbs when it’s centrifuging at 261 mph. And as speeds increase, the forces increase exponentially, so every mph is harder than the last and 300 is a lot of miles per hour.

Wallace says he suspects that Michelin will sign off on a top speed of more than 280 mph with current tire technology, so it seems unlikely that, in its current guise, the Chiron will hit 300 mph. Who knows, though, if a future Super Sport Chiron could break the barrier when tire technology finally catches up.

For now, Chiron owners can ruin their tires at lower speeds, thanks to the handling mode, which according to Wallace, lets the car drift. The speeds won’t be all that low, though, since its big tires prevent even the Chiron’s 1,500 hp from breaking traction too quickly. One shudders to think of how much replacing burned out tires would cost.

[source: Popular Mechanics]

The post Bugatti Chiron Speed Limited by Tire Technology appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2rRD5Op
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Macau Gets Messy with 16-Car Pileup

The Macau Grand Prix is always good for an accident or two or 16— you may remember Audi’s race ending crash last year —and this year’s event didn’t disappoint. It didn’t take long for things to get messy on the tight road circuit. On the opening lap of the qualifying race a 16-car pileup caused the race to be suspended. Things kicked off when Daniel Juncadella hit a wall on the exit of Police bend, one of the tightest parts of the already tight circuit. The following car of Raffaele Marciello was able to avoid the carnage, but Laurens Vanthoor, who was in the upside-down Audi that ended the race last year, could not avoid Juncadella and together they blocked up the road pretty much completely. “I couldn’t see him [Juncadella] at first. Then I saw the car standing still,” Vanthoor told Motorsport. “I tried to brake but it was just understeering and I couldn’t do anything. There’s room for one car there and you’re blind.” Fourteen more cars would eventually crash into the corner c
Post a Comment
Read more

The First of its Kind: Integrated Engineering Releases Highly-Anticipated IE450T MK6 Golf R Turbo Kit

After two long years of development, the team at Integrated Engineering has finally announced the release of their IE450T kit for the MK6 Golf R. With their turbo kit bolted on right out of the box, the sport AWD hatch is transformed into a 450bhp monster, with hardly any noticeable increase in spool time. In fact, 435 ft-lbs of torque are achieved at all four wheels, at a mere 3300rpm! By now you are probably asking yourself how this is even possible on a 2.0L engine that made nearly half that power from the factory. By employing true twin-scroll technology into the cast turbo manifold and pairing it with a state-of-the-art BorgWarner EFR turbocharger, IE was able to keep spool time at a minimum and bring the fastest-spooling big turbo setup to the market. “We wanted to offer a kit that would dramatically increase the power output without making the car lose its amazing street-friendly drivability,” mentioned one of the IE engineers. We are told the IE450T leaves the car driving jus
Post a Comment
Read more