Bugatti Breaks 300 MPH Mark

[Guest]

 

Edited December 21, 2019 by GregLaR (see edit history)

[padgett]

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/2006-ford-gt-road-300-mph/ 

[Guest]

Interesting article padgett. Thanks for sharing.

I think the distinction Bugatti is claiming is that they have broken the 300 mph mark with a factory production (super) car, where the Ford GT was heavily modified (from the factory 647 horsepower to 2,500 horsepower) in order to break the barrier.  Still, their car did manage to get the job done, which is no mean feat regardless of semantics.

[Matt Harwood]

I can remember not too long ago when 200 MPH was an amazing feat even for a semi-street car. The RUF Yellow Bird Porsche did something like 207 MPH in the late '80s and the world was just in awe. It was barely a street car. Look how fast that Bugatti accelerated from, say, 200 to 250 MPH, never mind clawing its way to 304. That's extraordinary, particularly in a car that will start and idle easily, sit in traffic with the A/C running and satellite radio blaring, and is full of safety and creature comforts.

 

There are some who are boggled by the $3.5 million price and there are some, like me, who are boggled that such a machine can be so cheap.

[TexRiv_63]

Well I'm glad they finally got past 300mph, now I can buy one. Just what I need for a DFW tollway run.

[PFitz]

Amazing,....    but......   it makes me wonder what was the chase car that was alongside videoing it at those very high speeds ?

 

Paul

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, PFitz said:

Amazing,....    but......   it makes me wonder what was the chase car that was alongside videoing it at those very high speeds ?

 

Paul

 

The Ford GT perhaps? 

 

Kidding. I'm sure the side and front shots were taken at a much lower speed (100-150 mph?), then edited to make it look like the chase car was "right there" at speed.

[C Carl]

20 minutes ago, GregLaR said:

Interesting article padgett. Thanks for sharing.

I think the distinction Bugatti is claiming is that they have broken the 300 mph mark with a factory production (super) car, where the Ford GT was heavily modified (from the factory 647 horsepower to 2,500 horsepower) in order to break the barrier.  Still, their car did manage to get the job done, which is no mean feat regardless of semantics.

 

The distinction is that the jobs done are two different ones. Ford GT passed 300 at the end of a standing start mile. It was still accelerating. They even had to calculate whether to up shift into 6th, or whether to risk over-revving in 5th ; and the boost pressure needed to do so.The Bugatti had the test facility to determine WOT top speed. I have driven 157 (fuel cutoff - it was still accelerating), in my 1998 SL600 on new tires. Above 140, I didn't enjoy it at all. I was younger and healthier then. It is literally impossible for me to imagine what it would be like to drive twice as fast as my uncomfortable experience !! These days, I mostly drive like the 90 year old man my doctors say my body is, rather than my chronological age which is 75.

 

Thanks,  Greg and Padgett for the "armchair" runs !  When out of the chair and on the road, I feel most comfortable at around 30 on a wide open country road in one of my ancient Cadillacs. In life, there is a car for every season..................     -    CC 

[PFitz]

The Ford just happened to be passing by and slowed down to get pix ?

 

Paul

[Matt Harwood]

10 minutes ago, PFitz said:

Amazing,....    but......   it makes me wonder what was the chase car that was alongside videoing it at those very high speeds ?

 

Paul

 

Camera shots always look faster than they are. I took this photo at about 3 MPH:

 

 

You wouldn't be able to spot the difference between filming at 65 MPH and 265 MPH in a video.

[jeff_a]

It'd be extremely dangerous for the pilot, but you could film it from a plane. If a chase vehicle did film it at 300, it would be easy to tell: There go customs booths for Germany, Holland, Belgium, France!  I've heard, though, that the Bugatti at top speed can only drive a few minutes before it runs out of fuel....so there's no driving across Europe at 200 mph.

[C Carl]

That old '16 Cad can probably accelerate out of about 3mph in top gear. Technique is EXTREMELY light throttle, no steeper grade than dead level, headwind no more than zero mph, and highest octane gasoline available. Static timing, at most, zero advance over spec, and full retard on the spark control. I guess I am still capable of attempting that automotive feat.  

 Fading fast,       -     Cadillac Carl 

[1912Staver]

I would have probably been impressed by this when I was young. But today I just see these things as ego trips for the super rich. We have a couple of " Country Club " style tracks in British Columbia. A place for the successful Condo Kings and Drug Lords to do hot laps and impress their friends.  The irony is they don't even have  "real " races at these tracks. 90% of the real racers could not afford the membership dues. Put these rich clowns in a real racing situation and a real race car and see if they are still game. 

Who needs 2500 HP?  Bruce and Denny did just fine with about 850. A M8 McLaren isn't cheap , but a fraction of the crazy Bugatti price.

Edited December 21, 2019 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[Matt Harwood]

41 minutes ago, 1912Staver said:

I would have probably been impressed by this when I was young. But today I just see these things as ego trips for the super rich. We have a couple of " Country Club " style tracks in British Columbia. A place for the successful Condo Kings and Drug Lords to do hot laps and impress their friends.  The irony is they don't even have  "real " races at these tracks. 90% of the real racers could not afford the membership dues. Put these rich clowns in a real racing situation and a real race car and see if they are still game. 

Who needs 2500 HP?  Bruce and Denny did just fine with about 850. A M8 McLaren isn't cheap , but a fraction of the crazy Bugatti price.

 

How's the A/C in those things? Stereo? Pump gas? Leather seats? Sound insulation? Ride quality? Drive them to work every day? Wife OK with riding in it? Luggage space? And do they go 304 MPH?

 

This airplane is faster and costs less, but the comparison is also completely and totally irrelevant.

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2019 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[edinmass]

Our shop built Harley Top Fuel runs in the 6’s and will top out top out about 268mph. Made most of it in the machine shop in our own building. Not as much glory as a 300 mph street car........but much more exciting to run.

[1912Staver]

I can see the technical merit of such an engineering project.  Yes the results are very impressive. But it still begs the question why ? At least in the case of the customer cars. 

My context is that I live in a Province with very stringent anti speeding laws and focused enforcement. Here in British Columbia approximately 6000 drivers per year have a instant roadside 2 week vehicle seizure for " excessive " speed since the new laws came down 4 years ago. The law now defines " excessive speed " as anything 40 KMH  { 24.85 MPH } over a British Columbia posted speed limit. You can do that much over in a Smart car without trying hard. How oblivious to reality would a super car owner have to be to have own something like this with every cop in the land painting a target on you and your wallet ?

I made a conscious decision to buy a track only Lola sports racer.  Satisfies my need for speed in a safe , legal, affordable manner.

I know some people have more money than brains, but is that really a good thing ?

 

Greg in Canada

Edited December 21, 2019 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[1912Staver]

8 minutes ago, edinmass said:

Our shop built Harley Top Fuel runs in the 6’s and will top out top out about 268mph. Made most of it in the machine shop in our own building. Not as much glory as a 300 mph street car........but much more exciting to run.

 

Hard to imagine a machine more death defying to ride except possibly the IOM TT.

 

Greg

[39BuickEight]

Amazing engineering such as this often teaches us ways to improve “normal” vehicles.  

 

Amazing machine.

 

For my money, the 3 most mind boggling motor sports/events are the IoM TT, F1, and NHRA Nitro cars.  

Edited December 21, 2019 by 39BuickEight (see edit history)

[chistech]

2 hours ago, GregLaR said:

Interesting article padgett. Thanks for sharing.

I think the distinction Bugatti is claiming is that they have broken the 300 mph mark with a factory production (super) car, where the Ford GT was heavily modified (from the factory 647 horsepower to 2,500 horsepower) in order to break the barrier.  Still, their car did manage to get the job done, which is no mean feat regardless of semantics.

Exactly, big difference. Bugatti is production out of the box. The Ford was heavily modified from a production car. Those Ford loving guys will try to claim anything!

[Matt Harwood]

Why in the world would they have ever built this?

 

 

There were no highways where you could use all that horsepower. It cost more than an apartment building. Only movie stars drove them to show off. So completely and totally stupid, right? You'd be a fool to want one of those when you can buy this for less and it flat-out does everything better:

 

 

Sometimes it's just not about practical or sensible or even making sense economically. Sometimes just being awesome is enough.

[1912Staver]

I guess if you can afford it why not ? You are completely correct Matt, many things in life make no sense from a strictly practical point of view. I personally have to scrutinise and rationalize every purchase but many are in a completely different situation. Long live the 1% , some of it must trickle down to the rest of us .You can't take it with you after all.

 

Greg

[Guest]

1 hour ago, 1912Staver said:

 I live in a Province with very stringent anti speeding laws and focused enforcement. Here in British Columbia approximately 6000 drivers per year have a instant roadside 2 week vehicle seizure for " excessive " speed since the new laws came down 4 years ago. The law now defines " excessive speed " as anything 40 KMH  { 24.85 MPH }

 

Greg,

            Seasonally we get many drivers from B.C. visiting here in Palm Springs and other than finding they all seem to drive slightly under the speed limit, most seem quite friendly and polite rather than the scofflaws one might expect coming from an area where such a draconian law is the norm. 

 While I empathize with your situation and frustration over such a severe rule, it begs the question: What governmental/voting system would allow such harsh measures to come into play in the first place?  Of course I'm not advocating for drivers to speed, however I'm a firm believer that the penalty should fit the crime. Seizing one's car sounds more financially driven rather than simple abatement of errant driving skills.

Thank heavens there are still many country's where this kind of suppression just could not exist and cars like this Bugatti can be enjoyed.

I expect they will have a presence on the Autobahn more than anywhere else.

Cheers, (the other) Greg

 

 

[padgett]

I would quibble that what you get for $3.5M is not really a "production car" and suspect there were a few non-stock items. That said the Ford GT has AC (dunno if hooked up), was probably less than a mil, and as mentioned was a "Texas Mile" and still accelerating. Apples and Kumquats.

 

[C Carl]

Yup. I don't think that Bugatti could do a 300mph Texas Mile if you gave it a New York Minute in which to do so.   -    Carl 

[edinmass]

Somewhere I read they weren’t going to let the new production cars go over 265 as there was only two places on earth to run them that fast..........

Edited December 21, 2019 by edinmass (see edit history)

[1912Staver]

2 hours ago, GregLaR said:

 

Greg,

            Seasonally we get many drivers from B.C. visiting here in Palm Springs and other than finding they all seem to drive slightly under the speed limit, most seem quite friendly and polite rather than the scofflaws one might expect coming from an area where such a draconian law is the norm. 

 While I empathize with your situation and frustration over such a severe rule, it begs the question: What governmental/voting system would allow such harsh measures to come into play in the first place?  Of course I'm not advocating for drivers to speed, however I'm a firm believer that the penalty should fit the crime. Seizing one's car sounds more financially driven rather than simple abatement of errant driving skills.

Thank heavens there are still many country's where this kind of suppression just could not exist and cars like this Bugatti can be enjoyed.

I expect they will have a presence on the Autobahn more than anywhere else.

Cheers, (the other) Greg

 

 

 

The main reason for such harsh rules stems from the substantial numbers of wealthy foreign university students that come to British Columbia. Over the last decade they have purchased quite a few { hundreds } of supercars and then engaged in some very dangerous and headline making, high speed antics . Super car sales are also part of our very serious international money laundering problem along with luxury homes. Some estimates put it at 5 billion a year or thereabouts.  Sometimes up to 15 or so cars in a very high speed highway blitz. The Govt  felt compelled to put some real teeth in the speeding laws and came up with the  "excessive speeding " measures. Once the Police had it in their tool kit they ran with it. 40 km over is definitely quite fast on city streets, but on the highway really not a lot at all. Lots of commuters get nicked just doing something they have been doing safely for years . Most of our highway limits are fairly low according to many road safety experts.

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-living-in-a-supercar-capital-is-bad-for-your-health

Greg

Edited December 22, 2019 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[padgett]

Personally think that while I can (and have) run well over the ton, it was usually on a race track and in a car known to be able to handle it. The shot of my Goat in the sig was at the top of third with a 3.55 & 27" tires so about a hundred. (Was one of the few who liked the 85 speedo, below was easy to read and above was watching other gauges).

 

OTOH passing other cars at speed  may not be so benign. Have heard of a VW being blown around when another car passed well in excess. Have to be very careful with my DD Cad since merging acceleration is quite surprising.

 

My first car had a 250hp DOHC-6 and now I have a 304 hp DOHC-6. To me it is the perfect size.

[JamesR]

Quote

Bugatti Breaks 300 MPH Mark

 

Finally. I now might actually consider buying a new car. 😄

 

 

[60FlatTop]

20 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

but the comparison is also completely and totally irrelevant.

 

Relevant comparisons are sooooooo boring.

[TexRiv_63]

23 hours ago, jeff_a said:

  I've heard, though, that the Bugatti at top speed can only drive a few minutes before it runs out of fuel....so there's no driving across Europe at 200 mph.

The other issue is tires - I've read in past top speed attempts they need special custom built tires that are only good for one run and are ludicrously expensive.

[JACK M]

21 hours ago, GregLaR said:

 

            Seasonally we get many drivers from B.C. visiting here in Palm Springs and other than finding they all seem to drive slightly under the speed limit,

 

In my experience in PS these tourists would be blocking the flow.

By a lot !!

[Guest]

2 hours ago, JACK M said:

 

In my experience in PS these tourists would be blocking the flow.

By a lot !!

Shhhhh,

(Don't let on, but they're paying my rent) 😄