I'm sure I've read that the Veyron is slower round the 'Ring than a Carrera GT. I'll have to have a tommy gander.
The Top Gear track is fairly undemanding so it'd probably do well on it though.
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The Top Gear MEGATHREAD!!!!
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I'm sure I've read that the Veyron is slower round the 'Ring than a Carrera GT. I'll have to have a tommy gander.
The Top Gear track is fairly undemanding so it'd probably do well on it though.
I think the Veyron has so much power it cant corner. Thats what Bugatti are bothered about. 
Its like a corvette. Fast in a straight line but handles like a wardbrobe in corners.
Its like a corvette. Fast in a straight line but handles like a wardbrobe in corners.
I'm not so sure. The straights are very short and it'd not be able to use it's main advantage: pure speed.
The koeniggsegg has the same problem though! It still is the fastest car around the track though (right?
).Let's not forget that the veyron has 4wd to its advantage! I'm sure they'll find one to throw around the track at some point!
I was actually amazed they managed to reach the top speed on the piece of track. Sure its a long stretch of road, but the rate at which you cover distance at the kind of speed you run out of road very very quickly. Pretty cool though nonetheless!
Too bad they didn't make more of a fun piece out of it. It was kind of short compared to the rest of the segments in the show. I'm getting the idea that they're facing a lack of good content again (maybe because of Hammond's absense). Let's hope the rest of the season is up to the standards we're used to!
It wouldn't suprise me to find out that the Stig did take the Veyron on the track, but as it is so heavy, the time was so bad that VW didn't want Top Gear to post the time...
OTOH I doubt that the time made on the test track would seriously affect the sales of the car. I bet all those lucky owners would care less.
But, it is a bit embarrassing if a "simple" Koenigsegg outpaces the Veyron.... hehe
OTOH I doubt that the time made on the test track would seriously affect the sales of the car. I bet all those lucky owners would care less.
But, it is a bit embarrassing if a "simple" Koenigsegg outpaces the Veyron.... hehe
I'm not sure why you think that's an advantage. Unless it's very wet 4WD is normally considered to be a disadvantage around a race track. RWD is normally the quickest.
Back before the F1 regulations became so tight most of the teams experimented with 4WD. It was slower than RWD so they did not use it.
That's absolutely true, but when you have 1001 BHP and a huge amount of torque to transfer to the asphalt, there's no doubting that 4WD is an advantage. It makes the power more accessible.
I heard / read that too.
But I wonder why that's the case. Like mfacey stated, it would seem that having alot of BHP (say > 500) would mean that transferring the power onto the road would be more efficient if it were distributed over 4 wheels instead of 2.
Maybe it's the added extra weight? If a given car has 400 BHP, and you can configure it either with RWD or 4WD and the rest is identical, maybe then that car in RWD is faster..?
The koeniggsegg has the same problem though! It still is the fastest car around the track though (right?
Not true, well, it was. But they sent it back after the Stig crashed it and a nice man in Sweden bolted a spoiler on and made it go round corners.
It'd still not be my Super Car of choice.
I think the Bugatti would do pretty well around the track, prolly not be the fastest. The weight of the Bugatti is the whole point of it tho. 253MPH isnt that amazing. McLaren nearly got there 10 years ago. The fact is it weights nearly the same as a church and will still do 253MPH.
Weight spoils everything. Something that heavy that can do 253MPH is just the single most amazing thing ever. You can let the McLaren F1 (Which weighs less than half of the Bugatti) get upto 150MPH before you set off in the Veyron and still beat it to 250MPH.
My, I could talk about it all day.
As for 4WD. I'm not so sure its a huge disadvantage anymore. Look at Lambos. They just have to be the most perfect car in the whole world right now. Italian designed super car, built in Germany by Germans, with German parts. *Changes Underwear* With the right balance (About 75% towards the back in the Lambo), it can be a huge advantage. Still get milessssss of under steer tho, but driven right and you'll be fine.
Added weight
FWD, whether on it's own or as part of 4WD causes understear which tends to slow you much more than overstear
Transmission losses are much higher due to you having 3 diffs instead on 1 so less of the power actually reaches the road
Modern F1 cars have traction control and 800-1000 bhp. In the slowest corners the traction control cuts in a tiny amount, in the faster corners not at all so all the power is being used anyway!
3 Fastest Ring times:
Pagini Zonda "F" :- 7:32
Koenigsegg (CCX, without the 'Top Gear' spoiler) :- 7:39
Bugatti Veyron 16/4 :- 7:40
That's if you're considering a full 50-50 split over the front and rear axles for the power. Like all Lambo's I'm guessing the Veyron has a considerable RWD bias.
Yeah, I love how they just bolted a number plate and indicators onto it. Hehe. Great machine tho. Power isnt everything, far from it. Weight is. That Radical has the PTWR of a prawn sandwich. Nearly 600BHP per Ton, which is just amazing.
All for under 25 grand as well. Mmmmm.
I think the layout would favour a car which is accelerative, over speed, purely because of the lack of straights. That and a complete lack of demanding corners (where the Veyrons kerb weight would weigh heavily (heh) against it).
There was a reason why Quattro was banned from touring car and LMS races.
They didn't use it for many reasons. With the advent of wings back in the '60's, the added down force was seen as a simpler way of generating grip as power increased.
4WD, as well as 6 wheelers were banned because they would have contributed significantly to an increase in speeds, somewhere in the region of 4-6 seconds a lap.
Modern F1 teams have never really dabbled in 4WD cars, because it was banned back in '82 or '83 (I forget which) when the technology, at least for non-agricultural uses anyway, was still very much in it's infancy. For example read the comments about how the original Audi Quattro rally car handled, even though it was decimating the rest of the other 2WD entrants.
It'd be very interesting to see what an unlimited F1 car would be like... though I'd lay money on it being driven by all 4 wheels. The nearest we got to such a thing was IMHO, the Group B rally cars of the mid '80's, those were fast. So fast infact that a Lancia Delta S4 was driven round Estoril by Henri Toivonen in a time that would have qualified him 6th on the grid for the F1 race the same year, even though the car was less powerful, and less aerodynamically sophisticated than the F1 cars of the same year.
There's a lot to be said for pure, mechanical grip.
Markleshark said:
That looks about right, though Walter Röhrl unofficially put the Carrera GT around the 'Ring in a 7.29 or 7.30. It's probably safe to assume that the Enzo would be quicker still.
Indeed... in the Radicals case, a slightly unfair amount of downforce compared to your average roadcar or indeed supercar.
Seems like there off to the US for tonight's show.
I have this feeling we will have a few laughs considering what Top Gear usually thinks of American motoring...
BTW, anyone signed up for their newsletter?
Cool to see they use Apple Mail for their preview pic!
I have this feeling we will have a few laughs considering what Top Gear usually thinks of American motoring...
BTW, anyone signed up for their newsletter?
Cool to see they use Apple Mail for their preview pic!
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The Veyron is heavy, but has so much power; I think it could beat the CCX though I won't be shocked if it doesn't top the times.
Funny show last week, I just got a chance to watch it yesterday. I would take the Brera over the TT and RX8 in a second. I really miss Alfa Romeo's presence here in the 'States.
Funny show last week, I just got a chance to watch it yesterday. I would take the Brera over the TT and RX8 in a second. I really miss Alfa Romeo's presence here in the 'States.
I must admit to giggling a little more than I should have done at the appearance of Stig's American cousin.
I love Jeremy's shower!
Yep!!!!
I must admit to giggling a little more than I should have done at the appearance of Stig's American cousin.
Yep!!!
OMG!!!
I'm choking!!!!
THE COW!!!
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