Tag: bugatti

2014 Chevrolet Camaro to play Bumblebee in Transformers 4

Almost all cars from Michael Bay’s upcoming edition of the hugely successful Transformers franchise have been confirmed over the last few months, save for the pivotal Bumblebee.

It looks like the wait may be over now, after shots of the 2014 Camaro Concept at the shooting site were released. The new Camaro is a strong modern equivalent to the Bumblebee of old times which we’ve already been shown earlier. A serious reimagination of the Camaro was done, and the 2014 Concept could surely lead the way for the production model. With a very aggressively sculpted front end and piercing headlamps, the car looks ready to roll for Transformers 4.

Some of the other vehicles being used in the film include the C7 Corvette Stingray, Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, Lamborghini Aventador, Pagani Huayra and a Chevrolet Sonic Rally Racer.

July 4, 2013
Audi fires head of R&D, Wolfgang Dürheimer

Audi’s highly regarded head of R&D, Wolfgang Dürheimer, has been fired by the German manufacturer, ahead of the revered 24 hour of Le Mans race this weekend. The story was broken by German magazine Der Spiegel and has been corroborated by several high-ranking Volkswagen Group sources.

Dürheimer had been appointed Audi’s R&D boss in September 2012 following a management shakeup within the Volkswagen Group in mid-2012. Prior to then, he had served as the head for Bentley, restructuring the brand and spearheading their effort to bring an SUV to the market. He has also held the same position at Bugatti, and was formerly the development chief at Porsche (where he is credited with helping get the original Cayenne into production, ushering in a new era of profitability for the company).

But at Audi, a lot of his decisions did not go down well with VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn, leading to personal tension between the two. He reportedly quickly put a stop to costly projects such as the R8 E-Tron and the rotary range-extender engine for the A1 E-Tron, and shuffled the reporting structure within the brand’s design department. Winterkorn strongly disapproved of Dürheimer’s conservative E-mobility strategy, and apparently disagreed with Dürheimer several times on the styling direction for the brand as well.

Dürheimer’s future within the Volkswagen Group is unclear at this time, and his position at Audi will currently be filled by the Group’s R&D chief, Ulrich Hackenberg.

June 21, 2013
Bugatti Veyron SS Is World’s Fastest Production Car Again

The Guinness World Records office has been kept busy the last fortnight what with one Veyron losing the title of ‘World’s Fastest Production Car’, and another winning the title of ‘World’s Fastest Convertible’. Now Guinness has announced that the world record for fastest production car has been awarded back to the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.

The record had been taken away after Guinness decided that the car used to achieve the 267.8 mph record speed didn’t qualify as a production car, since it had a deactivated speed limiter unlike the one sold to the public. With the speed limiter, the production Veyron SS was capable of hitting a ‘disappointing’ 258 mph.

Guinness gave the following statement to ‘Sunday Times’ of the UK explaining why the Veyron SS was given the title back,

Following a thorough review conducted with a number of external experts, Guinness World Records is pleased to announce the confirmation of Bugatti’s record of Fastest production car achieved by the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. The focus of the review was with respect to what may constitute a modification to a car’s standard specification. Having evaluated all the necessary information, Guinness World Records is now satisfied that a change to the speed limiter does not alter the fundamental design of the car or its engine.

So Bugatti now owns both World’s Fastest Production Car and World’s Fastest Convertible speed records. But with the Hennessey Venom GT making waves, SSC’s Ultimate Aero TT and the awaited Tuatara as well as Koenigsegg’s claims of the Agera R capable of hitting 270 mph, expect this battle to heat up quickly.

April 13, 2013
Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Sets Fastest Convertible World Record

You win some, you lose some. The Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse is now officially the world’s fastest drop-top, with a record speed of 254.04 mph (408.84 kmph). Remind yourself that this is a convertible, and that figure becomes more mind-numbing than ever.

The record was set at Volkswagen’s Ehra Lessien Test Track in Germany, which is one of the very few places on earth where a Veyron can be maxed out. Ironically, the run took place on the 6th of April 2013, the same day when the Bugatti Veyron Supersport was stripped of its fastest production car record by Guinness World Records.

The milestone will be celebrated with a limited run of 8 special ‘World Record Edition’ Grand Sport Vitesses costing €1.99m plus taxes. The world record setting car will also be on display at the Shanghai motor show, complete with the driver’s signature and top speed written on the door kickplate in silver marker.

Bugatti stated that the initial open-top speed target for the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse was ‘just’ 233mph. However, when testing revealed that 400kph (248mph) would be possible, the engineers set about increasing their targets, with 254.04mph being the final result. Its all courtesy of the famous 8.0-litre, 16 cylinder Bugatti Veyron Super Sport engine having four turbochargers producing a jawdropping 1183 bhp.

April 12, 2013
Bugatti Veyron SS Stripped Of ‘World’s Fastest Car’ Record

If you’re the proud owner of a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, you may want to look away. Guinness World Records have declared that the Veyron SS is not the world’s fastest production car as per the title it was awarded in 2010. The people at Guinness apparently overlooked the fact that the recrod-setting car had been modified with a deactivated speed limiter, which allowed the Veyron SS to hit a record 267.8 mph (431.07 kmph).

Guinness World Records states that the record-setting car must be mechanically identical to the one sold to customers. Here’s what Jaime Strang, PR Director of the company had to say about the matter:

It has come to the attention of Guinness World Records that there was an oversight in its adjudication of the ‘Fastest production car’ which was set in 2010 by the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. As the car’s speed limiter was deactivated, this modification was against the official guidelines. Consequently, the vehicle’s record set at 431.072 km/h is no longer valid. Following this, Guinness World Records is reviewing this category with expert external consultants to ensure our records fairly reflect achievements in this field.

Bugatti is defiant of Guinness’ decision, saying that the production models only have a speed limiter for its customers’ safety and that Guinness was aware of the deactivated limiter on the test car. The production models are limited to ‘just’ 258 mph.

Bugatti’s record was challenged by an American car maker, Hennessey, which claims that its absurdly fast Venom GT should be the world’s fastest production car with a clocked speed of 265.7 mph. However the Venom GT’s speed hasn’t been recorded in the right conditions, which includes an average of two timed runs in opposite directions among other factors. Due to this, the record is most likely to be reverted to the previous holder at 256.1 mph, the Shelby SuperCars Ultimate Aero TT.

April 7, 2013