{"id":108978,"date":"2016-08-22T15:22:50","date_gmt":"2016-08-22T19:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=108978"},"modified":"2016-08-22T15:22:50","modified_gmt":"2016-08-22T19:22:50","slug":"bugatti-chiron-makes-firstus-public-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2016\/08\/bugatti-chiron-makes-firstus-public-appearance\/","title":{"rendered":"Bugatti Chiron Makes First\u00a0US Public Appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The new Bugatti Chiron was on full display at this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While it officially debuted at the Geneva Motor Show last spring, Bugatti has been keeping the new Chiron ultracar largely under wraps ever since.<\/p>\n

But the Volkswagen AG maker brought the Veyron successor out, appropriately enough, for this year\u2019s Pebble Beach Concours d\u2019Elegance, and we finally got the chance to check it out up close \u2013 and with the help of Chiron Chief Engineer Willi Netuschil.<\/p>\n

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Product News!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the Chiron picks up on key styling cues of the brand\u2019s previous exotic, the Veyron, Netuschil made it clear that it is anything but a carryover. A closer look, he explained, reveals the significant updates made to ensure that Chiron can deliver a whopping 25% more power than the old Bugatti, something that should help it regain a number of world records, including power, torque and top speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a very, very big challenge,\u201d said the German engineer who started out as an auto mechanic, taking an unusual route to leading the development of the world\u2019s fastest automobile. He briefly worked at Mercedes before joining VW on its heavy truck program. Immediately before taking on the Chiron project four years ago, Netuschil was working on the Amorak, VW\u2019s midsize pickup.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe previous car was the pinnacle, but now we had to top that,\u201d he explained as he walked over to a Bugatti Chiron hidden in a courtyard by the Lodge at Pebble Beach. The one thing that he and his team members were told to eliminate from their vocabulary was the word, \u201cimpossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The new Chiron features an adaptive wing that adjusts its position based on speed and driving mode.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(Rare barn finds among the highlights at 2016 Pebble Beach Concours. For more, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, getting 1,500 horsepower and 1,180 pound-feet of torque out of the Chiron\u2019s 8.0-liter quad-turbo W-16 engine wasn\u2019t considered the biggest challenge. The real obstacle was finding ways to cool both the engine and the massive brakes needed to slow down a car with an estimated top speed of 420 kmh, or just over 260 mph.<\/p>\n

It will need to hit at least 261 mph to regain the world speed record for a production vehicle.<\/p>\n

A closer inspection of the Chiron\u2019s ultra-light carbon-fiber body reveals the solution \u2013 or solutions, if you prefer. There are any number of air intakes, including ones next to the headlamps, along the grille and below the bumper, to cool the huge front brakes \u2013 which each use eight pistons. There are twin intakes built into the body, the upper half feeding the engine, the lower ports providing still more cooling for the rear six-piston brakes.<\/p>\n

Those pistons, incidentally, are made of titanium, part of the broader effort to maintain the 4,390-pound mass of the old Veyron \u2013 a target Netuschil claims his team hit.<\/p>\n

Carbon fiber and composites make up the vast majority of the body and chassis, with the notable exception of aluminum crash structures at the front and rear of the Bugatti Chiron.<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to check out the McLaren 570GT by MSO Concept debuting at Pebble Beach.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
It's this 8.0-liter, W16 engine that puts out the 1,500 horsepower that drives the new Chiron over the 260 mph mark.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a first, the engineering team even came up with a way to use carbon-fiber components, such as the intake runners and manifold, on the engine. Beyond saving weight, the smoother surface improved airflow, according to the chief engineer.<\/p>\n

Airflow, at the speeds the Chiron will operate, is pretty much everything. Attack the wind the wrong way and it will slow you down \u2013 or toss you out of control. Getting aerodynamics right came down to the subtlest of details. There are small flaps on the big wheels, for example, to further improve cooling and to reduce drag around the \u201cdirty\u201d wheel wells.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a large, adaptive rear spoiler that adjusts its position depending upon factors such as the speed of the vehicle and the mode the driver has set it in. These include a cruising mode, an Autobahn mode and, with the right key, a speed-record mode. If you don\u2019t hand that special key to your kid or the valet, sadly, they will be limited to keeping the Chiron down to a mere 380 kmh, or 236 mph.<\/p>\n

The development team actually tried to improve drivability of the Chiron, as well as its performance. They also made sure to keep a driver\u2019s attention focused, as much as possible, on the road. There are none of the big video screens you find in so many of today\u2019s cars, even high performance vehicles. Instead, there is a large speedometer centered behind the steering wheel, with two modest LCD displays framing it. The left handles vehicle-related functions, the right navigation and infotainment.<\/p>\n

Key vehicle controls are mounted on the steering wheel, secondary controls for things like climate control rise up, single file, on the center stack.<\/p>\n

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The new Chiron gets a simple instrument cluster to make driving it easier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The simple message of the Bugatti Chiron, inside and out, is that, \u201cdesign follows performance,\u201d explained Netuschil.<\/p>\n

As with the Veyron before it, Bugatti officials acknowledge they will likely offer a series of updated variants during the Chiron\u2019s lifecycle. If the old model is any indication, we\u2019ll see an open-top version, as well as still more powerful and faster packages. But what\u2019s on tap next, Netuschil cautioned, \u201cWe haven\u2019t decided yet.\u201d The first goal is to get the basic Bugatti Chiron on the road.<\/p>\n

(Cadillac Escala Concept reveals new design direction for Detroit brand.\u00a0<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to check it out.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That will happen later this year at a price tag expected to start at around $2.6 million, or nearly double what the original Bugatti Veyron went for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While it was unveiled months ago, Bugatti has kept its Chiron supercar on the down-low \u2026 until now. The Veyron replacement was on full display at this year\u2019s Pebble Beach Concours. Go to TheDetroitBureau.com for more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108978"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=108978"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=108978"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=108978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}