WHY IT’S THE FASTEST:
BUGATTI CAR vs. FERRARI FXX
By Magati Alphonce
To many people a car is a car, and an engine is an engine. But technically speaking, there is more to an engine than meets the eye. That’s why we have a powerful engine and a faster engine than others; the question of car equality is put into deliberate test. This can be vividly explained when we put the Bugatti into spotlight and its engine into big picture. But first things first, let’s check out the basics.
The Legend
Any internal combustion engine has four major sections:
Engine Block
Main block
Crankshaft
Camshaft
Piston and piston rings
Connecting rod and pin
Lifter
Oil pump system
Gaskets and seals
Freeze plugs
Assorted bolts
Cylinder Heads
Cylinder body
Intake & exhaust valves
Valve keepers, springs & valve springs retainers
Valve steam seal
Air and Fuel Intake System
Intake manifold
Fuel injection system (carburetor)
Air filter
Exhaust
Exhaust manifold
Catalytic converter
Muffler
Tailpipe
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There are a number of pistons inside an engine depending on the design (4—12 cylinders usually). The pistons are connected to a crankshaft through a connecting rod and the piston fire consecutively to rotate the latter inside the engine block. The firing is due to constant combustion –the working principle of the cylinder. Basically a fuel/ air mixture is pulled into a cylinder which is then closed instantly and the piston is thrust upward to create compression. For gasoline (petrol) engine, a spark is introduced to ignite the mixture to create combustion to thrust he piston back downward in the engine block. Once the piston hits the bottom of its stroke, the exhaust valve opens and exhaust leaves the cylinder to go out the tailpipe. The crankshaft turns the piston’s up and down motion into circular motion which is then transmitted to axle and finally to the wheels.
The Beautiful Bugatti Veyron 16.4
Be it Bugatti Veyron 16.4, Bugatti Royale or Bugatti Marque; Bugatti is the fastest street-legal production car in the world. With that in mind, it’s in perfect order for bugatti to be one of the most expensive production cars ever made at a $1.5 million price tag. This did not come on a silver platter, the Veyron was under development for a couple of years and even it was rumored to never see the light of day. Until it actually did; and blew away the unnecessary doubt. With its space-age good looks, it’s more of a space cruiser than a regular vehicle; no other car has come close to beating its track record.
The centrepoint of its development is the unique compactness and the high performance of the power unit. It generates the maximum performance from the engine in a stable clean manner. Bugatti’s signature elements like top performance, high acceleration capacity and extensive security systems, relate to its Spartan birthplace environment where no more than two vehicles are produced in a month. Each requiring special attention during intricate assembly.
EXCLUSIVE FEATURES
W-16 Cylinder Engine
Amazingly, the Bugatti has a very rare 16- cylinder engine [a powerful Land Rover has only 4]. This keeps the r.p.m. redline high (6500) and at the same time lower the lag time when you press the accelerator. Doubling cylinders to this number is more challenging particularly when the size of the engine is to remain constant. Essentially, there are two ways to perform this:
Put two V-8 engines in-line with each other. Then connect output shaft of the two V-8s together.
Put two in-line 8-cylinder engines besides one another
For the Veyron, Bugatti chose the latter technique whereby the engineers merged twoV-8 at 15° bank angle to create a W-16 quad-cum engine (two Vs create a W). Both 8-cylinders are set at an angle of 90° to each other and aspirated by four exhaust chargers. This, therefore, heralded the piling on of more features to make the engine even better.
The engine has four valves per cylinder, for a total of 64 valves. (Ordinarily it’s 2 valves per cylinder). This contributes to a propulsion unit that is without parallel in it’s complexity to achieve satisfactory driving dynamics both on everyday traffic and her racetracks.
Four Turbochargers
Secondly, the Bugatti engineers endeavored to create a compact engine capable of producing 1,001 horsepower at 6,000 r.p.m. (revolutions per minute). And the obvious thing was turbocharging. This is a way to make an engine more powerful without making any of its components bigger. Turbocharging involves stuffing more air into the cylinder on each intake stroke using a component called turbocharger. A turbo pressurizes the air coming into the cylinder (18psi) so that the cylinder can hold more. Consequently, more air stuff into each cylinder helping burn much petrol in the same size cylinder. Therefore turbocharging allows Bugatti to utilize its 16000cc down on a more manageable 8000cc.
Knock and Misfiring Detection ion Current System
The multiplicity of the cylinder means very smooth running and ensures that the velocity difference will be infinitesimally small incase a cylinder misfires. The obvious rough running measurement detection is not reliable enough. Therefore, Bugatti ion current sensing (BIS) is installed. The ion current flowing at each spark plug at the time point of ignition and combustion is monitored by separate evaluation sensor systems. The data obtained is transferred to both engine control units. If combustion, knocking or misfire is detected, the associated control unit immediately initiates counter measures like (1) shut down of the cylinder, or (2) reduction of the charge pressure.
8-stage Dry Sump Lubrication System
Most vehicles have a wet sump oil system with the sump pan below the crankshaft. In the wet sump, the oil pump sucks oil from the bottom of the oil pan through a tube, filters it then pumps it to the rest of the engine.
On the other hand, in the dry sump, extra oil is stored in a tank outside the engine. There are at least two oil pumps—one pulls oil from the sump and the flows it to the tank and the other takes oil from the tank and sends it to lubricate the engine. The required amount of oil remains in the engine. Therefore the dry sump outweighs the wet sump in doing the following:
Ensures proper lubrication and cooling with the 16-cylinders
The main mass of the engine can be placed lower in the vehicle, where oil pan of the wet sump occupies; therefore help lowering the centre of gravity (cog) and help aerodynamics (by allowing a lower hood line)
The excess oil around the crankshaft in a wet sump can get on the shaft and cut horsepower.
In wet sump, turning, braking and acceleration can cause the oil to pool on one side of the engine. This sloshing can uncover the pump’s pick-up tube.
7-Gear and Dual-Clutch Gearbox (DCG)
First for the conventional single clutch (sequential manual gearbox, SMG), pressing the clutch pedal disconnects the engine from the gearbox and interrupts power flow to the transmission (Remember an engine run at a constant rpm) then a stick shift moves a toothed collar from one gear wheel to another gear wheel of different size. A device called synchronizer match the gears before they are engaged to prevent grinding. Once the gear is engaged, the driver releases the clutch pedals, which reconnects the engine to the gearbox and transmit power to the wheels. So there is not a continuous flow of power from the engine to the wheels (on-off-of-…)
On the contrary, dual-clutch offers the best of both worlds and it’s been predicted as the transmission of the future. A DCG uses two clutches but has no clutch pedal. Sophisticated electronics and hydraulics control the clutches all independently. One clutch controls the odd gears (1st, 3rd, 5th and R) while the other controls the even gears (2nd, 4th, and 6th).
The computer controls the clutch disks as well as the actual shifting. The computer is able to shift gears in 0.2 seconds without interrupting the power flow from the transmission. The goodness is that the computer-controlled manual transmission is accessible by shifter paddles with option to run as a full automatic.
Permanent All-Wheel Drive
The power generated in the engine is transferred to the flange-mounted direct manual gearbox (DSG). The torque and speed is then transmitted through the gearing of 7 forward and one reverse gear via universal drives.
The drive power is distributed to the front and rear axle by means by of a Haldex Coupling, an actively controlled multidisk. The following front axle differential distributes the power to both front wheels. While in the rear axle differential the power is distributed to the rear wheels via a bevel gear and a further differential. This is an actively-controlled, hydraulic actuated, multi-disk differential lock installed to prevent speed differences between the two real wheels and ensures optimum directional stability when accelerating and when cornering under load.
The Massive Radiator
This radiator counteracts all of the waste heat that burning 6.05 litres of petrol per minute can generate. The Veyron has two water circuits:
First larger circuit: - which contain 44litres of cooling water with three coolers in the front section of the car. Two keep the engine at operating temperature.
Second circuit (low temperature system): - has a separate water pump and contain 15 litres of cooling water. This one cools the charge air (130°) heated during compression in the four turbochargers, in the two heat exchanger mounted on the engine.
Supersonic Speed
The Veyron which has been owned once by footballer Christian Ronaldo and rapper Lil’ Wayne, runs at an electronically-limited top speed of 408 km/h with unbelievable acceleration of 2.5seconds going from 0 to 97km/ h. In turn, it can go from 386km/h to standstill in under 10 seconds or less. The evenly applied brakes will keep the Bugatti Veyron on exact path even when the driver lets the steering wheel go. Braking power is so strong that it doesn’t feel the pressure of tight curves despite its massive build: voted best in circular racetrack according to modernracecar.com.
As expected, the Veyron guzzles fuel more than any other claiming car, getting 7mpg city and 10mpg highway driving. According to reports, the tires at top speed should blow out in 15 minutes, but the saving grace is that the Bugatti Veyron will burn all the car’s fuel in 12 minutes.
Exceptional safety
It’s preferred to avoid having any unnecessary accidents in the first place but incase of the unfortunate happenings, you aren’t alone--Bugatti got your back. In order to achieve this, the bugatti features a Sophisticated Intelligent Safety and Information System (ISIS) network, which monitors the car’s behavior and, in the unfortunate event of an accident, determines which of the numerous active safety systems to trigger—including the integrated front seat airbags and seatbelts pre-tensioners—via a host of intelligent sensors. Ever vigilant, these sensors almost instantaneously transmit and receive all crush-relevant information, which ISIS then uses to activate individual safety features in such a way as to provide the most effective protection.
Thanks to impact absorbing crumple zones and a double front bulkhead, this isolates occupants from a frontal impact. Up front, the robust windscreen structure, complete with tremendous strong triangulated A-pillars, being leading passive safety, has been engineered to support the weight of the car, thereby protecting the front seat occupant.
The electronic system is designed to maximize the braking performance and stability of the bugatti. This is where the DBC, CBC, DSC are good at. Dynamic Break Control (DBC) helps drivers reduce the stopping distance in an emergency situation when the driver applies the brakes suddenly. DBC ensures that maximum deceleration is achieved by increasing the break pressure independently of how hard the pedal is pressed until the car come to a halt or the driver releases the brake pedal. Cornering Brake Control (CBC) provides assistance in stabilizing the bugatti when braking while in mid-corner. Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) recognizes when the front or the rear of the car begin to slide (under over steering) and applies braking force to individual wheels to bring the car back under control.
Develop a Nyayo Car using this prototype.
