Bugatti to display world’s fastest production car

Bugatti will be bringing the world’s fastest production car, the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, to this year’s Qatar Motor Show.The 1,200 PS bolide set the world speed record for production cars in 2010, which still stands today, with an average maximum speed of 431.072 km/h, officially confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records. Bugatti will be displaying the vehicle in its original configuration as a World Record Edition for the first time at a car show in the Middle East. The Veyron 16.4 Super Sport was introduced in 2010 and has been sold out for quite some time.The Qatar Motor Show will be open for the public from Friday.The Super Sport’s record-setting run took place on 26 June 2010 at the Volkswagen proving grounds in Ehra-Lessien in Germany. Bugatti’s Pilote Officiel Pierre-Henri Raphanel was at the wheel.In accordance with the Guinness rules, Raphanel had to drive the Super Sport down the long straight twice, once in each direction. Guinness then calculated the average from the maximum speed attained on each run: 431.072 km/h.“Setting this world record was an extremely intense and completely new experience for me”, said Raphanel, who, as a former Formula One and Le Mans race driver, is used to high speeds. “At a speed greater than 400 km/h, you are covering 120 metres per second. Even the slightest action in the cockpit can have enormous effects. You therefore must have a perfect vehicle that you can trust completely. The Veyron Super Sport was absolutely perfect.”The Super Sport’s technical data are impressive: its 8-litre W16 engine can put 1,200 PS and a maximum torque of an astounding 1,500 Nm on the road. The super car sprints from nought to 100km/h in only 2.5 seconds. The Super Sport was the further development of the1,001 PS Bugatti Veron 16.4 with which Bugatti’s success story began in 2005. The increase in the power of the 16-cylinder engine was made possible by four enlarged turbochargers and intercoolers. The suspension of the high-performance sports car was re-engineered to safely master the unique power output. The main spring rate was increased slightly and the anti-roll bars were reinforced. Together with newly developed dampers adapted from motor sport, these changes improved the precision of control over the wheels and the vehicle appreciably.