Mercedes-Benz T80

The Mercedes-Benz T80 was a vehicle developed and built by Mercedes-Benz, and designed by Ferdinand Porsche. It was intended to break the world land speed record, but never made the attempt, having been over-taken by the outbreak of World War II.

Background

World-renowned German auto racer Hans Stuck's pet project was to take the world land speed record and he convinced Mercedes-Benz to build a special racing car for the attempt. Officially sanctioned by Hitler himself (a race car fan influenced by Stuck), the project was started in 1937, while the Nazi Third Reich was at the height of its powers. Automotive designer Dr. Ferdinand Porsche first targeted a speed of 550 km/h (342 mph), but after George Eyston's and John Cobb's successful LSR runs of 1938-39 the target speed was raised to 600 km/h (373 mph). By late 1939, when the project was finished, the target speed was a much higher 750 km/h (465 mph). This would also be the first attempt at the absolute land speed record on German soil, Hitler envisioned the T80 as another propaganda triumph of German technological superiority to be witnessed by all the world courtesy of German television. The same autobahn course had already proven itself ideal for record-breaking in smaller capacity classes, Britain's Goldie Gardner having exceeded 200 mph (320 km/h) there in a 1,500 cc MG.

Power

The massive 44.5 litre Daimler-Benz DB 603 inverted V12 was selected to power the record-setting car. The engine was a derivative of the famous DB-601 aircraft engine which powered the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter in production at the time. The DB-603 fitted was just the third prototype (V3) engine of this variant and tuned up to 3,000 hp (2,200 kW), roughly twice the power of the Bf 109 or the Supermarine Spitfire. The engine ran on a special mixture of methyl alcohol (63%), benzene (16%), ethanol (12%), acetone (4.4%), nitrobenzene (2.2%), avgas (2%), and ether (0.4%) with MW (methanol-water) injection for charge cooling and as an anti-detonant.
Although this power figure sounds impressive, it's not unusual for one-off racing engines of the period, especially those used for short-duration record-breaking with esoteric fuels. The Rolls-Royce R-type, a more comparable engine than the Spitfire's Merlin, had delivered 2,350 hp (1,750 kW) on a similar fuel mixture back in 1931. Eyston's land speed record car Thunderbolt used a pair of them, and offered over 4,000 hp (3,000 kW).

Construction

The difficulty of the challenge was met with money and engineering genius. By 1939, the T80 was fully completed at a cost of RM 600,000. The car was over 8 meters long (27 ft), had three axles with two of them driven, weighed over 2.7 metric tons (three short tons), and produced 3000 hp (2200 kW) together with the aerodynamics of specialist Josef Mikcl to attain a projected speed of 750 km/h (465 mph). Aerodynamically, the T80 incorporated a Porsche-designed enclosed cockpit, low sloping hood, rounded fenders, and elongated tail booms. At the rear were two small wings to provide downforce and insure stability. The heavily streamlined twin-tailed body achieved a drag coefficient of 0.18, an astonishingly low figure for any vehicle.

Projections for the 1940 land speed record attempt

As ambitiously planned, Hans Stuck would have driven the T80 over a special stretch of the Dessau Autobahn (now part of the modern A9 Autobahn), which was 25 metres (82 ft) wide and 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) long with the median paved over. The date was set for the January 1940 "RekordWoche" (Record/Speed Week), but the outbreak of the war prevented the T80 run. In 1939, the vehicle had been unofficially nicknamed Schwarzer Vogel (Black Bird) by Hitler and was to be painted in German nationalistic colors complete with German Adler (Eagle) and Hakenkreuz (Swastika). But the event was cancelled and the T80 garaged.

War

The DB-603 aircraft engine was subsequently removed during the war while the vehicle was moved to safety and storage in Karnten, Austria. The T80 survived the war, unlike many German artifacts, and was eventually moved into the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart for permanent display.
After the war, John Cobb drove the Railton Mobil Special to a land speed record of 634 km/h (394 mph) in 1947, a speed which was 116 km/h (72 mph) slower than the 750 km/h (465 mph) projected for the T80 back in 1940. It took until 1964 for Art Arfons to hit 875 km/h (544 mph) in the turbojet-powered "Green Monster" to attain and surpass the T80's speed target, and the wheel-driven record of 409 mph (658.5 km/h) set by the four-Chrysler Hemi-engined Goldenrod American land speed record car in 1965, which is still the piston-engined land speed record for non-supercharged, wheel-driven cars. No wheel-driven land speed record vehicle exceeded the T80's maximum design velocity until 2001, when Don Vesco's turboshaft-powered "Turbinator" attained 458.440 mph (737.788 km/h) at Bonneville.

Current status

The T80 is currently on display at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt. Many people over the decades have urged Mercedes to fully restore the T80 and test run her to see if she would have reached 750 km/h (465 mph).

Technical data

• Total weight: 2896 kg (6385 lb)
• Power: 3,000 PS (2,210 kW) @ 3200 rpm
• Engine: 44.5 liters
• Wheels: (6) 7 X 31
• Length: 8.24 meters (27 ft 0 in)
• Width: 3.20 meters (10 ft 6 in)
• Height: 1.74 meters (5 ft 9 in)
• Drag Coefficient: 0.18
• Speed: estimated at between 550-750 km/h (340–465 mph)

Names of the T80

• Official: Mercedes-Benz T80
• Porsche: Mercedes Rekordwagen (Record Car)
• Mikcl: Hochgeschwindigkeitsrennwagen (High-speed racing car)
• Hitler: Schwarzer Vogel (Black Bird)

Bugatti Veyron

Bugatti Veyron gets a place of honor in our top 100 most beautiful cars ever made.

The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engined grand touring car. It is the most expensive modern road car in the world at €1,000,000 (approx. US$1,400,000).^{[citation needed]} The Super Sport version is the fastest road-legal car in the world, with a top speed of 431.07 km/h (267.85 mph).^[4] The original version has a top speed of 408.00 km/h (253.52 mph).^[5] It was named Car of the Decade (2000–2009) by the BBC television programme Top Gear.
Designed and developed by the German Volkswagen Group and produced by Bugatti Automobiles SAS at their headquarters in Château St. Jean in Molsheim (Alsace, France), the Veyron's chief designer was Hartmut Warkuss, and the exterior was designed by Jozef Kabaň of Volkswagen, with much of the engineering work being conducted under the guidance of former Peterbilt engineer and now Bugatti Engineering chief Wolfgang Schreiber.
A number of special variants have been produced, including two targa tops. In December 2010, Bugatti began offering prospective buyers the ability to customize exterior and interiors colours by using the Veyron 16.4 Configurator application on the marque's official website.The car is named after French racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti company. The 16.4 refers to 16 cylinders and 4 turbochargers.The Veyron features a 16 cylinder engine, equivalent to two narrow-angle V8 engines mated in a W configuration. Each cylinder has four valves for a total of sixty four, but the narrow staggered V8 configuration allows two overhead camshafts to drive two banks of cylinders so only four camshafts are needed. The engine is fed by four bi-turbochargers and displaces 7,993 cubic centimetres (487.8 cu in), with a square 86 by 86 mm (3.4 by 3.4 in) bore and stroke.The transmission is a dual-clutch direct-shift gearbox computer-controlled automatic with seven gear ratios, with magnesium paddles behind the steering wheel and a shift time of less than 150 milliseconds, built by Ricardo of England rather than Borg-Warner, who designed the six speed DSG used in the mainstream Volkswagen Group marques. The Veyron can be driven in either semi- or fully automatic mode.

Super Sport edition

The Veyron Super Sport features an engine power increase from the standard 1,001 metric horsepower (736 kW; 987 bhp) to 1,200 metric horsepower (883 kW; 1,184 bhp) and torque of 1,500 N·m (1,100 ft·lbf) and a revised aerodynamic package.^[4] It was shown publicly for the first time at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August 2010.^[3]

Bugatti's official test driver Pierre Henri Raphanel drove the Super Sport version of the Veyron on Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien high-speed oval to establish the car's top speed. With representatives of the Guinness Book of Records and German Technical Inspection Agency (TÜV) on hand, Raphanel made passes around the big oval in both directions achieving an average maximum speed of 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph).^[14] Once produced for sale, the first five Super Sports will sport the same black and orange finish as the first production car, which was used to set the speed record, and all production models will be electronically limited to 415 km/h (258 mph) to protect the tyres.^[4]

Top speed

German inspection officials recorded an average top speed of the original version of 408.47 km/h (253.81 mph)^[5] during test sessions on the Ehra-Lessien test track on 19 April 2005.

This top speed was verified by James May on Top Gear in November 2006, again at Volkswagen Group's private Ehra-Lessien test track. Jeremy Clarkson, driving a Veyron from Italy to London, noted that at top speed the engine consumes 45,000 litres (9,900 imp gal) of air per minute (as much as a human breathes in four days). The Veyron has the highest top speed of any street legal production car. Once back in the Top Gear studio, James was asked by co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson what the Veyron felt like to drive at 407 km/h (253 mph), May replied that it was "totally undramatic", and very stable at speed. It only wobbled slightly as the air brake moved in the vertical position to slow the car down at lower speeds.^[15]
On 4 July 2010, Bugatti's official test driver Pierre Henri Raphanel piloted the Super Sport edition and was clocked at an average of 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph) on the same track, taking back the title from the SSC Ultimate Aero TT as the fastest production vehicle of all time. The 431.072 km/h mark was reached by averaging the Super Sport's two test runs, the first topping out at 427.93 km/h (265.90 mph) and the second at 434.20 km/h (269.80 mph). The record run was certified by the German government and the Guinness Book of World Records.^[16]
The car's everyday top speed is listed at 350 km/h (220 mph). When the car reaches 220 km/h (140 mph), hydraulics lower the car until it has a ground clearance of about 9 cm (3.5 in). At the same time, the wing and spoiler deploy. In this handling mode the wing provides 3,425 newtons (770 lbf) of downforce, holding the car to the road.^[10]
For top speed mode the driver must, while at rest, toggle a special top speed key to the left of the driver's seat. A checklist then establishes whether the car and its driver are ready to attempt to reach 407 km/h (253 mph). If so, the rear spoiler retracts, the front air diffusers shut, and normal 12.5 cm (4.9 in) ground clearance drops to 6.5 cm (2.6 in).

Top Gear

The Veyron has received considerable praise from all three presenters of the popular BBC motoring show Top Gear. While initially skeptical that it would ever be produced, Jeremy Clarkson later declared the Veyron "the greatest car ever made and the greatest car we will ever see in our lifetime." James May described the Veyron as "our Concorde moment." Clarkson test drove the Veyron from Alba, northern Italy to London in a race against James May and Richard Hammond who made the journey in a Cessna 182 aeroplane.
A few episodes later, James May drove the Veyron at the VW test track and took it to its top speed of 407.16 km/h (253.00 mph). During the second episode of the 13th series, Richard Hammond raced the Veyron against the McLaren F1 driven by The Stig in a one mile (1.6 km) drag race in Abu Dhabi, commenting on Bugatti's "amazing technical achievement" versus the "non gizmo" racing purity of the F1. While the F1 was quicker off the line and remained ahead until both cars were travelling at approximately 200 km/h, the Bugatti overtook its competitor from 200 to 300 km/h, and emerged the victor. Hammond has stated that he did not use the Veyron's launch control in order to make the race more interesting.

The Veyron also won the award for Car of the Decade in Top Gear's end of 2010 award show. Clarkson commented "It was a car that just rewrote the rule book really, an amazing piece of engineering, a genuine Concorde moment". When the standard version was tested, it did not reach the top of the lap time leader board, which was speculated as being due to the car's considerable weight disadvantage against the other cars towards the top. The SuperSport version, however, achieved the fastest ever time of 1:16.8 (later beaten by the Ariel Atom V8 and the McLaren MP4-12C^[41]), as well as being taken to a (verified) average top speed of 431.072 km/h (267.856 mph) by Raphanel on the programme,^[42] thenceforth retaking its position as the fastest production car in the world.

My graces to Wikipedia.