Bugatti Veyron.... My new car!!! (or not)

 Dudes!  
  
I just got the new issue of CAR magazine.  It has
 the Bugatti Veyron on the cover.  It comes with a
 quad turbo charged W16 motor and all wheel drive. 
It is conservatively rated at 1001hp at the crank
 because that is all they could measure.  They
 estimate it at closer to 1100 hp.  The tires are
 hand made in Michelin's F1 tire making facility. 

The article was written by a guy who got to ride
 shotgun during the road testing.  They were in
 Germany driving on the autobahn.  They never got it
 into 7th gear because every time they got it up to
 215mph (just below the shift point), they had to
 slow down for some dumbass in an AMG c55 or M5 who
 was putting along at 155mph. 

 

They've got it up to
 254mph on the track.... and there's still more speed
 there.  When you hit the brakes at those speeds, it
 deploys the air brake (a spoiler that increases wind
 resistance) before clamping the brake calipers.  The
 air brake is capable of .6g of braking force on its
 own.  It takes 4 radiators to cool the
  motor. 

 

When you put it into "Speed" mode
 (suggested for speeds over 215mph), it closes most
 of the front vents and openings, lowers and flattens
 the rear wing (to provide zero lift up front and
 40kg downforce in back) and lowers the suspension by
 25mm. 

 

When in "Handling" mode (recommended for
 courses that involve turns where you won't be
 exceeding 220mph) the wings adjust to add 150kg
 downforce in the front and 200kg in the back. 

0-62mph takes 2.5 seconds. 

0-125mph takes 7.3  seconds. 

0-188mph takes 16 seconds. 

0-250mph takes  55 seconds.  
  
I'm not exactly sure what the exchange rate is, but
 off the top of my head, the price tag is about
 $1.4million.   
  
The car should be released by the end of October.  
  
I wonder if you can get snow tires for it?

Bugatti Veyron part 2...

 

 

Problems that they had with the design....

 

Initially they couldn't get fuel pumps to supply enough fuel at the right pressure to run the motor at more than 650 horsepower.  They had to completely design the fuel pumps from the ground up.  At regular cruising speeds (under 125mph) it gets as much as 16mpg.  At full throttle doing performance runs, the mileage drops down to less than 2.5mpg.  When you consider that it can easily go 4 miles per minute, that means you're draining a 20 gallon tank would completely drain in 12 1/2 minutes.  They had to put big gas tanks on it too. 

 

The driveshafts created problems for them.  Traditional drive shafts use rubber CV boots.  Under the severe stresses that this car puts out, the boots would expand, rub on some suspension part, rupture and the drive shaft would run dry and wear out almost instantly.  They don't discuss how that problem was solved. 

 

Brembo brakes were incapable of stopping it.  They went to 400mm front brake rotors, 380mm rear rotors (all ceramic) and used AP 8-piston front and 6-piston rear calipers. 

 

The tires are another amazing story.  Tires soft enough to be drivable around town and on lower speed (under 125mph) road courses would build too much heat and delaminate at the kinds of speed this car can attain.  Tires strong enough to handle 254mph and more would be undrivable at lower speeds.  They compromised.  They have a system where the tires run at 3bar (43.5psi) of air pressure in the city, and when they get up to speed, they automatically increase air pressure to 3.7bar (53.65psi). 

 

The successors to the Veyron is already in the works. After all the work on the engine and drivetrain, they want to be able to use it in other applications.  They're working on a lighter weight version that isn't wed to a design that was initally done for aesthetics instead of aerodynamics.  They'd also like to do a front engine/AWD sedan or saloon car with that drivetrain. 

 

Is there any wonder why I love this thing so much?  I'm such a geek and so is the car. 

 

Pete

An interesting and sad story....

Oy oy.

 

I was reading VW Vortex last night and found something funny and sad.  VW of Germany brought over two 2006 VW GTIs to American to tour as demo cars for the much anticipated release of the MkV GTI in America.   This is going to be a dang cool car.  2.0L turbo with direct port injection and a pretty tight 6 speed or paddle shifted auto. 

 

Both of the vehicles were right hand drive cars.  As far as I know, they are the only ones available right now. 

 

VW Springfield (my second least favorite car dealership in the entire world) was to play host to these vehicles for a week or so in order to show them off and maybe have some people drive them. 

 

The 6-speed met its death at the hands of one of the sales managers at VW Springfield.  He wasn't used to driving a right hand drive car and rather than driving it mellow until he was used to it, he decided to put it through its paces. 

 

BIG MISTAKE!!

 

When shifing up through the gears, he was at red line in second gear and shifted into 1st instead of 3rd.  Valves met pistons and hyjinks insued.  I can only imagine the amount of mangled engine parts that were spit out the bottom of that car.  I can only imagine the conversation between the sales guy and his boss.... and the guys from Germany who brought the car over. 

 

See y'all later.

 

PEte

 

 

 

The painted bumper....

Here's what my car looks like with the bumper painted. 

 

Click HERE for the photo.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

Pete

 

Yesterday's Corrado progress -- AKA Work like the wind!

SHUT UP WITH THE CAR STUFF ALREADY!  I thought you were a mountain bike guy! 

 

It is a good sign when you talk to yourself in your own blog.  Since I'm the main person that reads this, I guess that could be said about most of my posts. ;)

 

Anywhoo.  I did get a few photos up of the work that I did Wednesday.  You can click HERE and HERE to see what things looked like yesterday morning. 

 

Last night was going to be a short session.  I had a lot of work to get done and I just resolved myself to the fact that I was going to get started and then leave the car in pieces in order to make it to Wakefield in time to ride. 

 

NOT SO!

 

I was a freaking machine last night.  I stopped at Home Depot*** and picked up the sheet metal screws that I needed and was home before 4pm.  That gave me almost 2 hours to work.  I had the heat lamps set up the night before because I was out working after dark.  I backed the car way up so I wouldn't get any overspray on it, then sanded, cleaned and painted the bumper.  I turned on the heat lamps and baked it.  I stopped once during the other repair processes to put another coat of paint on.  

 

I had a tiny leak in the power steering system.  The belt was making all kinds of noises too.  Upon close inspection, it looks like there was a leak where the high pressure hose meets the pump.  I removed the hose, replaced the gasket, then put it back together again.  I adjusted the accessory belt thanks to Doug at the Corrado Club of Canada web site.  (Sorry about all the Canadian jokes that they put on South Park.  I feel guilty that I laughed at most of them after you guys did a great Corrado web site)  I added some fluid and cycled it through a few times.  I added more fluid once the bubbles had worked their way out. 

 

Anywho... My steering issues are GONE!  The power steering is great and quiet too.  I did notice that I've got a small oil leak from the oil pan.  I guess it is time for that finned aluminum oil pan with windage tray like the one Les put on his Corrado.  (Deep down inside I really want to be Les Noriel when I grow up). 

 

I checked the bumper and it was dry enough to install.  I made sure that I was wearing gloves.  I got the bumper back on, bolted it in place, shot the new hardware with a squirt of black paint so it doesn't stand out as much and then drove the car up in front of the heat lamps.  I left the car parked there while I went to Wakefield for a ride.

 

I arrived at Wakefield with 6 minutes to spare.  I behaved like an ass (as usual) and annoyed Craig (Something I try hard to do, but usually don't succeed at).  I tried like hell to ride.  Craig was extra cool and took the fast group.  Chris, Kathy and Janie and I went for a casual stroll around Wakefield.  We did between 4 and 5 miles.  I was just freaking dead.  I've been working on the car so much that I've only been getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep per night.  That doesn't make for a fast or lively ride.  I called it quits early and headed home. 

 

Laura wasn't home yet so I put a dab of caulk along the seams where the side skirts meet the body.  It just smooths out the lines a little.  I'll need to sand that a bit before paint, but it should look good when it is done. 

 

Finally I went to bed at a decent hour.  I talked to Laura for a few, drank the last beer in the house and went to bed by 10pm. 

 

*** My Home Depot Rant.  The Home Depot at 7 corners is HORRIBLE.  Nothing is where it should be and their stock is quite erratic.  You never know if something will be in stock.  I shopped there earlier in the week and had to go to the one in Merrifield because they didn't have half of what I wanted.  Grrrrrrrr.  No more Sniper Home Depot for me.

 

Oh well.  I've babbled way too long.  I guess I've had too much caffeine this morning. ;)

 

See you tomorrow.  You'll like the pics of the bumper when it is fully painted.

 

Pete

 

Time to play bumper cars!!! or not... ;)

Last night was the most fun I've ever had giving myself a major headache and bashing my knuckles.  Not really... I had plenty of fun, but it wasn't that much of a pain. 

 

I finally got to installing the bumper last night.  It wasn't anything like I expected.  The fiberglass bumper stands out 1-2 inches from the rebar.  I thought I'd be able to slather the rebar with Gorilla glue and slap the bumper on.  No such luck! 

 

I ended up fabricating brackets that allowed the bumper to slide in on the side, bolt to the fender liners and bolt to the base of the rebar.  The good thing is that all of these brackets and bots are (for the most part) out of the line of sight. 

 

This is a test fit for right now.  The brackets that I fabricated are not particularly pretty.  I concentrated more on getting the bumper on than on making them nice, smooth, sculpted works of art (Not that anything I do is a work of art).  Tonight before the wakefield ride, I'm going to take the bumper off, shape the brackets with the dremmel, paint them black (and probably the bumper too) then put it all back together again.  It'll be a bit of a rush to get all that done, but I think I've got my routine down well enough that it should go pretty well. 

 

I'll post photos of it then.  It looks like I'll have the bumper done for the euro meet this weekend.  I was hoping to have the car done for H20 in Ocean City.  That will have to wait a year. 

 

If all goes well tomorrow, Friday night I can get back to prepping the main body of the car.  I need to schedule a time that I can get the headliner done.  Maybe that will be the next weekend.  My friend David runs a business doing headliners.  He said he'd do mine for the cost of matterials if I'd pull it out and put it back in.  That is a pretty big deal since there is that freaky sunroof panel to cover.  I wish I had the money for a glass moon roof at this point.  I don't. 

 

I have a bad feeling that my power steering pump is going.  I'm getting belt squeel when I'm turning while going slow.  That means there is some serious resistance on that belt.  I'd rather not spend $250 on a new PS pump.  While I'm down there, I might as well replace the oil pump too. 

 

Sorry to be so mundane.  I promise to be more interesting tomorrow. 

 

Pete

More Corrado News

Yup! More car stuff. I'll keep it short.

It took me for ever, but I'm finally happy with the side skirt installation. That is a good thing because I installed them in such a way that THEY ARE NEVER FREAKING COMING OFF!!!! (ARRRRrrghhhhh!!! --- Just had to get a bit of pirate talk in there. Sorry).

I used some waterproof construction adhesive as well as my favorite Gorilla Glue (I call it Godzilla glue) and a lot of clamps to make sure it is all put together and stays together.

As usual, I'm useless without photos.

Click HERE for a photo of the Corrado in the parking garage at work. HERE is another one. HERE Is a picture of the Flying Spaghetti Monster from the last post. HERE is a photo of us about to cook Gracie and eat her for dinner.

Have a nice day, Dammit!

Pete

While we're talking about pirates....

While talking to friends, I discovered something that has changed my life for the better. I found the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

The state of Kansas recently mandated that the theory of Intelligent Design be taught along with evolution in public schools. The Church of the FSM is seeking to get their theory of Intelligent Design taught in public schools in Kansas too.

The basic idea is that the earth is not really as old as scientists tell us it is. There are writings that describe how the universe was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster instead of through evolution or creationism.

That's just crazy talk, you say. Look at all the evidence that we have that tells us how old the earth is! Here's what the FSWians have as an answer...

A scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact. He finds that approximately 75% of the Carbon-14 has decayed by electron emission to Nitrogen-14, and infers that this artifact is approximately 10,000 years old, as the half-life of Carbon-14 appears to be 5,730 years. But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage. We have numerous texts that describe in detail how this can be possible and the reasons why He does this. He is of course invisible and can pass through normal matter with ease.

What is more important is the need to teach these truths while wearing appropriate clothing. Members of the Church of the FSM dress as pirates. This is done for a very important reason. As you can see from this graph, global warming has increased in the same proportion as the decline of the pirate population of the earth. Dressing and behaving like pirates is thought to be one of the best ways that we can slow the increase in average temperatures that is happening all over the world.

I know it is difficult to take these facts at face value. I've included a bit of visual evidence in this post to help you see what is true and right.

Thanks for reading.

Pete

Ahoy Dude!!!

Greetings inhabitants of the planet earth. 

 

As you read in this blog and many other places, I imagine, yesterday was "talk like a pirate day."  That was fine with me.  I truly had fun talking like a pirate all day and singing "What do you do with a drunken sailor" all day long.  I'm even recovering from the wounds (Arrrrgh) inflicted upon my person after I amorously referred to my wife as "me buxom beauty."  ;) 

 

Here's the hard part.   I can't stop myself from talking like a pirate.  It is adictive.  They don't tell you that on the cute little web site that I posted yesterday.  It is one of those crack dealer things that seems to crop up.  "The first day is free, but after that you're going to have to pay a heavy price for talking like a pirate." 

 

My normal dialect is a rather eclectic pseudo granola/hippy/surfer/geek talk.  It is now appearing that I need to add "pirate" into that description. 

 

Just don't be too suprised when I see you next and say, "Ahoy dude."

 

Pete

Tomorrow should be a national holiday...

Greetings folks. 

 

I'm sure you are aware that my sense of humor is sometimes a bit odd.  I'm not sure if you are aware of my favorite day of the year.  Tomorrow is the official Talk Like a Pirate Day.  I think we all need to make an effort to live up to the true spirit of this day.  Think of the levity you'll bring to all who you encounter during this otherwise-normal monday. 

 

If you're at a loss for how to best incorporate the vocabulary and mannerisms of a pirate into your daily life, I've included a helpful guide to make things easier for you.  Click HERE for the basic guide to talking like a Pirate. 

 

Here is a sample for your enjoymnent. 

 

Ahoy! - "Hello!"

Avast! - Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, "Whoa! Get a load of that!" which today makes it more of a "Check it out" or "No way!" or "Get off!"

Aye! - "Why yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did."

Aye aye! - "I'll get right on that sir, as soon as my break is over."

Arrr! - This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. "Arrr!" can mean, variously, "yes," "I agree," "I'm happy," "I'm enjoying this beer," "My team is going to win it all," "I saw that television show, it sucked!" and "That was a clever remark you or I just made." And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr!

 

Sounds fun, eh?  I'm going to be interested to see how things go at work tomorrow. 

 

I'd be interested to hear about how your days go. :)

 

Best wishes,

 

Pete

 

 

 

Too Many Car Projects...

It is really funny, but when I take the car apart a little, I always find a ton of things to do as I'm putting it back together. What's worse is that since I haven't been working on the Corrado for a few years, I've managed to collect all the parts and tools that I need for these projects.

Here are a few examples. To properly install the new side skirts, I need to take the wheels off. While I've got the car jacked up, I might as well get rid of the undercoating that I HATE so much in the wheel wells. The brake calipers are clean, but they could look better. I've got caliper paint for those. I might as well get to work on that too. There's that dent that someone put at the bottom of the car where they jacked it up incorrectly. That should be pulled out. I might as well change the oil and tranny fluid while I'm down here.

As long as I have the rear bumper off, I might as well pull the tail lights so it is easy to sand out the few spots that need it. As long as the lights are off, they might as well get wet sanded, buffed and smoked. Since I've got them out, I might as well put the new bulbs in them that look cool as well as shine brighter. I've always wanted to do the euro-fog mod on the Corrado too.

I've got to take the front bumper off in order to put the new one on. Those fog lights should be replaced. I noticed the motor mounts could use a freshinging up. Since the front motor mount has to be changed, I might as well put in the new frame crossmember with delrin bushings. That will up the vibration inside a little, but will really get the power down to the road. It seems silly to change the front motor mount without getting the rear mount and tranny mount at the same time. Might as well have all three done.

Pretty much every project that I'm doing on the Corrado is like this. Being this thorough definitely makes the car run nicely. It also tends to make all these projects last for ever. I'm going to try to take a break from these huge projects to get the car back together so I can drive it around for a few days.

I'll jack it back up again on Saturday.

Pete

It was a Corrado Weekend

Hey guys.

It was a car work weekend. I'm prepping like crazy and doing body work so that I can paint the car next weekend. .

Saturday was an amazingly productive day. The side molding removal had left a lot of damaged paint. Since the damage was along a body line, I had to sand down the paint along the whole line. If I didn't, the body wouldn't look straight when I finally got around to painting it. The net result of that is that instead of just sanding and priming a few spots, I ended up sanding and priming a section 3" tall and almost the length of the whole car.

Paul and I took photos of the work yesterday. You can see the primed area HERE and HERE.

I get to do it again with the body line that is 6" above that one. I had paintless dent removal done about 2 years ago on the car. They did a great job, but there are areas where the paint cracks ever so slightly. It lets water in and rust begins to form. I'm going to have an entire day of sanding out the body and priming and sanding and priming and so on and so on.

Next came installing some of the new body work. This ended up being a lot more challenging than I'd originally thought. It wasn't physically or technically demanding, It just required a level of brain work that I'm not usually capable of on the weekends. That is why it was good that Paul was there. He had some good ideas that saved the day. I had a few too. My first idea was to selectively add some aluminum L brackets behind the side skirt to make it stand straight on the body. The manufacturer of the side skirts suggests this for the whole side of the car, but that neither looked right, nor did it feel right when we tried it. I cut two short sections for the area that needed more bracing and rivetted those in. Paul's brilliant idea was to shim the side skirts with body washers since the skirts were 2/3" longer than the panel they covered. When added to one of my original brain children (adding L brackets at the bottom of the skirts to give them strength, these things are going to stay on really well.

As usual, my life is useless without photos. THESE and THESE are the L-brackets that I riveted to the side of the body. This is the side skirt on, but not fully braced. HERE is a look from the back.

I still have the under bracing to do. That will not be difficult or time consuming. I want to get the second side skirt on first though because there is an adhesive that is used to glue the side skirts to the body that makes them more or less perminant. I don't want to bolt up the under bracing until it is time to use the adhesive. I'll do both sides at the same time.

I then moved to the back bumper. Paul made the fatal mistake of asking how that was going to fit together. "I'll show you! It'll only take 15 or 20 minutes to install." For once in my life I was about right. 20 minutes later I had remvoed the rear bumper, sized it, drilled it and was tightening down the last bolts. He got a quick look at it before he had to hop on his motorcycle and ride home. I was pretty shocked. He let it idle for a few moments to let the oil begin circulating, then he revved it, smoked the back tire and jumped off the curb into the street like he was a motocross rider. He then proceeded to ride a wheelie the entire lenght of the street just to show off. Amazing. (Just kidding. He rode off like the cautious and responsible rider that he is. He's looking for a girlfriend and I thought that might impress any female hackers that are looking at my e-mails).

You can see how the back of the car looked before the new bumper HERE. You can see the new bumper installed HERE, HERE and HERE.

I'll get the other side skirt on tonight. I'm taking tomorrow off to be a tour guide for my brother-in-law. He sleeps late, so I'll get some body work done in the morning. By then I should have both side skirts glued and braced. The back bumper will be properly aligned and installed. I should have an initial test fitting of the front bumper done too.

I've been trying to get my brain around how to attach the front bumper to the metal bumper rebar ever since I got the new bumper from Germany 3 years ago. (Yes. It has been sitting in my basement for 3 years). I had been thinking so hard about the side skirts and how to engineer the way they attach to the car, that I couldn't stop the good ideas from coming. I really tried to.

Originally I was going to glue the bumper in place and then drill some holes and bolt through the bumper and rebar. I'd then have to make sure the bolts were flush with the outside of the bumper so I could cover them over and they'd be invisible. This would be difficult at best since it is hard to reach behind to put a nut on the back side of the bolt. All of the riveting that I did with the side skirts gave me an idea. I could countersinc the rivets into the bumper and just use them instead of bolts. They'd be a lot easier to cover over. If I used stainless steel rivets and made a relief for them in the bumper with the dremmel, you'd never know they were there. 8 rivets would be stronger than 3 bolts. Problem solved. You'll get photos of that later in the week.

Sorry this is so technical. I just sort of let the words flow out.

You can wake up now. The entry is over. ;)



Pete

Words I thought I'd never hear on a mountain bike ride.

Rarely will you find a more useless blog post.

I was on an unspecified group ride yesterday with a bunch of riders. We had a great time at an unspecified park. Unspecified rider #1 turns to unspecified rider #2 and says, "Your rear end feels really good." Unspecified rider #2 said, "Uhhhmmmm Thanks."

I thought you'd want to know.

Pete