15 years ago, the Veyron 16.4 was the first series production car to break the 400 km/h barrier.
407 km/h.
With a series production car.
This had never been achieved before.
Exactly 15 years ago, Bugatti was the first series manufacturer to achieve this record, which still stands today, with the Veyron 16.4.
The French luxury manufacturer of hyper sports cars had achieved one of the development goals that it had set for itself, something that the public believed to be unachievable.
The first hyper sports car was designed for a power output of over 1,000 PS, to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in under 3 seconds, and to drive faster than 406 km/h.
It was powered by an engine completely developed from scratch: W16 with 16 cylinders, with a displacement of 8.0 litres, and four turbochargers.
The 1,001 PS output and 1,250 newton metres of torque were distributed by a newly developed, seven-speed dual clutch gearbox (DSG) to a permanent all-wheel drive.
The Veyron 16.4 accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds.
No other series production vehicle could accelerate that fast in 2005.
The hyper sports car reached a speed of 200 km/h in 7.3 seconds, and 300 km/h in 16.7 seconds.
However, the main development goal was the top speed of 407 km/h.
No other series production vehicle had been able to break the magical 400 km/h barrier before.
The ingenious engineer and the driving force behind Bugatti, Ferdinand Karl Piëch, developed the legendary Porsche 917.
The racing car had won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time for Porsche in the 1960s and drove with a top speed of 406 km/h on the Hunaudières Straight.
The Veyron was to drive even faster.
