We never saw any Veyron at Le Mans

"Dasupersprint - base trim is enough" (dasupersprint) 01/18/2016 at 08:52 • Filed to: None

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But we had a EB110SS in 1994.

What’s impressive is that is was a privateer’s effort. And it needed replacement of all of the four turbos during the race. One was changed twice. It finished on a wall, but still

Hermann > Dasupersprint - base trim is enough 01/18/2016 at 09:15

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I was talking about this a few weeks ago with a friend.

VW should put racing back into the Bugatti brand. Make a car that qualifies with a WEC category and race it and not just make luxury cars with big numbers.

The Veyron was an engineering masterpiece. But it’s like:

“I raised these cows in a free range pasture, gave them daily massages and had them killed in a non-stressful way so I could gather the most tender and tasteful beef possible, much better than any kobe. Just so I could show it off, sell it to rich people who will also show it off and no one’s going to eat any of it. Just smell it and maybe grab a bite.” It feels like a waste of engineering not racing it.

A few Veyrons have participated in a few races. But they were never really taken seriously nor were fully prepared to do so.

It’s obviously arguable that racing it would benefit the brand or that the Veyron wasn’t made for racing. It served another purpose. It was a flagship for other things, like marketing Bugatti and the VW Group. And don’t get me wrong. I love the Veyron. It’s just that it felt like it didn’t fully serve its purpose. It’s a car that was beautiful in many ways, but didn’t have a chance to have a soul.

The Veyron won't go to heaven.

Dasupersprint - base trim is enough > Hermann 01/18/2016 at 09:23

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Maybe it’s all about image and marketing. Racing is tough and almost anyone has to face failure for years before even seeing success. They prefer to be on top of on-road performance right off the bat, even if it doesn’t mean anything in the real world.

Plus, they sold Veyrons to what, rap stars? Do they even watch GT racing?

DrJohannVegas > Hermann 01/18/2016 at 09:43

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The Veyron was never meant to go racing. Racing was never a consideration during its development. How can you tell? First, think about all the tech which is essential to the design and which conflicts with sporting regs/formulae of every conceivable series. Engine displacement, active aero, tires, etc. were all designed with the idea of a road car which could hit Piech’s ludicrous (and arbitrary) performance targets. Not racing.

Even the mighty McLaren F1 was a road car first, but one designed by racers. The fact that it, and the EB110 above, competed at Le Mans shows how much more liberal the regs were then (field sizes were dropping, and there was a need for more entrants). However, even in a time of liberal rules, the Veyron would be a terrible race car. Too heavy, too thirsty, not designed for quick service, etc.

Hermann > DrJohannVegas 01/18/2016 at 10:32

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Yeah. I know the Veyron was never meant for racing as I stated. But that’s something that bothers me about it.

I just wonder how different it would’ve been. As you said, most of its design and engine choices conflict with regulations of any sort of series. Making it fit into one would mean compromise, and if there’s something Bugatti loves to boast about is that there’s no compromise on it. It has low production numbers, high displacement, turbos and lots of other things that don’t fit well in racing regulations. So, as you said, it’s absolutely clear that was NEVER in the priorities.

And if they did compromise in order to race it. It would very likely have sucked on the track. Would this make it less of a legend if it didn’t win? Or would it make it more appealing just because it raced?

Many cars we love today never won a race (like the EB110), but somehow just knowing it qualified in a decent position in a single race, it makes my heart a bit warmer when I think of it. Even if it didn’t win.

WEC cars either have higher displacement or turbo. They made an exception for the Viper and I bet they could also make one for the Chiron if Bugatti was willing to race too. But again, that’d mean compromise on Bugatti’s side. So we know it will not happen.

My point is: I really wonder how different would it have been if the Veyron had raced, like Bugatti’s pre-war cars. I'd love to think of this scenario.

DrJohannVegas > Hermann 01/18/2016 at 11:50

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Fair points, all. In an alternate universe, where there’s still something like a Formula Libre going around (which itself would probably require a major reworking of many classic, and perhaps even modern, race courses to deal with the much higher kinetic energy of larger, faster race vehicles), I’d bet that the Veyron would occupy the same space as the big Bentleys did (or a predecessor, the Type 57G - which famously ran a speed/distance record from Benoist to Veyron), big, heavy, fast road cars which did well on the straights but struggled in the corners.

Maybe if the world was different, racing something like the Veyron would still lend some additional cache to a supercar, but the Veyron was marketed on numbers: top speed, exclusivity, and price. Those aren’t really the goals for a racing car.