Testing

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The Bugatti Centodiece is almost ready for production

It took Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. about two years to go from the unveiling of their Centodiece in 2019 to an actual production prototype, and now they are putting this EB110 homage through some horrendous testing to make sure each of the only 10 cars that have been sold to customers, are exactly what those fortunate clients are expecting, a hypercar that’s a perfect balance between speed, performance, and luxury … a super-high-speed GT so to speak, which is exactly what Ettore Bugatti envisioned his cars would be.

A Bugatti has been known for being fast ever since Ettore founded his company back in 1909 in Molsheim, France … and today this philosophy hasn’t changed, making a comfortable hypercar that can outrun just about anything it might encounter on the open road, and while you can do a lot on the computer these days in terms of virtual testing before actually building the car in real life, some things can only be found out by taking a fully functional test mule into the world.

The Bugatti Centodiece is being created by the one-off and few-off projects department at Molsheim, all 10 units have been sold a long time ago, with a base price of €8,000,000 (nearly US $10 million), and it hasn’t been too long ago we published an article on the first production prototype of the Bugatti Centodiece assembled, and once they completed this prototype she faced her inspiration, two of the rarest Bugatti EB110 in the world, a blue EB110S LM and a silver EB110S SC GTS-1, the only two official factory prepared race cars ever made based on the EB110 that inspired the Centodiece.

But that encounter was just to ‘run in’ the new 1,600 PS W16 8-Liter engine, once that was done the bright white prototype was taken into the wind tunnel for the first fine-tuning and ‘stress-test’, which allows the aerodynamics and cooling setup to be tested in a way that wouldn’t be possible on the open road, remember supercars were tested in the Sixties with small tuffs of wool taped to the body and taken onto the road with a follow vehicle to see how those tuffs react to the airflow … those days are gone now, in comes a 9,300 PS engine with an eight-meter propeller generating a wind force larger than a hurricane … in fact, it would allow an airplane to take off easily, so the aerodynamics of the Centodieci better be on point, or this multi-million dollar prototype goes flying into the air.

And it seems Bugatti is bringing the Centodiece to each possible event to draw attention, a rather strange decision as all 10 units were sold back in 2019 already, but that that didn’t stop them from showcasing this amazing automobile at the 2021 edition of the famous Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este event, where the white beauty was joined by a very special, Bugatti blue EB110 … this rare car was once owned by none other than Romano Artioli, the Italian businessman that made the Bugatti EB110 possible back in the Nineties when he obtained the right to use the Bugatti name on a car and built the famous ‘Blue Factory’ in Campogalliano in Italy to make supercars under the brand name Bugatti Automobili S.p.A.

Today we’re back at building hypercars as Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., with Stephan Winkelmann as the CEO, and while the Bugatti Centodiece was mainly a static beauty on display on the banks of Lake Como, apart from a small parade, things changed considerably for this unique prototype shortly after leaving Italy to head over to Mount Lemon to the north of Tucson, Arizona in the United States of America for high-altitude and high-temperature testing … up to 45°C (113°F).

A convoy of Bugatti hypercars, led by the Centodiece prototype, thunder down State Route 1 while the extreme heat makes the road ahead appear to shimmer, a team of 27 engineers flew to the US to take several Bugatti through their paces in blisteringly hot conditions, the decision to take the cars into the US deserts was made as the temperature can go over 50°C to create an extremely hostile environment for hypercars like the Bugatti Centodiece.

“Testing in the hot, dry desert is a huge help for us in the development process. All Bugatti models have to function perfectly no matter how high the temperature, including the few-of Centodieci. Even if we are only creating ten cars, as with the Centodieci, the testing procedure is just as grueling. Every model has to run flawlessly in all weather and in all traffic conditions,” explains Stefan Schmidt, an engineer in Overall Vehicle
Development at Bugatti.

In total Bugatti took 8 cars to California, four units of their Chiron Super Sport, three units from the Chiron Pur Sport, and naturally the bright white Centodiece, which contrasts heavily with the otherwise matt black wrapped hypercars following her for 800 km (500 miles) between California and Arizona … some real-world testing on the Central Pacific Highway passing through San Diego during this road trip.

This test allowed the engineers to take these hypercars to altitudes up to 2,800 m where the air is a lot thinner than on sea level when they took the convoy up Mount Lemons in Tuscon, going over rough roads, hitting stop-and-go traffic, having the cars standing still in the hot sun with the AC on to keep cool. They even managed to shut down a stretch of road to allow high-speed runs at 320 km/h (198 mph), all in an effort to get as much real-world data as possible to make sure this car lives up to her expectations when they get delivered in 2022.

“During hot-climate testing, we focus specifically on the chassis, engine, transmission, thermal management, and electrics as well as on the vehicle as a whole,” reveals Pierre Rommelfanger, Head of Overall Vehicle Development at Bugatti. The team checks interior components and body parts for thermal expansion, look, and feel, leaving no detail unchecked, no matter how small.

After these ‘hot’ test sessions, the Bugatti Centodiece will return to Europe for final high-speed stints and endurance testing, which will add tens of thousands of km to the odometer before the car will be ‘signed-off’ by the development team … only when all the t’s have been crossed and the i’s have been dotted will the production of the 10 Bugatti Centodiece start at Molsheim.

October 17, 2021 / Comments Off

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Bugatti took the Centodieci to the wind tunnel

The Bugatti Centodieci is a few-off from the famous Molsheim company, as a celebration of the classic EB 110 that was created about three decades ago when Romano Artioli revived the Bugatti name and built a factory in Campogalliano that would eventually build 96 units of the EB 110 GT and a mere 32 units of the EB 110 Super Sports … the last car left Campogalliano in 1995.

The super sports car of the Nineties was built around a carbon-fiber monocoque and had a mid-mounted V12 engine capable of 550 PS with the help of four turbochargers, the all-wheel-drive would deliver a top speed over 350 km/h, unseen at that time, but figures that are dwarfed by the new Centodieci with her 8.0-liter W16 engine boasting 1,600 PS that is capable of speeds over 350 km/h … only ten will be built, with a starting price of €8,000,000, and no, you can’t order one … they were sold out in a matter of hours.

So selling the 10 Bugatti Centodiece for a total of more than €80,000,000 didn’t pose a problem, now it’s time to live up to the expectations and create a car worthy of that price tag, the Centodieci has obtained a legend status even before the first client car is delivered, and development of such a high-end hypercar means taking her into a state-of-the-art wind tunnel … which is exactly what Bugatti did recently.

This allows the aerodynamics and cooling setup to be tested in a way that wouldn’t be possible on the open road, remember supercars were tested in the Sixties with small tuffs of wool taped to the body and taken onto the road with a follow vehicle to see how those tuffs react to the airflow … those days are gone now, in comes a 9,300 PS engine with an eight-meter propeller generating a wind force larger than a hurricane … in fact, it would allow an airplane to take off easily, so the aerodynamics of the Centodieci better be on point, or this multi-million dollar prototype goes flying into the air.

But it’s not only the wind that blows onto the new Bugatti, on the floor of this wind tunnel are five bands, one under each wheel and a fifth one underneath the body itself, but this also allows the wheels to be spun and the airflow underneath the car to be simulated to speeds up to 300 km/h to get a full impression of how the Centodieci should be tuned according to André Kullig, Technical Project Manager for one and few-off projects at Bugatti.

It doesn’t matter if Bugatti will build one unit like the La Voiture Noire, or ten as is the case with this Centodieci, they all are thoroughly trialed and tested before being given the ok, every single unit built has to meet or exceed the quality and safety standards applicable to mass production, in case of the Centodieci, the small but flat front design with the typical horseshoe shape, influences the airflow considerably when compared to models like the Chiron or Divo, especially at speeds above 350 km/h.

Bugatti development engineers first start with computer simulations to achieve initial targets that have been pre-calculated in development, once those computer simulations are finished the development prototype is taken into the wind tunnel, as is the case with the Centodieci now, once wind tunnel testing is completed, it’s finally time to take the new hypercar into the wild for actual high-speed testing on a test track … which is where the fun begins for the test drivers.

But back to the wind tunnel, the Centodieci gets her initial test to see what can be improved, and then they start working on changing the angle of the front diffuser flaps and that massive rear wing, modifying the angle minutely to see what the best position is, keep in mind the Centodieci will come with a fixed rear wing, so it has to be perfect at every speed. “Even once we have identified the ideal settings, we continue to try others in order to see how the Centodieci responds,” says André Kullig.

After that the Bugatti development engineers start looking at downforce for each wheel individually, it has to be set up as close to neutral as possible so the Centodieci is handling correctly at the tremendous speeds this hypercar is capable of thanks to her 1,600 PS. “No matter what speed and what driving situation, the Centodieci is sportily neutral and can be managed at all times in spite of its immense power,” according to André Kullig.

And while we are still talking about a development prototype, not even a pre-production prototype in this case, just take a look at the amazing blue leather interior, it is perfect and reminiscent of the one inside the customer cars, Bugatti doesn’t cut corners, not even on a prototype that will likely be seeing thousands of kilometers during testing, and probably in the harshest conditions … but the car looks good, and will still be amazing after she is put aside and production begins, and let’s not forget, each one of the 10 production cars is sold at €8,000,000 net, this development prototype is valued at a multitude of that number.

Bugatti even published a short YouTube video of the wind tunnel testing of the Centodieci … enjoy it below:

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August 31, 2021 / Comments Off

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First pre-series production Jesko ready

The Koenigsegg Jesko was unveiled at the last Geneva Motor Show to date, the 2019 edition, and this new hypercar drew a lot of attention in Switzerland when the covers came off, this was a brutal looking car in true Koenigsegg tradition, with a claimed top speed of 300 mph from what they claim is their lightest and most powerful 5.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine yet.

Koenigsegg Jesko at Geneva in 2019 – photo copyright Mark Smeyers

Numbers like 1,600 hp on E85 biofuel and 1,280 on regular gasoline were mentioned, a maximum torque of 1,106 lb-ft required a special 9-speed multi-clutch gearbox built in-house by Koenigsegg at 170 mp the aerodynamic design of this Jesko with that massive rear wing creates 2,200 pounds of downforce … at top speed, this number increases to more than 3,000 pounds!

About a year later Koenigsegg unveiled something even more impressive … the Jesko Absolut, built for all-out top speed records, while the ‘regular’ Jesko is more track-focused with her massive front spoiler lip and imposing rear wing with double struts, the Jesko Absolut has been made as smooth as possible, with the least possible drag … a drag coefficient value of only 0.278 Cd has been achieved for a top speed in excess of 330 mph, that is 532 km/h, which would shatter any top speed record to date.

Koenigsegg limited the production for the Jesko to 125 units, priced at US$3,000,000 each with initial deliveries by the spring of 2022, customers will have the option to choose between either the Jesko or the Jesko Absolut trim, if there will be a price difference isn’t mentioned in the official documentation, but I guess if you’re ready to part with $3,000,000 for such an amazing car, a few $100,000 more or less don’t really matter anyway.

The Koenigsegg CCR was also shown at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show – Photo copyright Mark Smeyers

Today we have passed the design and prototype stage for the Koenigsegg Jesko as their first pre-series production car comes off the assembly line … and she is stunning, to say the least, finished in Tang Orange Pearl with silver and carbon-fiber accents, this specific pre-production Jesko is an homage to original Koenigsegg CCR color … a testament to how Christian von Koenigsegg brings the past into the future of his company.

If you look at the amazing cars made by Koenigsegg it might be hard to imagine this hypercar company was founded only 27 years ago, Christian von Koenigsegg started Koenigsegg Automotive AB in 1994 and quickly became a world leader in engineering and manufacturing of extreme performance hypercars, based in Ängelholm in the south of Sweden, Koenigsegg now holds about 400 employees, and they are still expanding as we speak.

CEO and Founder Christian von Koenigsegg states: “We are very excited to showcase this pre-series Jesko in conjunction with the start of production of the 125 Jesko and Jesko Absolut customer cars. As part of our gradual expansion, the Jesko’s pre-assembly begins at an extended 10,000 square meter facility”

To be honest, I wasn’t really blown away by the white Koenigsegg Jesko at the 2019 GIMS in Switzerland, I was fortunate enough to be there at the press conference when Christian von Koenigsegg unveiled the car, and while the aero is extremely wild, the white and green just didn’t work for me, but seeing this Jesko in bright orange changes everything, especially with the orange interior now looking so much better than the plain-looking black upholstery inside the Geneva show car.

Koenigsegg is getting ready to start production of the 125 Jesko and Jesko Absolut customer cars, after almost three years of prototype, testing, redesigning, and preparing for production, and judging from the photos of this bright orange production prototype, there isn’t too much different in terms of overall look compared to the 2019 Geneva show car, and I absolutely love the fact you can still take the top off and drive the Jesko as a convertible … I’m sorry, I like open-top cars, even if they can go over 300 mph.

During final shakedown testing, which Koenigsegg does at very high speeds mind you, it became clear this hypercar handles like no other, thanks to an active triplex damper added to the front suspension, active aerodynamics (that massive rear wing moves!), Michelin tires that have been developed specifically for the Jesko, and the Koenigsegg bespoke Electronic Stability system.

An evolution in DCT, Dual Clutch transmissions, that is yet unseen since its development is the new LST, or Koenigsegg own patented Light Speed Transmission that offers seamless gear shifts, both upshifting and downshifting, a gear change is as fast as the speed of light according to Christian von Koenigsegg, this ‘world’s fastest transmission’ consists of nine forward gears and seven wet, multidisc clutches in a compact, ultra-light package.

Jesko prototype driver Markus Lundh: “The Jesko feels very natural to drive. Because of its seamless shifting, whether up or down, everything just happens much faster. There are no delays, it is very responsive and behaves exactly the way you want it to. For a car of its size and power, it is very agile in the way it reacts to steering and does not spin out even with sudden movements at full throttle”

The Koenigsegg Jesko will come with ‘Autoskin’, first seen on their Regera, at the touch of a button on the remote control, miniaturized hydraulics initially designed to operate aerodynamic systems will engage to open the car’s doors and hoods, for a true touchless entry, but more importantly, it looks amazing at a car event too.

A redesign of Koenigsegg’s very special, signature dihedral synchro-helix door hinge now allows opening slightly outwards and upwards compared to the Regera, unveiling a truly mesmerizing interior in leather, Alcantara, carbon fiber, aluminum, and even glass. The SmartCluster display behind the steering wheel actually rotates when the driver takes a turn, while two SmartWheel touchscreens embedded into the actual steering wheel make several features accessible with just a touch or a swipe.

Controls for seat position and heating are available via the SmartCenter touchscreen. Drivers can find the perfect driving position by matching their carbon fiber seat position with the fully adjustable steering column and pedal box, and whit that amazing von Koenigsegg shield adorned key that can be fitted onto its very own indent on the dashboard, the interior just looks so luxurious and sporty at the same time … this isn’t some Sparton, uncomfortable supercar, but more of an ultra-fast Grand Touring version of a hypercar.

As already mentioned, the first of these $3,000,000 hypercars ‘Made in Sweden’ will be delivered to their fortunate customers by the spring of 2022, I’m really curious as to what special color combination we’ll be seeing on the Koenigsegg Jesko, and just how the split between Jesko and Jesko Absolut will be … will more customers opt for the brutal race-track, LeMans style of the Jesko, or will the Jesko Absolut with her sleeker lines and higher top speed be more popular?

And what about this … will the Koenigsegg Jesko beat the 282.9 mph top speed record of the SSC TUATARA? On paper the Jesko Absolut should be capable of going well over 300 mph, Koenigsegg even mentioned 330 mph for the Jesko Absolut, but what will be the top speed in a real-life environment, on the road, going in two opposite directions … what will the average top speed of the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut be in that case … only time will tell …

July 16, 2021 / Comments Off

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High speed testing for the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport

The engineers from Molsheim are hard at work to get the new Bugatti Chiron Super Sport ready for her first deliveries in a few months, the customers will be getting this amazing new hypercar from France from August 2021 onward, and with a top speed of 440 km/h this is the fastest production sports car in the world, so they better make sure it performs and is safe to drive at those impressive speeds.

The intention of the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport is to combine several almost impossible-looking requirements together, be a luxury GT, achieve the highest top speed in the world, and do that with the driver being comfortable … that’s a very tall order, but Jachin Schwalbe, Head of Chassis Development at Bugatti explains why this new Super Sport edition will pull it off.

The development of this latest edition of the Bugatti Chiron has taken it to the open road already, where the test pilots were able to fine-tune most things on the pre-production prototype at speeds up to 380 km/h, but the Super Sport is capable to go beyond the 400 km/h mark with ease, and making sure the car stays stable at those speeds requires taken her onto a closed high-speed track … where they managed to thunder by at the 440 km/h Vmax speed.

To make sure all the necessary data is gathered during this multi-day testing session, the stunning gold and black finished Chiron Super Sport test mule was fitted with about 100 additional sensors … Bugatti heavily relies on the experience of their test drivers, but some things need a more technological approach … in come the sensors and computers to calculate the perfect balance between additional downforce from the rear wing, without compromising top speed with unnecessary drag … this includes the angle of the rear wing, the height of the suspension, the setting on the dampers, and even the electronic steering assist … in the end, it will be a very tight combination of both to ensure the client can use his, or her, new Bugatti Chiron Super Sport to the maximum.

The biggest difference between the Chiron, Chiron Pur Sport, and this new Chiron Super Sport is the extended bodywork, the so-called Longtail set up, but if you look really close you’ll notice just about the entire body on the Super Sport has been modified for optimal aerodynamics to keep the car stable at speeds over 420 km/h.

To achieve the performance and speed required for this new limited edition Bugatti also had to tune their famous engine differently, the 8.0-liter W16 quad-turbo engine now pumps out 1,600 PS (1,176 kW) which is 100 PS more than the regular Chiron, a feat accomplished by using larger turbochargers with highly efficient compressor wheels. And while the car comes with a 7-speed gearbox, she will only change up from 6th to 7th gear at 403 km/h with the engine at 7,100 rpm.

Some more figures perhaps? The Bugatti Chiron Super Sport will reach 400 km/h from standing still in 28.6 seconds … in less than half a minute you’re doing about four times the legal speed limit in most countries, going from 0 to a pedestrian 100 km/h only takes 2.4 seconds … still Bugatti will only make 500 units of their Chiron, and this €3.2 million Super Sport version is part of those 500, after that it’s game over for the Chiron model.

June 22, 2021 / Comments Off

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Award winning Lotus Evija

The Lotus Evija has been named as ‘The One to Watch‘ in Top Gear’s second-ever Electric Awards as Jack Rix, editor for Top Gear magazine was able to take an early prototype onto Lotus’s own test track in Hethel, Norfolk, production for the all-electric Lotus Evija will start later this year, but the test car handed over to Top Gear is still an early sample, rather crudely finished on the inside, but in a very special wrap on the outside.

Once production of the Lotus Evija gets started, only 120 units will be made of this Lotus halo car at £2,400,000 each (that’s about $3,357,500), but this car will come with 2,000 hp that offers an acceleration from 0 to 62 mph below the 3 seconds mark, going from 0 to 124 mph takes only 6 seconds, and more importantly, an acceleration from 200 km/h to 300 km/h (124 mph to 186 mph) also in just 3 seconds, compared to for instance the Bugatti Chiron that would take 6 seconds.

Top Gear’s Jack Rix was the first to get behind the wheel of a Lotus Evija, albeit a restricted pre-production prototype … this test car came with ‘only’ 1,600 hp and 1,250 lb-ft of torque … bummer, acceleration to 62 mph takes 3.3 seconds in this car and the top speed has been limited to 140 mph, but as this car accelerates with gearshifts, it’s just a relentless push from start to finish, this seems to become a stupendously quick car to drive, even without the full 2,000 hp available.

To keep the Lotus Evija as light as possible, they fitted a small 69 kW battery, and while it’s not fitted underneath the cockpit for that low center of gravity, Lotus has fitted it behind the cockpit, in the position where the engine would be in a mid-engine car, thus offering the same agility as a car with a naturally aspirated engine, the downside of this rather small battery is the fact the Evija will only have a range of about 30 miles when pushed hard.

On the other hand, Lotus confirms the Evija will be capable of a full charge in only 18 minutes … provided you have access to a 350 kW charger, but the advantage of using such a small battery is the fact the Lotus Evija will put only 1,680 kg on the scales, with 2,000 hp available in production form, this will result in some very brutal acceleration, and amazing road-holding capabilities with active vectoring and aerodynamics added to the production version.

Enjoy Top Gear’s video on the track test below:

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May 9, 2021 / Comments Off

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Mercedes AMG One on the track

We are all eagerly awaiting the official, public unveil of the new Mercedes-AMG One hypercar, but at the moment we’ll have to be content with watching one of their latest prototypes hurdling down the famous Nürburgrin Nordschleife in Germany, taking corners while remaining virtually flat, this will be an amazing car once available, I for one can’t wait to encounter one on the road.

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Some rumors mention a power output close to 1,200 hp from an F1 derived 1.6-Liter V6 engine, with Hybrid added naturally, I wonder if they are going to create a Roadster version of this one, as they did with the extremely rare CLK GTR, after they made the initial 20 units, the intention was to create 5 CLK GTR Roadsters, but six of the latter were built, one in Black, one in dark silver and the remaining four in the classic silver paint …

The latest information we have is that customers should be taking delivery of their Mercedes-AMG One in 2021, but there are only a few months left this year, and they are still testing prototypes on a closed track … if Mercedes-AMG still wants to have their One in a customer’s garage before the end of the year, they might want to speed things up … no pun intented.

May 1, 2021 / Comments Off

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Maserati MC20 cold weather testing

Only a few days ago we reported Maserati taking one of their late prototypes onto the race track for high-speed testing and fine-tuning, and now we find out they are taking another one of their MC20 test cars into a totally different environment … not so many high speeds this time, but a test of driveability in ice-cold conditions.

Maserati took a bright yellow MC20 with very little camouflage onto the snow-covered roads of the Valtellina and at the Ghiacciodromo Livigno (Sondrio), Italy’s most notable snow and ice circuit, for final cold-weather trials to make sure the car is ready for just about any customer later this year as the first cars become available worldwide.

Cold-weather testing is a perfect way to check how the components of the car handle extreme cold, things like the battery, suspension, and brakes might perform unexpectedly in these conditions, and you really want to make sure the heating for the driver and passenger can handle freezing outside temperatures, contrary to test runs in the desert to verify the climate control’s cooling capabilities.

It seems the Maserati MC20 handled herself very well on cold and low-grip asphalt during these trials, they have enhanced the opposing personalities of this car, born from the Brand’s racing DNA but designed for series production.

Those upward-opening doors really emphasize we are looking at a Maserati supercar, they might have required extensive engineering and add an additional cost to building the MC20, but they just look so cool it’s totally worth it.

March 10, 2021 / Comments Off

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The Maserati MC20 on the track

The new Italian supercar from Maserati has been unveiled a while ago, but there have been no deliveries yet, the MC20, which is short for Maserati Corse 2020, will only go on sale later this year, and we’ve all seen the bright white press car by now, it was featured in numerous online articles and countless YouTube videos, but when Maserati took one of their pre-production prototypes onto the famous Modena track in Italy, they still covered her in a black camouflage dress.

The Maserati MC20 was taken around Fiorano, the Ferrari test track in disguise, probably to finalize tuning on things like suspension, electronic driving aids, and possibly some engine fine-tuning. The MC20 will come with a twin-turbo, twin-combustion 3.0-Liter V6 engine with a power output of 621 hp and 729 Nm of torque, the soul of the engine is the innovative pre-chamber combustion system featuring twin-spark plugs. This technology is derived from Formula 1 and is now available, for the first time, on an engine destined for the road.

An 8-speed, dual-clutch automatic transmission will propel the 1,500 kg (3,306 lbs) heavy Maserati MC20 from 0 to 100 km/h in only 2.9 seconds, this Italian beauty will run out of breath by the time she reaches her top speed of 323 km/h (201 mph), which brings her clearly into supercar territory.

And the price is in supercar regions too, the MSRP for the Maserati MC20 for the United States market has been set at $210,000, and it seems they aren’t finished with the MC20 lineup yet, rumor has it they are already preparing a Barchetta version as we speak, and their roadmap even lists a fully-electric MC20 shortly, the monocoque for the MC20 was specifically developed with these three variants in mind.

If you remember, the MC20 comes with five driving modes, selected using the selector on the central console: WET, GT, SPORT, and CORSA. Each one is identified by its own color: WET green; GT blue; SPORT red; CORSA yellow; ESC OFF orange.

Driving modes are selected by turning the selector for a few seconds. For example, the car starts in the default GT mode. It only takes a movement of half a second in the direction of the mode required to switch from GT to SPORT (on the right) or WET (on the left). Or the driver can press the selector for 2 seconds to choose CORSA mode. Pressing for 5 seconds switches to ESC Off mode. The longer time is to ensure that the driver has chosen this mode intentionally and not by mistake.

Most likely the Maserati engineers are working on setting the parameters for these driving modes to perfection during these final track runs, it is also very important to get everything just right as the button in the center of the driving mode selector enables the driver to adjust the suspension. It is useful in SPORT or CORSA modes when the suspensions are extremely stiff. Pressing the Suspension button makes the suspensions more comfortable and less stiff. This is particularly useful on uneven ground since it gives the driver a sporty yet comfortable driving experience.

MC20 is the first Maserati to be painted in the futuristic new Modena plant, the new line equipped with innovative, environment-friendly technologies. A new range of colors has been invented for MC20 and will remain exclusive to this model. The range comprises six shades: Bianco Audace, Giallo Genio, Rosso Vincente, Blu Infinito, Nero Enigma, and Grigio Mistero, my guess is that the test-mule recently seen at the Fiorano track was finished in Nero Enigma.

March 7, 2021 / Comments Off

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Rimac C_Two wind tunnel test shows a 34% improvement on aerodynamic efficiency

It has been three years since Rimac unveiled their electric hypercar, still known as the Rimac C_Two concept, and at the moment we still haven’t seen any deliveries, or even plans for a customer car yet, we’re still in the prototype stage. But things are shaping up, and Rimac has been continuously tweaking the C_Two, making it better, and more importantly, more aerodynamic.

During recent wind tunnel testing of the third generation of the C_Two prototypes, they managed an impressive 34% improvement of aerodynamic efficiency compared to the initial prototype from 2018. As this is a fully electric hypercar, aerodynamic efficiency is extremely important, not only to offer the best possible performance figures in terms of acceleration and top speed but also in terms of range … the less drag directly converts into more range from the batteries.

Rimac has been doing simulations over the last three years too, but CFD simulations only go so far, even when each simulation model holds between 120 to 180 million elements on heat transfer … only real-time testing shows the results, either expected or unexpected, but engineers can learn a lot from wind tunnel testing, or actual track testing.

Let’s not forget the Rimac C_Two comes with active aero parts, the front splitter is adjustable, there are moveable flaps on the undertray of this car, while an adaptable air brake rear wing completes the setup for pure performance.

If you are looking to add your name to the order list for the Rimac C_Two, prepare to have about $ 2,000,000 ready, as mentioned in our earlier article.

January 30, 2021 / Comments Off

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