If you have read How the Bugatti Veyron Works, you know that the Veyron is an amazing car. It has a 1,001 HP engine, great aerodynamics, etc.

But if you have read the post on the SSC Ultimate Aero, you know that Bugatti lost the “fastest supercar” crown recently.

To solve this problem, Bugatti is reportedly adding 350 HP to the Veyron:

REPORT: 1350 HP Bugatti Veyron Centenaire headed for Geneva

The top speed of the stock Veyron is 253 MPH, as demonstrated here:

Top Gear – Bugatti Veyron top speed test

The additional horsepower moves the top speed of the car from 253 MPH to 261 MPH. That’s a lot of HP for only 8 MPH. At 250 MPH, there is so much drag that 350 additional HP really doesn’t have that big of an effect.

But this car does raise a question. As you can see in this fantastic video (it starts with a little history, and then the engine description starts about 100 seconds in), the car already has a 16-cylinder, 8-liter engine, and there are already 4 turbos, and it already has variable valve timing on its 64 valves. How can you boost the horsepower?

I wasn’t able to find anything online, but there are three options available for upping the HP:

1) Raising the boost pressure of the turbos
2) Increasing the displacement
3) Increasing the red line to get higher RPM.

Currently the turbos are set at 15.8 PSI. A Champ car uses 20 PSI, so there is room to increase it on the Veyron. A 25% increase in boost pressure would would definitely increase the horsepower, but not enough. It might also require a more exotic fuel. Adding another liter of displacement might get you the rest of the way. When Bugatti discloses the full engine specs for their Bleu Centenaire, it will be interesting to see what they changed.

More info:
- SSC Ultimate Aero
- How the Bugatti Veyron Works
- How Champ Cars Work
- Veyron first drive