25 October 2007

The Airbus A380 ‘superjumbo’ double-decker is the largest ever passenger plane. But which is the greater feat of engineering – the supercar or the superjumbo?Vijay Pattni takes a look at two heavyweights.Both were beset with development difficulties.Both push the boundaries of technology and innovation.And both are a masterful display of mankind doing what it does best – making life faster and more comfortable.In the red corner, we have the Bugatti Veyron. In the blue corner, the Airbus A380. Let battle commence…CostThe Airbus A380 has a list price of a cool £155 million – but the sheer bulk of the plane means existing airports will have to plough billions worth of investment into making runways bigger.And the entire programme is estimated to have cost the company £8 billion to develop. Airbus reckons it needs to sell 420 A380s to break even – so far, around 165 orders have been placed.The Bugatti Veyron costs £830,000 – a bargain next to the Airbus.But don’t get too excited – finding one for this price is tricky. And Volkswagen – who own Bugatti – claim each Veyron costs £5 million to make, meaning every single Veyron sold by the company is sold at a loss.Winner – Bugatti Veyron. Airbus A380’s costs are, frankly, sky-high.SpeedThe Airbus A380 has a cited cruising speed of Mach 0.85 and a top speed of Mach 0.89 – which equates to over 560mph.And the Bugatti Veyron – formerly the fastest production car in the world until it was beaten by the SSC Ultimate Aero TT – tops out at a colossal 253mph.But this top speed is only part of the story – the monster 8-litre 16.4 cylinder engine which sits in the Veyron’s ultra advanced body catapults the road rocket from 0-60mph in just 2.5 seconds.Winner – Bugatti Veyron. Airbus A380 is no Concorde – the Bugatti Veyron was built for speed.WeightThe Airbus A380 is the world’s largest passenger plane, with the capacity to accommodate 853 people in economy class – meaning a maximum take-off weight of 530,000kg. The largest of the Boeing 747s weighs in at 439,000kg – and can only carry a maximum of 467 passengers.A featherweight in comparison, the Bugatti Veyron weighs just 1889kg – but this weight is considerably heavier than most supercars, let alone hypercars.Winner – Airbus A380. The Bugatti Veyron can only carry two people and weighs more than most supercars.BodyLightweight advanced materials make up a quarter of the Airbus A380’s airframe, including carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, glass-fibre reinforced plastic and quartz-fibre reinforced plastic.And the manufacturing techniques involved in making an A380 result in a lighter, stronger structure.The Veyron features extensive use of lightweight aluminium and carbon-fibre and is sculpted with an extremely aerodynamic bodyshell.Winner – Bugatti Veyron. Bugatti may be heavier than most supercars, but aerodynamics make it fast.EnginesThe Airbus A380’s four Rolls-Royce engines each develop a maximum 84,000lbs of thrust – sufficient to power this monster of the skies to a cruising speed of 560mph – and is a redevelopment of an earlier design.But the heart of the Veyron is a technological masterpiece – an all-new 16.4 cylinder 8-litre engine featuring four turbochargers.This means it develops 1,001bhp – though some have suggested it is capable of more – and unlike most cars of this ilk, is as reliable as a Golf.Winner – Bugatti Veyron. Its W16 engine is a masterpiece of modern engineering.Overall winner – the Bugatti Veyron.The Airbus A380 may be the world’s largest passenger plane, but for sheer engineering achievement, the Bugatti Veyron is a masterpiece.

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Ce qui a été déjà inventé appartient au passé, seules les innovations sont dignes d'intérêt - Ettore Bugatti