From space it is said that one can see the Great Wall of China. It can be seen from orbit, but conditions need to be optimal and you still need a magnifying glass. Since you float weightlessly in your satellite, you may also be lucky enough to catch the pyramids or the Amazon, depending on your position. If you could see beneath the surface of farmland in Switzerland, you might also spot the Large Hadron Collider, a 27-kilometer-long particle accelerator arranged in a circle.
Speaking of accelerating and circling, the Nardo Ring (or Nardo Technical Center) high-speed circular track, owned by Porsche, can be seen with good binoculars. It’s an 8-mile circle made up of multiple lanes of travel across its sloping surface that allow near correction-free steering at certain speeds, depending on which lane you are driving on.
The top speed is 150 mph on a normal day, and at this speed you can enjoy the benefits of a neutral speed with near-hands-free driving in the outside lane.
About wallpaper flare
One thing you don’t want to do, however, is to take your hands off the wheel at the wheel of the Volkswagen W12, or Nardo as it was known as a tribute to the track. The car’s greatest fame, aside from being a Volkswagen supercar, was arguably the 24-hour record here, devouring 4,800 miles at an average speed of 200 mph over that period – the top speed of a W12 was around 218 mph, so he was almost at full speed the whole time. Impressive when you consider that it had to stop more than five times to change drivers so that the run could be completed in shifts.
This achievement was testament to the durability and strength of the car and its powertrain. Given the load of 24 hours at almost absolute top speed, an achievement not only for the engine, but also for the temperature of the tires. This could be why there is no list of subsequent cars that keep breaking the record.
A star Is Born
Via: Periodismodelmotoro.com
The legend of the VW super sports car is fascinating – born from the wish of the then Volkswagen Group CEO Ferdinand Piech to build a super sports car in order to achieve two things. First, and perhaps most importantly, then; to show the world that VW can develop a functioning and competent super sports car and, secondly, to use this experience and development to build an engine that will later be used in other cars under the umbrella of the group. Remember, the group managed to acquire Bentley, Lamborghini, Seat and Skoda. It also helped to resume the Bugatti brand.
Italdesign was hired to handle the frame and styling with a heads up on the mid-engine layout and the use of a large aggregate made up of two engines fused together. It also absolutely had to accommodate the 4WD synchro system from the VW parts box.
The Siam twin engine
Via: Periodismodelmotor.com
The first Concept W12 was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1997. In its first and least powerful appearance, it used a 5.6 liter W12 with 414 horsepower. The engine was constructed with two fused 2.8 liter VR6 engines. On VR6 engines (or VR8 engines) the cylinder blocks – where the pistons are – are in a “V” shape, but the angle is reduced so much that they share an engine head (where the valves are) and the engine block much more compact. This is done to save space and money, for example, a Volkswagen Golf or Rabbit can accommodate a 2.8-liter V6 under its tiny hood. So if you want to build an enormously large and powerful engine without turbos, it makes sense to use this technology, especially if it fits into models with small engine compartments. Iterations of this engine would appear in VW sedans and midsize SUVs, not to mention Bugatti’s innovative hypercar. In this case, the four-cylinder banks would have been small enough to look more like a larger displacement V12, like the 7-liter V12 in a Lister Storm.
After the light came the stars
via motor1
The second presentation of the W12 concept rolled in 1998 with a new nameplate labeled “Roadster” at the Geneva Motor Show. This car stood out for bringing two things to the table – well, a lack of things. The things it was missing were drive-shafts on the front wheels and a roof, it was clearly designed to show its potential as a car for real people with (a lot) of money and to show that it wasn’t just a competitive hypercar.
In 2001 the W12 Nardo came on the market, the name of which was the last to be given, and it must have caused quite a stir at that year’s Tokyo Motor Show as it increased the engine’s bore to 6 liters and nearly 180 hp more . Drive still only saw two wheels and now there was no risk of sunburn as the roof had decided to make a comeback. The transmission was a first for the concept series, a 6-speed manual transmission. It could at least use some of those gears to get 60 mph in 3.5 seconds.
This version was the one that hit 222 mph on the record-breaking 24-hour run on the Nardo circuit and cemented its place in history as the coveted Top Trumps card and the car that made it the 200 mph Bugatti EB110 and brought McLaren F1. Interestingly, the Nardo’s weight was around 2,645 pounds, which was about a lean person more than the McLaren F1 but nearly 900 pounds less than the EB110.
Both the Bugatti and VW made 220 mph, but the McLaren F1 would have disappeared on them as it worked its way up to 240 mph.
The descendants of the devil
Assets.bugatti.com
In the end, the W12 Nardo, besides being an interesting concept, a disappointing potential production car and a record driver, was arguably the inspiration for the Bugatti Veyron as well as a head start for a compact multi-cylinder engine that later became a success for production cars like the Volkswagen Touareg processed.
The Bugatti Veyron, which came from the same parent company as Volkswagen, took over the principles of the W12 and turned the engine into a W16 by using 4 turbochargers and all-wheel drive at the time. This engine consisted of two VR8 engines that miraculously must have been squeezed into the engine bay.
The Veyron car similarly achieved great things with a record breaking top speed, revolutionary technology, and more publicity than a big stick could shake.
Unfortunately, with we’re more concerned with electrification and hybrid technology these days, there won’t be any bigger and more complicated iterations of the W-shape engine like we’ve seen so far, which is one more reason to celebrate the existence of these cars when we see it are able to take one for a blast on the freeway or not.
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About the author
David O’Callaghan
(23 articles published)
Dave is from the UK, home of MG and Aston Martin, and is no stranger to sports cars. Or a little rain. When he’s not busy with his job or writing songs and pretending to be a musician; Dave indulges his obsession with cars by diligently writing and researching so he can make other people aware of the dark side and convert them.
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