The Veyron has...3000HP?

[Canmorite]

The Veyron is a truly groundbreaking vehicle," says Wolfgang Schreiber, technical director of Bugatti Engineering, one of only three people who regularly push the EB 16.4 to the limit. Before the Veyron, he specialized in lightweight materials and recently guided development of Volkswagen's twin-clutch DSG transmission. "The maximum combustion energy adds up to 3000 PS: 1000 is swallowed by the cooling system, 1000 goes through the exhaust, and 1000 is relayed to the four driven wheels, 1000 PS is a whole new dimension.

http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/coupes/0511_bugatti_veryon/index.html

So the Veyron actually makes 3000HP? What is wrong here?

Hp and PS are very similar when converted so its basically the same thing.

[alloroc]

He is talking total heat energy.

All cars lose heat through the exhaust and cooling system.

[Canmorite]

But if it didn't, the total output at the crank would be 3000Hp? That sounds a little ridiculous to me.

[Q-TIP]

not hardly, the internal combustion engine is only ever considered to be 15-33% efficient. that means that engines loose between 66 and 85% of the total energy in the gasoline to sound and heat, primarily heat.

[Canmorite]

Originally posted by Q-TIP
not hardly, the internal combustion engine is only ever considered to be 15-33% efficient. that means that engines loose between 66 and 85% of the total energy in the gasoline to sound and heat, primarily heat.

Crazy, never knew that.

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/3706/themoreyouknow2su7.jpg

[zieg]

yeah. 3000 would be 100% efficiency, which of course is not possible. It would be the maximum chemical energy in the gasoline..

Too bad we can't do much better than 30% eff in internal combustion engines.. We'd all be buying 600 hp cars from the dealership.

..that or 90 mpg cars with the same hp as today.