Watch Bugatti Test Its 3D-Printed Brake Caliper to the Absolute Limit
At the beginning of 2018, Bugatti revealed it had developed the first series-production 3D-printed brake caliper for use on future models. In preparing to put the caliper into production, Bugatti did some serious bench testing-not surprising from the company that makes ultimate top speed a priority. Luckily for us, there were cameras there to catch it all.
The Volkswagen Group YouTube channel dropped this video today of the Bugatti engineering team bench-testing the 6.4-pound titanium caliper at incredibly high loads. As you can see from the imagery above, the simulated stops are enough to cause a lot of heat, to the point where the the rotor glows a bright orange and shoots off sparks.
Throughout the entire process, though, the caliper does its job, and brings the rotor to a stop repeatedly without issue. Considering it was designed to bring heavy cars down from triple-digit speeds, we aren't too surprised.
In case you were wondering, the caliper is five pounds lighter than the Chiron's unit, made from 2213 layers of titanium powder that are melted together using lasers over the course of 45 hours. It's then cleared of any residual powder, and cooked in a furnace at 1292 degrees Fm It then undergoes a combination of mechanical, physical, and chemical treatments to ensure the metal's strength. In addition to being cool to look at, it's incredibly durable.
We can't wait to see which car Bugatti decides to use this thing on first.
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