Ricardo completes first year’s series production of Bugatti Chiron transmission

In the latest milestone in its longstanding design, development and manufacturing partnership with Bugatti, Ricardo has announced that it has completed the first year’s series production of the brand-new dual clutch transmission for the Chiron supercar.

Named after Louis Chiron – multiple winner of Grands Prix for Bugatti in the 1920s and 30s and the marque’s most successful driver – the Bugatti Chiron has a Ricardo-designed and manufactured seven- speed Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT).

The Ricardo DCT is one of the world’s most advanced, transmitting over 1500hp and 1600 Nm of torque, a considerable increase in rating over its predecessor – also developed by Ricardo – that was used in the Veyron. The new Ricardo DCT accommodates this significant power and torque increase within an extremely compact packaging envelope, while retaining and improving upon driving characteristics. To achieve this design, Ricardo sought technical solutions from its extensive Formula 1 activities, allowing access to previously proven highly advanced materials for construction, and innovative manufacturing processes. The Chiron’s DCT is thus weight neutral in comparison with that of the Veyron while accommodating the significant power and torque increase.

Manufacturing output of the Chiron DCT has already exceeded previous records set by Ricardo during the 10 years of Veyron production. This has been achieved through continued investment in Ricardo’s world class machining centre that provides many of the Chiron’s transmission sub components and leading a number of continuous improvement initiatives through the Chiron’s global supply chain.

“It has been a real achievement on the part of Ricardo’s production team to increase manufacturing capacity for such a complex transmission to meet Bugatti’s strong customer demand,” commented Ricardo Performance Products MD Mark Barge. “This achievement is all the more impressive given that the team has simultaneously maintained legacy support of spares and servicing to the equally iconic Veyron transmission. I would like to thank Bugatti for the confidence they have placed in Ricardo as transmission partner for the Chiron and look forward to continuing to support this most impressive of supercars throughout its production life.”