Even though Bugatti has had to suspend production, employees are working at home, and that includes testing its cars.
Among the employees working at home is Lars Fischer, head of chassis testing and application, who says that development of the Chiron and Divo is continuing, with driving at the test sites and on public roads, though adjustments to the daily routine have been made.
“At the moment, we agree every morning on which applications we want to test over the next two days so that we can react quickly to new situations. Normally we would plan our tasks in advance on a weekly basis,” Fischer commented.
If test drives are not possible, engineers work on their calculations and simulation models at home using digital work processes.
Sven Bohnhorst, chassis setup engineer, said two engineers would normally work on test drives so the car can be driven and data can be saved to a computer in real time.
“Since we always maintain the recommended safe distance from our colleagues and this is not possible in a car, we are currently driving solo,” Bohnhurst said.
Now he must stop to use the computer to change test parameters, slowing down calibration.
Bugatti is still conducting tests at the Ehra-Lessien track in Germany and on public roads. Trips to the Nürburgring or Bilster Berg can be done as long as they do not take more than a working day as overnight hotel stays are not possible. This applies to test drives in Southern Italy and France, too.
