Type 59 of 1933
However, Bugatti racing canon rounds off with what many claim is the most beautiful racing car ever designed—the Type 59. The Type 59, launched in the year 1933, was plainly derived from another Bugatti car racing model, the well known T35. Both cars sported the same shape, though the Type 35 was clearly lower as well as sleeker. It was also, in addition, distinguished by its unique radial-spoked wheels. In the end, the verdict was: although the Type 35 was pretty, the Type 59 was straight-off sensational. Read the rest of this entry »
Lovely Bugatti
Bugatti was careful to reinforce his racing effort by selling the same cars to private owners and at different times, offered eight an four-cylinder, single or twin cam, unblown and supercharged variants within the same body profile. Top of the Bugattiste’s shopping list must be a 35B, its 2.3 litre, supercharged, straight eight offering 130 bhp along with a delicious exhaust sound—a sound that, until one has been able to hear it, one would fail entirely to appreciate the fact of why it was often likened to the sound of tearing cloth. Read the rest of this entry »
Vintage Racers II
By this time, racing cars had become a highly fashionable pastime, instead of an eccentricity.
An even more marked development was the arrival of sponsorship. Where racing once meant family picnics in the paddock, there was a greater chance that a VIP tent, team uniforms and even advertising stickers on cars that have never before carried anything but their maker’s names would be occupying the space instead. Later, there were still picnickers, but they brought hampers with gourmet spreads. Hermes scarves and Ray Ban sunglasses also adorned the figures in the pit-lane and autograph hunters were constantly on the prowl. Read the rest of this entry »
Vintage Racers I
The 1920s was Bugatti’s decade.
For years, an obsolete racing car was merely a curio, worth little and with nowhere to drive it. Many were scrapped, some went into museums while others received the care of a small band of private owners who admired their history as well as engineering. In Britain, for instance, there have been regular vintage races since the 1930s, when eligible cars were four or five, or at the most, 30 years old. The club behind these, the Vintage Sports Car Club, was set up in 1931 by car lovers who felt, even then, for more than a quarter of a century, that the golden age of ports and racing cars was already past.
The movement that they spearheaded and maintained, despite being viewed as thoroughly eccentric for a great number of years, is now the fastest-growing area of motor sport. There are races for every type of car from the pre-World War I era to the 1970s, Grand Prix cars to family saloons. Crowds at these high profile events used to rival and even surpass mainstream racing; with the timetable full and the grids wholly packed. This was also the condition of the paddock, because being jut a spectator wasn’t enough. It was in these circumstances that post-war Bugatti cars would rise again.
Bugatti T35
As soon as one enters the inter-war period, Ettore Buatti’s name will automatically spring up. His steady engineering progression crystallized in 1924 with the Type 35. The Type 35 was one of the all time highs of automotive excellence as well as beauty. It set the benchmark for aesthetic and performance when it was introduced to the automotive industry. The elegant horseshoe radiator along with the slender pointed tail of this stark but undeniably handsome machine amassed a wealth of race victories around Europe. In addition that impressive detail, it also made stylish road-cars popular for rich and fashionable clients. Read the rest of this entry »
Racing Bugatti
For many people, the cars they desire most are those of their youth, when their enthusiasm matured before their driving license. Today’s successful as well as wealthy car enthusiasts may well be looking back nostalgically to the 50s or 60s, to the sports cars he or she coveted when reading about Le Mans, the Nurburging and Watkins Glen. And with the widespread new interest in classic cars, there is a plethora of outings to show them off. These retrospective runs have intensified from the light hearted day trip to the three tough days of the Mille Miglia around Italy and the grueling Carrera PanAmericana, which is a whole week’ racing across the width of Mexico. Read the rest of this entry »
Achievement of Automotive Speed and Class
Though cynics have once and again lamented the seemingly slow arrival of technological advances in many of Ettore Bugatti’s cars, his cars demonstrated extraordinary beauty that they were launched to immediate acclaim. One of these cars was the Bugatti Type 57. Read the rest of this entry »
Bugatti Type 57
When it came to racing glories in the 20s and 30s, there were two names that dominant in the race tracks: these were Bugatti and Alfa Romeo.
One of the best cars that the Alfa Romeo had was the 2.9 Alfa. However, not to be left behind, the closest rivals—of which there were only a few—that could go toe-to-toe with the 2.9 Alfa Romeo was the racing jewel from Bugatti’s factory located at Molsheim in France. This was the Bugatti Type 57. Read the rest of this entry »
The White Elephant
However, no matter how intricate the style or beautiful the interiors, the Bugatti Royale would come down in history as a memorable failure. Constructed and built to cater to the tastes as well as whims of the crowned heads of Europe, the actual truth was: no member of any royal family had ever bought one. In fact, a mere figure of three was ever sold. And the family, on the other hand, kept three for their personal use. A great number of comments from the critics, or more particularly, from the cynics have noted that the radiator mascot—it was an elephant standing on its hind legs—was already a dead give-away. Read the rest of this entry »
Type 41 Royale
The major flaw, if one could it that, of the Bugatti Royale bore a great similarity to what a number of cars were also afflicted with: it was expensive. In the case of the Royale, this flaw went to the extreme.
The Royale, in point of fact, the most expensive car ever sold in its time. Its new chassis price was already was $7200 which was already an astonishingly amount in the 1931. The timing did not help matters any since the car arrived on the market the same time the depression hit. Read the rest of this entry »
