History of cars # 20: Bugatti (part 1)

Bugatti is a French company specializing in the production of racing, sports and exclusive cars. Even in a narrow circle of legendary exclusive cars for Bugatti a special place is allocated. Virtually no one managed to impress the public so much as Ettore Bugatti and his followers did.
Engineer and artist Ettore Bugatti (Ettore Bugatti) founded the company in 1909. He followed the path of wide application of advanced technologies for the sake of mechanical efficiency and simplification of the design. As a result, a mobile car with a guaranteed speed of 100 km / h came off the assembly line of the company, and it was easy and pleasant to operate it. Model Bugatti Type 13, prepared by the mechanic Bugatti Ernest Frederik, finished second on one of the French Grand Prix July 23, 1911. This machine was the most significant novelty on the eve of the war of 1914 and the basic for all modifications of Bugatti, up to model 59.

In the 20-ies. The world-famous Bugatti was brought by the Type 35 GP model, which won more than 1,500 wins in automobile racing and became famous as the most successful model of the Grand Prix racing class. Everything in the exterior of this car served one purpose - speed. The car was very stable on difficult roads due to a brilliant combination of technical elegance and well-balanced handling characteristics. Four-cylinder Type 40 1922, the contemporaries called "Morris Cowley" performed by "Bugatti".

The legendary model Royale - deliberately extravagant Bugatti Type 41 - comes out in 1927. The long wheelbase (more than 4.27 m) of the model facilitated the control: the car was suddenly maneuverable on city streets. The work of art was a wheel whose spokes were assembled from piano strings.

Since 1923, the company has produced a superb Bugatti Type 43 supercharged, sporty Bugatti Type 35B design and, although not as pronounced as a sporty, but technologically carefully balanced Bugatti Type 44, deservedly crowned with laurels.

In 1930, Bugatti introduced two machines called the Bug on Le Mans 24 Hours. In these competitions, the plain-looking Bugatti Bug, which was based on the Type 40 design, elegantly and unswervingly followed the favorites.

The next year for the company was significant in connection with the appearance of Type 50, radically different from its competitors in Le Mans 24 Hours: while the manufacturers of sports cars were carried away by the pursuit of horsepower and engine power, Bugatti creates the perfect engine for that time - 8 -cylinder, double cylinder head, 5-liter, 250 hp This model was built on the model of American racing cars, but did not copy them.

Up until 1937, for the sports Bugatti, a series of defeats continued, when the Type 57, with a 3.3-liter engine and an understated chassis, won the Le Mans 24 Hours, taking the first two places, ahead of the 3-liter Alfa Romeo, the 4-liter Talbot And 4,5-liter Lagonda.

The most appropriate to the requests of motorists of these years was the model 46 (mini-Royale), striking with its luxury.

Jean Bugatti, son of Ettore Bugatti, designed the Atlantic model on the Type 57SC chassis. This model, for several years, figured in all the catalogs of the Bugatti company, but it was built in three copies. All three copies of the Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic have survived to this day.