Bugatti EB110 1991, the first new Bugatti.
In the sixties disappeared Bugatti, the brand born in 1909 and that after the Second World War was not able to overcome the death of its founder, Ettore Bugatti, considered one of the great geniuses of the history of the engine. Even in our days, despite having already spent close to seventy years since his death.
echo of the greatness of the brand has survived intact up to our days, being the Bugatti original some of the vehicles most sought-after and desired of all time, in fact, for more than 20 years, a Bugatti held the record for the vehicle most expensive sold ever in an auction, the Royale Kellner Coupe sold in London by Christie’s for the then astonishing figure of 9.7 million dollars of the time. Your seller, the same Briggs Cunningham discussed a few days ago, I had purchased it in post-war France, for about 500 dollars and two fridges.
that is why it is not surprising that the brand has been unearthed from oblivion by the Volkswagen Group, and that in order to look properly their emblem had to create the monstrous Veyron of 1,001 HP, a genuine tour-de-force of modern engineering, that will go down in history more for the complexity and cost of your project by the own merits of the model.
Bugatti EB110 Super Sport.
But before that Ferdinand Piëch thought to rescue the emblem of Ettore Bugatti and decide to squander thousands of millions in only a few specimens that have only served to monopolize the front pages, there was a project of genuine enthusiasts that they decided to give shine to the brand name gala, creating one of the projects of automobile most incredible of all time, Bugatti Automobili S. p. A.
The story tells how spurred on by Ferruccio Lamborghini and Paolo Stanzani, the Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli joined in Campogalliano, the nerve centre of the Italian industry of supercars, some of the best specialists on the planet to create the one that was definitely going to be the most fabulous supercar of all time. In facilities which in his day had no rival in the industry, and that now, more than twenty years later, is languishing next to the Autostrada del Brennero motorway, at Modena.
while the history of the project is not very well known, its outcome, it was, in 1990 Bugatti Automobili announced for the following year the spectacular EB110, coinciding with the 110 anniversary of the birth of Ettore Bugatti, hence the name of the vehicle. The spectacular supercar blue eclipsed all the models of the moment, with its 550 horsepower in the base version of its V12 of 3.5 litres, five valves per cylinder and four turbochargers, which was added shortly after a version dubbed the EB110 Super Sport enjoyed of 600 BHP and a maximum speed of over 350 km/h.
All prototype of the EB110 next to a EB110 Super Sport.
Until then, the fastest model continued to be the Ferrari F40 478 HP and a top speed of 324 km/h, being the first production model to overcome the psychological barrier of 200 miles per hour.
The Bugatti EB110 was the true first vehicle in history to be manufactured with a monocoque central made in carbon fiber. Until that time only the Formula 1 had a similar structure, which were using just ten years before the launch of the EB110. Until that time, all the sports used to rack tubulars, and in the case of the F40, this also had elements manufactured in carbon and kevlar, but these were grounded in a traditional frame of the lattice of tubes.
The result was not only the super sports car more powerful and faster available at the time, also had a comfortable and luxurious interior and, above all, of a maneuverability and comfort of use never seen before in a model of that potential. However, for multiple reasons today not clarified at all, the company went bankrupt and disappeared, leaving as a sad sign of the huge and ultra-modern factory in Campogalliano for the memories.
Prototype of the EB110 in the wind tunnel of Pininfarina.
just a few weeks ago, the people of Kidston, true specialists of the world of the classics and the auctions, and edited a video very personal in that had the good fortune of interviewing some of the main protagonists of the story, among which we can highlight the own founder, Romano Artioli and one of the most elusive, Loris Bicocchi, the pilot tester from brands such as the own Ferrari or Lamborghini, which has not been lavished on too many interviews in recent times, which is rolled back on words of praise to those five years of experience in Bugatti, the best time of your life, as they also say many of the protagonists.
The own Artioli, uncovered, in part, the case of the thunder, stating that the project was torpedoed by the competition, stating that “the Mafia were some boy-scouts” on the side of these, but without pointing specifically to any brand or organization.
This is one of the most raw and direct between the rivers of ink that have been poured on the Italian project, of which shortly, we will show that this was something more than a simple project orphan supercar, like so many that are born and die in silence every year.
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