Tag Archives: Artioli

110th Anniversary Edition – Bugatti EB110 GT

After the death of Ettore Bugatti in 1947 the company he founded that bore his name struggled on in it’s original incarnation for another 5 years.

Bugatti EB110 GT, Goodwood Festival of Speed

During that time the original Type 73C and parts for a further four vehicles of the same type were kept in storage.

Bugatti EB110 GT, Goodwood Festival of Speed

A new road car the Type 101, the protoype for which was based on a Type 57 chassis was manufactured from 1951 to 1952. Five Type 101 vehicles appear to have been completed before the factory shut down, a further two Type 57’s were converted to Type 101’s at owners request.

Bugatti EB110 GT, Goodwood Festival of Speed

There was a brief Bugatti resurgence in 1955 and Gioacchino Colombo better known for his designs for Ferrari, designed an unusual Formula One car with a transverse mounted straight 8 motor behind the driver.

Bugatti EB110 GT, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Maurice Trintignant drove the Type 251 for 18 uncompetitive laps in the 1956 French Grand Prix before Bugatti name went into a hiberantion so far as road and racing cars were concerned for 30 years.

Bugatti EB110 GT, Goodwood Festival of Speed

A sixth Bugatti Type 101 chassis had a body designed by Virgil Exner that was built and fitted by Ghia in 1965.

Bugatti EB110 GT, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In 1987 Italian Romano Artioli acquired the Bugatti road car brand from French Aerospace manufacturer Snecma and built a new factory in Campogalliano, Italy to build a new model.

Bugatti EB110 GT, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The protoype EB110 GT was designed by Marcello Gandini while
Giampaolo Benedini was responsible for the final design that was launched on the 15th September 1991, the 110th Anniversary of Ettore Bugatti’s birth.

Bugatti EB110 GT, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The EB110 GT is powered by a 5 valve 3.5 litre / 213 cui quad turbocharged V12 motor with 5 valves per cylinder, that’s 60 in all (!), producing over 550 hp.

Bugatti EB110 GT, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Performance for the EB110 GT is said to include a rest to 62.5 mph time of 4.2 seconds and top speed in excess of 210 mph.

Bugatti EB110 GT, Goodwood Festival of Speed

It is believed just 95 EB110 GT models were built between 1991 and 1995 when Bugatti Automobiles SpA, where former Ferrari engineer Mauro Forghieri was serving as technical director, went under.

Thanks for joining me on this “110th Anniversary Edition” of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Romano’s Granddaughter – Lotus Elise Series I

In 1993 Lotus was purchased from GM by Romano Artioli chairman of the revived Bugatti manufacturer, and the following year the Type 111 was conceived by Julian Thompson with Richard Rackman and given the Elise name after Romano’s Granddaughter Elisa.

Lotus Elise Series 1, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

The Series 1 Elise was launched in 1996 powered by a mid mounted 4 cylinder Rover K Series motor that produced just 118 hp, however thanks to the fiberglass body and bonded aluminium chassis the Elise only weighed 725 kg / 1,600 lbs so the car could accelerate from rest to 60 mph in just 5.8 seconds with a top speed of 124 mph.

Lotus Elise Series 1, Bristol Pegasus Motor Club, BAWA

Getting in and out of a Lotus Elise are probably the most difficult features of the car, the ergonomics are secondary to track day performance, but apart from that the Elise is said to be great fun to drive and economical to run thanks to the light weight and virtually non existent load capacity beside the passengers.

Lotus Elise Series 1, Bristol

In 1996 Romano had sold Lotus on to current owners Proton in order to fund the losses that had accumulated due to the insolvency of Bugatti.

Thanks to changes in crash sustainability regulations the Series 1 Elise was replaced in 2000 after more than 8600 had been built by the more sustainable and consequently slightly heavier Elise Series 2.

The top and bottom cars featured today are standard ’98 and ’97 1.8i models while the middle one is a later ’99 111S which came with variable valve timing 143 hp and a 130 mph top speed.

Thanks for joining me on this “Romano’s Granddaughter” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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