Tag Archives: de Vizcaya

Aerodynamic Lift – Bugatti Type 32 #????

1 Reply

The 1923 French Grand Prix at Tours is usually remembered as the occaison on which a rare British 1-2 victory was recorded for the manufacturer Sunbeam for whom Sir Henry O’Neil de Hane Segrave was at the wheel of the winning car.

The race should also be remembered for two of the strangest designs ever to take part in Grand Prix racing namely the Type 32 Bugatti featured today and the even more outlandish Voisin Laboratoire.

Bugatti Type 32, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The streamlined bodywork of the Type 32 had one major draw back, it created lift which made the short wheel based 2 litre / 122 cui 8 cylinder car exceptionally difficult to handle in the corners.

Bugatti took five Type 32 cars to the 1923 French Grand Prix Ernest Freidrich scored the teams best result 3rd behind Seagrave and Albert Divo in the second Sunbeam, André Lefebvre was the first Voisin home in fifth place behind Kenelm Lee Guinness in a third Sunbeam.

Bugatti Type 32, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The Musée de l’Auto which own’s today’s featured car seen at Goodwood Festival of speed believe they own chassis #4057 which was driven Pierre Marco and retired on the fourth laps of the 1923 French Grand Prix with engine problems.

However Bugatti expert Pierre Dumont is convinced this car is actually #4061 which is considered to be the original prototype taken along as a spare to the 1923 French Grand Prix. Spaniard Pierre de Vizcaya took over #4061 for the race after crashing his designated car #4058 during practice.

Bugatti Type 32, Goodwood Festival of Speed,

The unfortunate Pierre proceeded to crash #4061 on the opening lap of the 1923 French Grand Prix. Bugatti never officially raced the type 32 again, but it is believed that after being sold #4061 was driven by Pierre to a speed record at Arpajon in 1924.

Thanks for joining me on this “Aerodynamic Lift” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting Brighton Speed Trials. Don’t forget to come back now !

Share

Do Not Touch The Cars – Bugatti Type 13 Brescia

2 Replies

This month’s Tuesday blogs will feature some Vintage Bugatti’s starting with today’s featured Type 13 Brescia.

After the success enjoyed by Bugatti following the second place finish in the 1911 French Grand Prix by Ernest Friderich driving a 1368 cc / 83 cui Voiturette Type 13 to the mighty 10 litre / 589 cui winning FIAT S76 driven by Victor Hemery Bugatti future up until the beginning of the Great War hostilities in 1914.

Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, Ward, Prescott

At the out break of hostilities Ettore Bugatti took two Type 13’s to Milan and buried the parts of three more for the duration. In 1918 Ettore returned to his factory in Molsheim with his two Type 13’s and built up three more from the buried parts.

These cars were entered into the 1920 VIII Coupe des Voiturettes at Le Mans where Ernest Friderich drove one of the cars two victory Team mate Pierre de Vizcaya was disqualified from the event after Ettore was observed by officials to have touched the radiator of the #18 which counted as receiving outside assistance.

Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, Ward, Prescott

In September 1921 Ettore sent a team of four cars with slightly larger 1,453cc / 88.6 cui motors to compete in the I Gran Premio delle Vetturette run in Brescia, Northern Italy and after just under 3 hours of racing Ernest Friderich led home a Bugatti sweep of the first four places, subsequently all Bugatti’s with 16 valve heads including the Type 13’s, Type 22’s and Type 23’s fitted with 16 valve head motors, were given the Brescia moniker in memory of the victory.

Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, Ward, Prescott

The Type 13 was manufactured with 8 valve and 16 valve cylinder heads from 1910 to 1926 being fitted with front brakes as standard only in the final year of production, Ettore having oft been quoted as saying “I make cars to go, not to stop.”

Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, Ward, Prescott

The 1921 Type 13 Brescia seen above driven by Michael Ward at Prescott is notable for having front brakes fitted.

My thanks to Michael Fines, Felix Muelas and Barttore at The Nostalgia Forum for their help in determining which cars Ettore sent to Brescia in 1921.

Thanks for joining me on this “Do Not Touch The Cars” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow, when I be looking at how the Mercedes Formula One team got on in 2013. Don’t forget to come back now !

Share