Bugatti ended its car making shortly after the death
of Ettore Bugatti in 1947 - right? Wrong!
The legendary
name was to grace another fine motor vehicle in 1987 when
Italian tycoon Romano Artioli purchased the Bugatti marque
and built a modernised factory in Modena - home to other
great marques such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and
De Tomaso.
Dubbed the EB110, the new car was so named to commemorate
the time span since the first car was manufactured by
Bugatti, some 110 years earlier.
It could certainly be
considered a masterpiece of engineering design, Artioli
having secured the services of the legendary engineer
Paolo Stanzani - creator of the Lamborghini Countach.
It is not surprising therefore that the two cars had a
lot in common, such as the over-square V12 engine which
was mid mounted, a forward locacted gearbox and pop-up
doors.
Oh boy, what an engine it was!, although only 3499cc
in size, it employed 12 cylinders (each with 5 valves)
and 4 turbochargers putting its power down via a constant
four wheel drive system.
And just as the Countach's engineer had helped create
the 110, so too did the Countach's stylist Marcello Gandini
- who gave the car a Countach like wedge shape.
At the time, many were critical of the cars performance,
which was perhaps slightly off the boil due to the
weight of all the gadgetry Artioli had used.
Despite
using copious amounts of carbon fibre, the standard
car weighed in at 1618kg, making the 0-100 km/h dash
a 4.5 second journey. Blindingly quick, but many considered
a little slower than should be expected of a supercar
developing 561 hp.
Despite some turbo "lag" when revs were allowed
to fall below 4000, the car was still incredibly quick,
and for a time was the fastest car in the world - until
the release of the McLaren F1. During its production
there were two versions to choose from, the EB110GT and
EB110SS (Super Sport), the latter version shedding approximately
150 kg of weight by having the chassis made from carbon
fibre, replacing the pop-up rear wing with a fixed spoiler
and by deleting many of the "luxury appointments"
fitted to the GT.
Unfortunately for Artioli he found it difficult to sell
the vehicles in a market with too many competitors and
too few millionaires. The company was wound up in 1994
after only making 154 of the supercars - and it is reported
that Michael Schumaker is the owner of one!
