Bugatti Type 41 Royale
1909, town of Molsheim, (originally German but became French territory after the Treaty of Versailles). A small family business created with the aim of designing and building cars with sporting genes and leading edge technology mechanical engineering to a new level. The great Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947) and his faithful squire Jean and Rembrandt Bugatti, his son and brother respectively, all collect all his ingenuity and talent to take your company to the zenith of the automotive industry in the decades of the 20 and 30. They entered into competition with Hispano Switzerland, Maybach, Isotta Fraschini and Rolls Royce within Europe and Duesemberg across the Atlantic… They won the most prestigious races and kings and high dignitaries across the planet were among his clients. Subsequently wishbone Great Depression triggered the decline of a company that first entered a prolonged and painful lethargy and then fell into a deep sleep from which recently has been awakened with German Capital…
Bugatti Royale; Monumental, gigantic, huge, monstrous, huge, awesome, amazing, colossal, cyclopean, ocean, gorgeous… I write fluently, believe me. Elegant, majestic … It costs me nothing to find adjectives to describe it. It’s like a favorite song, like the touch crescendo of fiilarmónica, like a dream that is remembered and that makes you smile, like a sincere hug with tears in his eyes after reconciling with someone, like a moment between friends, like the smile my innocent child. They are things you wake up, that motivate you. The Royale is. A pearl, a flash, a gold coin in the seabed that portends finding a sunken galleon. A serene presence that commands respect. A monument to the car.
Ettore planned to build 25 Royales, but only produced 6 and a prototype was destroyed in an accident. 6 cars currently survive and live on opposite sides of the globe, following random avatars filled lives that have changed hands, costume and house multiple times. They have survived wars hidden behind brick walls to shelter from the Nazis, accident, forgotten, not always realize what they had in the garage and 6 owners have survived to this day. There must be.
Ettore Bugatti, “Le Patron”, produced their cars almost like a sculptor carving stone. He built a car extravagance, excessive size, price and excessive excessive power. The engine Royale was conceived as an aircraft engine. It was one of the benches of a V16 engine designed for aeronautical purposes and that never came. The dimensions of the engine are brutal such as car, 1.4 meters long x 1.1 cc high 12,700 (14,726 cc in the first prototype) manufactured from a solid aluminum block weighs 350 kg (of which 110 correspond to the crankshaft) 300 hp of power at 1800 rpm a restful, 3 valves per cylinder, commanded by a single camshaft located in the cylinder head (SOHC). The power is transmitted to the rear wheels through a box of solidarity changes with the rear axle that features 3 speeds. This engine is capable of launching 3175 kg car to 160 km / h. Proud. It’s like a freight train. Running and driving its strong smoky breath to your destination. The “bow” of this galleon is chaired by a sumptuous mask. This is a sculpture signed by Rembrandt Bugatti, Ettore’s brother, consisting of an upright on their hind legs and trunk extended Elephant, similar to certain caballino that comes to my head attitude…
French cars do not motivate me, do not believe in them, I will not and I never will. The Royale however yes that is out of the ordinary and deserves special honors, I have my theory about it: this formidable car has not French, but Italian genes. Ettore Bugatti was an Italian of Italian descent. Don Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti was born in Milan on September 15, 1881 and educated at the Academy of Arts of Brera Do you the name sounds ? Perhaps the figure that decorates the radiator Bugatti Type 41 should be called elephantine do not you think ?
The 6 brothers Royale were reunited on 2 occasions to catch their busy lives: in the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance 1985 and at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (FOS), 2007.
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