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“Nothing is too beautiful, nothing is too expensive”, according to this motto Ettore Bugatti built the fastest of their time Sportcars. A claim that drove the automobile enthusiast Romano Artioli, the brand in 1991 with the Bugatti To revitalize EB 110. In fact, the EB 110 was a Hypercarthat even Michael Schumacher acquired.
Since Louis XIV, the world has known how pompous the Sun Kings celebrate in Versailles, but this birthday party for Ettore Bugatti, the legendary king of ultra-luxury supercars, was even beyond the imagination of the French authorities. More than 5.000 media representatives and business leaders were invited to Versailles and Paris in September 1991 to experience the presentation of the Bugatti EB 110 as the fastest, most powerful and most expensive hyper sports car of all time. The Italian automobile entrepreneur Romano Artioli realized his childhood dream of reviving the Bugatti brand, which was lost in 1952, with a bang and launching the new EB exactly on the 110th birthday of the patron who died in 1947. In fact, the Bugatti myth left no one unaffected at the time, especially since Artioli had a futuristic plant built for his hypercar at Modena, the center of the Italian sports car manufacturer. So they all came to Paris, the 5.000 board members and press people, many of them directly from Frankfurt, where the IAA auto show was held at the same time. Only at the last moment did the French authorities give the go-ahead for the mega-party around the EB 110. Renata Artioli, wife of the Bugatti entrepreneur, organized an army of security forces to guarantee the protection of the high-ranking guests. These then experienced the debut of a speed icon who brought everything that belongs to a Bugatti.
Drama, emotions, myths and secrets, all this embodied the EB 110, whose furious career ended in abrupt bankruptcy after only four years. How many copies of this Gran Turismo were actually built remains in the fog of history - there is talk of about 135 units - as does the question of whether the effects of not only the effects of a global recession, but also alleged industrial espionage and sabotage against the Bugatti plant were in fact helped make Bugatti's bankruptcy in 1995 inevitable. In any case, it was a lifelong dream for the world's largest Ferrari dealer and largest Italian importer of Japanese cars, the automobile enthusiast and Bugatti collector Romano Artioli.
The luxury car of the time
Born near Mantua, the hometown of the legendary Italian Grand Prix titan Tazio Nuvolari, Artioli loved fast cars from childhood, especially the northern Italian bolides, but probably even more the Bugatti racing cars. When the barely 20-year-old Artioli heard of the end of Bugatti production in Molsheim, Alsace, in 1952, he was not only shocked, but also immediately fulfilled by the mission to fill Bugatti with new life. “Nothing is too beautiful, nothing is too expensive”, according to this credo, Ettore Bugatti built the fastest sports car of its time, and it was precisely this vision that Artioli wanted to revitalize. In the 1980s, the Italian had made enough money to successfully negotiate with the French government to buy the brand. The next step was the founding of Bugatti Automobili SpA, which, contrary to initial plans, he did not establish at the former Bugatti headquarters in Molsheim, but in Campogalliano near Modena. There, in the direct vicinity of De Tomaso, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati, he built what was then the most modern small-series plant in the world, air-conditioned and with bright halls that afforded a generous view of the green - “nothing is too beautiful, nothing too expensive”.
The same was true for the development of the EB 110. Marcello Gandini, the creator of wedge-shaped icons such as Lamborghini Countach and Lancia Stratos, was hired as the designer. Paolo Stanzani, who previously worked for Lamborghini, was responsible for the technology. Then happened what had to happen when these self-confident masters of their craft did not fulfill the visions of the perfectionist Artioli: a rift broke out. Stanzani's aluminum chassis replaced Artioli with a stiff, light and extremely expensive carbon construction, the body of the EB 110 was also made of carbon fiber, for the first time in a production car. Gandini's wedge shape was given softer edges by Giampaolo Benedini. Benedini? He was the architect of the new plant and was allowed to try out how a car is shaped with the EB 110.
The revealing
Successful, as the reactions from the public and the press at the premiere in Paris showed. After a dinner in Versailles in the ambience of classic Bugatti treasures, the 5.000 guests met on September 15, 1991 on the Place de la Défense. The EB 110 was unveiled there and then film star Alain Delon drove down the Champs-Elysées. There was a crowd and cheers similar to the national holiday, the press representatives knew how to report. Only the Italian press reacted with huff about how Artioli paid tribute to Bugatti's French roots.
The EB 110 was also enthusiastically welcomed in Germany, for example at the Essen Motor Show. In fact, there were not only rich collectors who put the four-wheel drive V12, which cost up to a million marks, in the garage, but also business people - because a maintenance package included in the purchase price guaranteed the reliability and suitability for everyday use of the up to 450 kW / 611 hp Bugatti with four turbochargers. Of course, celebrities like the young German Formula 1 star Michael Schumacher made more headlines. "Schumi" compared the Bugatti in the 412 kW / 560 PS basic version EB 110 GT for a specialist magazine with Ferrari F40, Jaguar XJ 220, Lamborghini Diablo VT and Porsche 911 Turbo. In conclusion, Schumacher considered the all-wheel drive Bugatti to be the best all-rounder, perhaps that's why Schumacher bought a yellow Bugatti EB 110 Super Sport himself.
The Bugatti didn't give its rival a chance in the Vmax: Vive la Vitesse was the motto on the Ehra-Lessien high-speed track in Lower Saxony when a Bugatti EB 110 S without exterior mirrors reached 342 km / h. 296 km / h was enough for a record on ice, it was 351 km / h in Nardó, Italy, and the 3,26 seconds for the sprint to 100 km / h were also considered unbeatable for the time being. Motorsport, where Bugatti was once invincible, also became a profession for the EB 110. However, until July 1995 only two racing cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the American IMSA series were built, then Bugatti had problems with its suppliers . Suddenly they no longer wanted to deliver, and in 1995 Bugatti was no longer considered liquid. In fact, sales were down - as with all supercar manufacturers that suffered from the global recession. Romano Artioli paid his employees until the last day, but there was no avoiding bankruptcy. Bugatti fell into a deep slumber again, but only briefly. As early as 1998, VW group boss Ferdinand Piech began building Bugatti into the ultimate speed and luxury icon of his brand empire.
In brief
Technical data
Bugatti EB 110 / EB 110 GT: two-seater hyper sports car with scissor doors; Length: 4,40 meters, width: 1,96 meters, height: 1,13 meters, wheelbase: 2,55 meters, empty weight: 1.620 kilograms. 3,5-liter V12 petrol engine; 412 kW / 560 PS, maximum torque: 611 Nm at 3.750 rpm, 6-speed gearbox, permanent all-wheel drive, 0-100 km / h: 3,46 s, Vmax: 342 km / h, standard consumption (DIN) at 90 or 120 km / h and city cycle: 9,0 or 13,0 and 21,0 l / 100 km. Price in 1992 (at the start of series production) from 799.250 marks, price in 1994 from 581.900 marks.
Bugatti EB 110 S (later called 110 SS for Super Sport), different data: curb weight: 1.418 kilograms. 3,5-liter V12 petrol engine; 442 kW / 600 PS (later 450 kW / 611 PS), maximum torque: 637 Nm (later 650 Nm) at 4.000 rpm, 0-100 km / h: 3,3 s, Vmax: 351 km / h, standard consumption (DIN) at 90 or 120 km / h and city cycle: 8,5 or 13,0 and 19,0 l / 100 km. Price 1992 (at the start of series production) from 1.047.362 marks.
Chronicle
1881: Ettore Bugatti was born in Brescia (Italy) as the son of an Italian family of artists
1901: Bugatti builds its first automobile, the Type 1, with a modern four-cylinder engine
1902: Around 1904 automobiles are delivered under the name Dietrich-Bugatti by 100
1909: In the autumn of 1909, Ettore Bugatti moves to the small town of Dorlisheim / Molsheim in Alsace and develops ideas for own-brand cars from their own production in the halls of a former dye works
1910: On January 47st, Bugatti signs the lease for the factory in the former dye works. In the following XNUMX years, Bugatti models with four, eight and sixteen-cylinder engines rolled out of the factory, all based on Ettore Bugatti's credo: "Nothing is too beautiful, nothing is too expensive"
1924: With the T35 model, Bugatti introduces the most successful eight-cylinder racing car in automotive history. In 1925 Bugatti achieved 468 victories, in 1926 there were 577 and in 1928 even 806 victories. In total, there will be well over 2.000 victories in ten years. Bugatti becomes the epitome of the "thoroughbred automobile" - "le pur sang de l'automobile"
1928: Bugatti presents a sixteen-cylinder engine with two Zenith carburetors and an ignition with two magnets, which is celebrated by experts as the highest level of engine development. In 2002, this engine inspired the sixteen-cylinder in the Bugatti EB16.4 Veyron. Albert Divo - name inspirer of the Bugatti Divo introduced in 2018 - wins the Targa Florio in a Bugatti T35 and repeats this victory the following year
1929: Start of production for the ultra-luxurious Bugatti Royale (Type 41), announced three years earlier, which with a 12,7 liter engine and 6,5 meters vehicle length even surpasses Rolls-Royce and Hispano-Suiza
1931: Bugatti wins the Monaco Grand Prix for the third time in a row
1932: The most successful Bugatti sports car series, the Bugatti Type 51, goes on sale and is offered until 1935. In that year Roman Artioli was born in Moglia / Italy, who revived the Bugatti brand from 1987 onwards
1936: Jean Bugatti takes over the management from his father Ettore. Debut for the Bugatti Atlantic (Type 57)
1939: Jean Pierre Wimille is the last works driver to win the Le Mans 24-hour race in a Type 57C. Jean Bugatti dies on August 11th in a car accident while avoiding an illegal cyclist
1940: The Second World War temporarily ends production in Molsheim
1947: Ettore Bugatti dies on August 21. In Molsheim, production started again tentatively, but ended in 1952
1956: The attempt at a new beginning in motorsport with the type 251 racing car fails. The Hispano-Suiza-Mericier armaments group takes over the Molsheim plant. A total of 6.606 Bugattis from Type 13 to Type 101 were built in Molsheim
1987: The South Tyrolean automobile entrepreneur Romano Artioli acquires the naming rights to "Bugatti". Artioli earns his living first as the first Borgward importer in Italy, then as the first official GM importer in Italy, finally as one of the largest Ferrari dealers in the world and has also been the first Italian importer of Suzuki since 1982 and has a large collection of Bugatti Vehicles
1989: Romano Artioli founds Bugatti Automobili SpA, which prepares the EB 110 (the type code stands for Ettore Bugatti 110 years) as a production model. The EB 110 is set to celebrate its premiere on September 15, 1991, Ettore Bugatti's 110th birthday. The design of the EB 110 is drawn by Marcello Gandini, but the angular, aggressive design is not very popular with Artioli, who therefore has the design revised by his cousin Giampaolo Benedini. Benedini is actually an architect and is responsible for the design of the new Bugatti plant. The technical development manager is initially Paolo Stanzani. However, Artioli parted ways with Stanzani because he preferred a conventional aluminum honeycomb chassis for the EB 110 instead of a more expensive but torsion-resistant carbon fiber chassis. In addition, the construction of a modern, air-conditioned automobile plant with large windows began in Campogalliano near Modena and thus in the center of the Italian super sports car manufacturers
1991: On September 15, Ettore Bugatti's 110th birthday, the world's fastest production sports car, built in Italy at the time, debuted in Paris, the Bugatti EB 342 with a speed of 110 km / h with 412 kW / 560 hp and 3,5 -Liter V12 with five-valve technology. As the EB 110 S or SS, the Bugatti even reached 351 km / h, a value that was later exceeded by the McLaren F1. In Germany, the Bugatti EB 110 is also specifically marketed as a business vehicle suitable for long journeys and advertised at various trade fairs such as the Essen Motor Show. The chassis of the EB 110 is made of carbon fiber in monocoque construction, the body of light metal
1992: Series production of the EB 110 starts, making it the first time a Bugatti has been built since 1956. The purchase price of the EB 110 includes a maintenance package with a term of three years, which even includes wear parts
1993: The Bugatti EB 112 concept car, a sedan with all-wheel drive and 460 hp 6,0-liter V12 engine, makes its debut at the ItalDesign stand at the Geneva Motor Show. Design and body construction are carried out by Giugiaro at ItalDesign. Romano Artioli buys Lotus from General Motors, a new product from his second sports car brand is the Elise, which Artioli names after his granddaughter Elisa Artioli
1994: On the high-speed track Ehra-Lessien / Germany, a Bugatti EB 110 S without exterior mirrors reaches a record speed of 342 km / h. First start of the EB 110 LM works racing car with up to 700 hp at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The German Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher buys a yellow Bugatti EB 110 Super Sport with a blue interior
1995: The EB 110 Sport Competizione (SC) is set up for races in the American IMSA series and other long-distance races. Three vehicles are planned, but problems with the suppliers mean that only one racing car will emerge by June. In March, a standard EB 110 Super Sport achieved a speed record of 296 km / h on ice. Bugatti has to file for bankruptcy on September 23. The main cause is a global economic downturn. However, Artioli can pay its 220 employees until the last day. In total, only around 1991 vehicles have been delivered since 135, 96 of them Bugatti EB 110 GT
1996: Last start of an EB 110 in a 24-hour race (in Dijon / France), then problems with the procurement of parts prevent further starts. Artioli sells 80 percent of its shares in Lotus to Proton / Malaysia and can thus compensate for its losses from the Bugatti bankruptcy
1997: The German entrepreneur Jochen Dauer buys parts of Bugatti's bankruptcy estate, including unfinished vehicles and tools for production. In 2001, this resulted in the duration EB 110 SS, which, however, is only to be sold in the USA
1998: The Volkswagen Group acquires the brand rights to Bugatti. VW Group boss Ferdinand Piech explains: "The extraordinary is in demand again." At the Paris Motor Show, ItalDesign presented the EB 118 with 408 kW / 555 hp, a 6,3-liter engine, the first eighteen-cylinder engine, developed on behalf of Volkswagen Coupe
2005: Start of production of the 407 km / h Bugatti Veyron 16.4 in September as the fastest production vehicle in the world
2017: The Bugatti Chiron set a world record in September in which it accelerates from zero to 41,69 km / h in 400 seconds and then comes to a standstill again. However, this record was broken only a few days later by a Koenigsegg Agera RS
2021: Bugatti shows its new 440 km / h hypersports car Chiron Super Sport and commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Bugatti EB 110 with various presentations and activities.It remains to be seen whether the sale of Bugatti to Rimac Automobili, a Croatian manufacturer of electric vehicles Super sports car, realized