Editor: Jaap Horst
The Saturday morning, all participants to the Bugatti Festival could enter the grounds of Bugatti SAS, where a lot of things could be seen. Most of these were organised for Bugatti's customers of the Veyron and Chiron with all their special versions. Bugatti had organised "The Grand Tour" from Milan to Molsheim, exclusively for the modern Bugattis, and these had arrived the day before, on Friday. Apart from this Bugatti had organised a display of many special versions of modern Bugattis, the EB110's, and also classic Bugattis. Furthermore, all buildings were open to the public, of course the Atelier where the Chirons are assembled (most of the parts coming from different factories in Germany), but also Chateau St. Jean, all side buildings etcetera.
Many young Bugatti employees had been flown in from Wolfsburg, to explain aspects of design and production to the vistors.
Left: a row of Veyron's. Right: a GP Bugatti arriving, to be parked on a special area on the grounds.
Rows of Chirons. I tried calculating the value of all Bugattis present here together, but my calculator gave up...
Several of the rather personalized Chirons. I like the British racing green one, this will be on auction in Riyadh on Friday November 22, together with a bunch of Veyrons. See: www.silverstoneauctions.com
.
Probably the most special of the Chiron's, the Lego one in 1:1 scale. Andy Wallace, who also drove a special-edition Chiron to a speed of over 300 MPH this past summer, drove it in 2018 to a top speed of about 20 kmh.
Another row of Chiron's and one of Veyrons
Bugatti SAS came a long way from the days that they ignored the Campogalliano part of Bugatti history. An impressive row of EB110's, including two of the best-known racing EB110SS's.
Also special, one of the prototypes, showing already the approximate shape of the EB110, but by far had not the final design.
A whole bunch of world record Bugattis, including the EB110 which did the worldrecord on ice, and a closed and open Veyron (The Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse), both world record editions.
Bugatti had made a special exhibition on the grounds before the Chateau St.Jean, of rather special Classic Bugattis. Some were from their own collection, some on loan from Schlumpf's, and some photographed here were actually Festival participant's cars. Also a nice occasion to photograph a Royale (replica) in front of the Chateau.
The Type 101 Anthem, always a beautiful car, and one of the best-looking post-war ones.
Below: A few GP's and a baby. I guess we can safely assume that these were in fact originals.
The Atlantic, the most beautiful automobile of all time. The fact that this is an Eric Koux's replica does not change that!
Below: The most exotic Bugattis, ranging from the Bugatti-designed Peugeot Bébé, to the Royale Binder Coupé de Ville.
Below: Bugatti has a small museum in one of the side-buildings to the Chateau. A few cars, but interestingly also engines.
A 1920 Type 23, 8-valve. Also a late T35, with non-standard shock absorbers.
A type 49 engine (but with single ignition), and the famous roller bearing crankshaft.
Two views of the Type 45 engine. Amazing how small it looks. And much more beautiful than Bugattis current 16 cylinder!
Also an original workbench, with vice, a couple of wheels and of course the famous clutch.
Around the corner were the, for Bugatti I suppose, most special cars. Like the 110 years edition Chiron, and the Divo.
The most expensive of the Bugatti Specials, La Voiture Noire. A car which Batman might drive! Look at that attention to detail! And of course see the wheels! Not just spokes, but an intricate network of more or less organically shaped supports. Functional in a most complex way; Ettore might be proud of this!
Below: The last of the Bugatti Specials, the EB110SS inspired Centodiecci.
Above the car that was in fact presented in 2015 before the Chiron: The Vision Gran Turismo, which appeared in fact first in a computergame. However, it has the exact same shape as the Chiron, with some added spoilers.
A tremendous "Tent" was built up where breakfast could be had, with of course a Bugatti as centerpiece.
Then there was the merchandise; a new baby alongside the original one, and furniture.
Below: Inside the Atelier itself there were more cars; the 18.3 Chiron prototype and a Veyron alongside it's engine.
Above: various stages of assembly, and testing of a part-finished Chiron. That is not an ordinary test-bench!
Finally, inspection to the most minute detail, under a whole lot of light!
Several 3D printed parts, one where additional cooling chanels are necessary, and the fine channels can be only manufactured this way (sectioned in the 2nd photo to show the channel). The last one is basically just an aluminium block, to mount the seats on. However, to cut some grammes of the almost 2 tonnes which the Chiron weighs, it is internally entirely hollow, made by 3D printing! And honestly, it impresss by it's lightness.
Below: Quality control in the measuring chamber, an overview of the assembly hall (showing yet another Chiron), and an early version of the Veyron, still with openings behind the wheels. The final version did not have these.
Continue with the Art at the 2019 Molsheim Festival.