Right now, we all need a little bit of beauty in our lives; the inside of our homes might be getting a little stale, to say the least. So how about letting Bugatti take some of the gloom away with these photos the company just released celebrating three cars from its modern era, including the one that brought the name Bugatti back to the limelight.
There’s the most recent Chiron, of course, the 1,500hp luxury powerhouse that was first revealed in 2016. And there is the Veyron, its predecessor and the first Bugatti built under Volkswagen stewardship, which debuted in 2005. Both are beautiful and technological marvels in their own rights.
But our main focus is the EB110, the supercar that started the Bugatti resurgence when it debuted in 1991, and an extremely rare sight to see, even in the world of Bugatti.
It was the brainchild of Romano Artioli, an Italian entrepreneur who bought the long-dormant trademarks of Bugatti in 1987. Artioli immediately set about putting together a world-class supercar under the Bugatti banner.
The EB110 GT debuted in 1991 and was instantly ahead of its time. A carbon fiber monocoque and body panels, active aerodynamics and four-wheel drive were unheard of for most road cars, and its performance and technology even surpassed those of its immediate rivals: the Ferrari F40 and F50, the Lamborghini Diablo, the Porsche 959, and, yes, even the McLaren F1. The Super Sport version that you see here was unveiled in 1992 and sports a 3.5-liter V12 with four turbochargers making 611 horsepower; it could hit a top speed of 351kph (218 mph) and get from zero to 100kph in 3.26 seconds, making it the fastest production car of its time.
Even the fact that Michael Schumacher bought an EB110 couldn’t save the company, however, as it folded in 1995 and was then bought by Volkswagen soon after. Fewer than 140 cars were built (including two factory race cars), but its significance can’t be questioned; the EB110 set the bar for the Bugatti brand very high, and without it we probably would never have seen the Veyron and Chiron. Give thanks, indeed.
*Images courtesy of Bugatti
