Bugatti Type 35 Grand Prix Car 

By Richardd Adams 25 February

Bugatti’s motto “Pur Sang”, means “pure bred”

Born on 15 September 1881 in Milan, Ettore Bugatti left his mark on the automotive world with the type 35. He wanted to offer his customers a good-looking race car and the type 35 certainly was a work of art.

In 1924, the racing Bugattis returned to a conventional chassis with the type 35. It was the first Bugatti to sport aluminum spoke wheels and it was initially fitted with a 2 liter 8 cylinder engine. Later in that year it was equipped with the larger 2.3 liter engine.

The most successful formula one grand prix manufacturer today is Ferrari, with around 220 wins. The Bugatti Type 35 however was astonishingly successful, with over 1,000 race wins in its time. To download their race successes will take all day. It is the most successful race car on record and continues to be so to this day.

Well-known test pilot and racer Chris Staniland drove a supercharged 4 cylinder example to lap England's Brooklands Circuit at 122 mph (195 km/hr) in the 1930s--a rather amazing speed for such a small car.

It won the 1926 Grand Prix World Championship with 351 wins and set 47 records in the two years before that. At its prime, type 35s were winning around 14 races per week. 

It claimed victory in the Targa Florio for five consecutive years and from 1925 through 1929 it became the most dominant race car of the decade. Later models went on to win the 24 hour Le Mans, twice!

The Type 35 had a lightweight chassis and was blessed with a low centre of gravity. These made the 750kg (1650 lb) cars particularly maneuverable and this agility was highlighted on short tracks.

The small-displacement, 8-cylinder engine with roller-bearings, allowed for a much higher rev limit, the supercharger provided power throughout the rev range, and the handling was simply extraordinary. 

Today, completely original Bugatti Type 35s are very valuable, these are number matching examples, with all their original components.

The "non original cars" were regarded as such, as these were basically “built from original parts" and as a result are worth somewhat less.  

 The original selling list price was 130,000 FF (about $75,000 today).  Of the original batch, 96 cars were produced.

The current selling price of a fully restored, original part’s numbers matching Type 35, will be well over $1 million.

The car is regarded by many as automotive art !